This morning I listened to a podcast on The Daily about Boeing’s estranged culture and how several whistleblowers tried their best to let management know of problems they saw in the quality of the aircraft. This afternoon I turned to an article in The Atlantic by Jerry Useem on how the Boeing culture transformed years ago when Boeing first relocated headquarters to Chicago and when Boeing and McDonnell Douglas originally merged. He offers three examples that illustrate how problems converged to a create a culture that overlooked processes that were once part of its famed engineering culture:

1. When Boeing relocated headquarters to Chicago in 2006, leadership was severed from its engineering arm in Seattle. Chicago HQ did not have the keen eyes it once had on the engineering and safety of the aircraft. Leadership and engineers did not casually run into each other in the halls or cafeteria. The distance hurt communications.

2. When Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merged in 1997, the culture began transitioning from one that spoke engineering to one that spoke finance. As Useem says, “For about 80 years, Boeing basically functioned as an association of engineers. Its executives held patents, designed wings, spoke the language of engineering and safety as a mother tongue. Finance wasn’t a primary language.” That soon changed after the merger. The new Boeing mindset evolved into “a passion for affordability.” The culture was no longer built on engineering precision and quality at all costs. Short cuts became the norm and pressure to make deadlines became the mantra.

3. Useem describes how the software system (MCAS) that was responsible for the pitch of the Boeing 737 MAX moved from the handiwork and oversight of engineers to the work of newly graduated college students employed by a subcontractor. “The difference between doing MCAS right and MCAS wrong was not an economic thing. It’s a culture thing.” The alleged culprit in the downing of the deadly Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes is tied to the failure of MCAS. 

All of these issues are culture issues that many companies have experienced — changes in leadership and ownership, short-term financial pressures, outsourcing, safety lapses, communications paralysis. There probably is not a culture that has not had a heavy dose of these problems that have affected their reputation. Unfortunately Boeing is in the spotlight now as a new CEO, David Calhoun, has been brought in to be a change agent. It will take time for Boeing to recover its reputation but from the looks of other companies who have faced these types of catastrophic failures, Boeing will be back on its feet before too long. It has had prior scrapes before and its resilience should serve it well.