Boeing chief must have engineering background, Emirates boss says | Hacker News Reader

Boeing chief must have engineering background, Emirates boss says

ft.com

24 pointsredandblack13 comments

> Pope, who is an obvious contender, has a background in finance. Dave Gitlin, a Boeing director who is chief executive of Carrier, which manufactures heating and cooling systems, has a background in aerospace, previously holding roles at Collins Aerospace and United Technologies.

> A third possible contender is Patrick Shanahan, head of Boeing’s supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which supplied the door plug that blew out during the Alaska Airlines flight in January. He previously spent three decades at the plane maker. Greg Smith, American Airlines chair and a former Boeing finance director, is seen as another potential candidate.

So what you are saying is all the options are bad?

Pretty much sounds like it..

They are considering the head of Spirit AeroSystems as an improvement... Enough said.

This is not a Boeing issue.

It is about the moral and economic decline of America where financialization is the norm.

Businesses are not measured in terms of how materially successful they are.

They are measured in terms of how much profit they can produce for executives and controlling shareholders so long as it is "legal", which is anything they are capable of bribing legislators and regulators to make "legal".

It could be outright murder or needless deaths due to depraved negligence and indifference, but so long as it is "legal" it is perfectly fine.

It would not be a surprise to see HQ move back to Washington and of the potential replacements, Shanahan started his career at BA as an engineer. [1]

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_M._Shanahan

I don’t see why you need an engineer to manage engineers. You need someone who can synthesize high level requirements across many domains.

What we need are laws and regulations that force all companies to make products that don’t harm their customers or the rest of the world. An engineer can make a product that kills people. A financeer can hire engineers that won’t kill people. You need good people doing good things either way.

I agree that, in general, you don't need an engineer to manage engineers. However, management is the one that sets priorities, and I can see an argument that in order for Boeing to get back to being an organization that values solid engineering practices, having an engineer in management could be of great value.

Gaining the respect of the engineering workforce might have a role here too.

For the same reason you chose generals from people who have experience fighting, if at all possible.

To be able to appreciate realities of what Boeing is doing and not just focus on financials. The point is it does not matter how much you know about financials or business management if your product sucks. And there are way more people who know finances and business management than people who can appreciate the kind of engineering that happens in aerospace, so you want a person who knows engineering.

Having been part of an engineering company that was taken over by MBAs, I wish you were right but I no longer believe.

So someone whose dream job is to make airplanes that are innovative, fuel efficient, safe, and long-lasting and economical - goes to… accounting school?

Well, you don't see CEOs and such that often in R&D or on test assembly line, which are places you would want to be if your dream is to actually do that yourself, rather than just manage finances, board meetings and customer relations for people who do that.

Edit: Though I think it would be good for tech company's head to have good understanding of the tech they are doing.

> I don’t see why you need an engineer to manage engineers.

I do, every time I see that ring engineers wear.

The company has its bottom line, people can lose jobs, but the engineer's bottom line must come first or people die. Boeing got that wrong and you haven't learned the lesson? That's what the ring's for: lessons paid in blood.

Don't get me wrong, not everybody called an engineer needs this mindset. But specifically when we're talking about Boeing? Yeah. You need engineers in the lead throughout the whole process, all the way to the top. Shit rolls downhill.

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