Dec 23, 2019
'Firing a CEO is easy': Crisis expert tells Boeing to fix its culture
, BNN Bloomberg
Firing CEO easy, but culture at Boeing is broken: Crisis management expert
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It will take far more than firing the boss to fix Boeing Co.’s troubles, according to a crisis management expert
“Firing a CEO is easy,” Wojtek Dabrowski, founder and managing partner at Provident Communications told BNN Bloomberg on Monday, after Boeing announced chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg’s ouster. “It’s an individual, it’s a moment in time, it comes and goes.”
“What’s much more difficult to fix is when your culture is broken. And very much that’s what we’re hearing from all quarters here.”
Boeing’s 2019 has been rocked by the aftermath of two crashes that left hundreds dead. The second of which — an Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 — prompted a worldwide grounding of the 737 Max jets and has cratered the company’s stock more than 20 per cent over the last 9 months of the year.
Dabrowski says repairing the company’s reputation and establishing accountability from its leadership will be a major lift.
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“There was not only a reluctance from employees to [raise] problems and serious issues, but there was equally not a willingness from management to listen,” he said. “That’s much more difficult to fix because that stuff spreads like a disease through the entire organization.”
“One employee sees one executive do something, and sees it tolerated, and it becomes enshrined as acceptable. That’s the last thing you want in a situation like this.”
Dabrowski also expressed skepticism that Muilenburg’s replacement — former company chairman David Calhoun — will inspire investor confidence that a turnaround is in the offing.
“I think you absolutely need new leadership, I’m just not sure if that leadership will be universally seen by The Street as a guy who sat on the board, who oversaw the CEO throughout all of this,” he said.
