Boeings Don’t Fix Broke – They just switch to performative art!

So, Boeing has screwed up yet again. The secret? Don’t aim to fix the particular problem – find a totally new solution.

Quality Job No. 11

Boeaing is one of the worlds bellwethers in reliability, quality and admirability. Or it was. Now it’s not. Is there any way of unbreaking something that is irretrievably broken when there’s never been a precedent to the contrary?

How about some examples? Dunkirk? Britain reinvented the Royal Navy in just a few short weeks using private ships and sailors. That brought the boy home. Or the sinking of the German battleship the Graf Spee in World War II in Argentina which removed a grave threat to British naval operations. The solution: show Germany this new solution would be the new British approach, and that the German naval solution would not allow to succeed.

But that doesn’t solve everything. The 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster was too late to be saved. Likewise Titanic, unless you count it a solution to lousy British filmmaking (it being 1912). It turns out that modern public relations have been called to provide their own species of remedial action; so much so that it has become the solution du jour to numerous government snafus in the period since 1945.

Crème de la Phlegm

The problem with Boeing is that it has been (i.e. it was) a sparkling example of the best of the US global breed of corporate management solutions, including elite engineers and an ironclad worldwide safety reputation. Brilliant technologies. But Boeing is running – has run out of runway.

The modern response is to enlist the contemporaneous equivalent of a miracle worker cum cult leader. Elon Musk, Donald Trump via the Central Park Ice Skating Rink, or “You’ve Been Fired” in the case of numerous cases of poor corporate management (including Trump’s own).

Man Bites (Russian) Dog

President Zelensky, the Churchillian leader of wartime Ukraine took the novel step of invading Russia, in the latest example of this type of solution. Putin has got to look closely at this particular iteration. Boeing seems to be in grave need of its own Cultural Revolution, as well as Russia.

And in fact, Musk is part of the solution at least since SpaceX is planned to bring new astronauts back to the ISS so the global aerospace program can restart. But it doesn’t look like the new management changes in Boeing are going to be the hoped-for contribution (the appointment of Kelly Ortberg as CEO)

We’re actually in need of several solutions right now, not just one.

One solution is to fix Boeing. Yeah, right.

Another is a universal toolkit for engineering disasters? It can be used for anything. It will surely be needed, quite likely tomorrow or the day after.

Here’s My Call for the Boeing Problem

• Split Boeing into at least 2 (maybe, pick your number,) parts:
• Spin off terrestrial aviation.
• Establish an independent engineering institution devoted to new approaches to solving engineering disasters and innovations into disruptive engineering approaches.
• Merge a small part of its aerospace into a completely different organization and structure and leaders who have not been trained in the modern Boeing engineering flavor.
• A performative, disruptive mega-spectacle designed for shock and awe: actually, pulling off at least (choose your weapon again) two impossible launches. Immediately. (Hint: make this impossible except only for certified maniacs).

Hyper-Weaponize Leadership of the Democratic Countries

• Deliberately replace a majority of its engineering and training leaders with well-known disrupters and innovators
• A key characteristic of these newbies to be respected and admired for their chutzpah, cheek, and impatience.
• Hire street-smart solution Builders not eggheads.
• Treat professionals as the enemy. Keep some street-smart nay-sayers right behind the front and grunt guys and, ready to make a solution instantly, and without anyone from the brass knowing of its existence.
• Riding instructions for them: must be willing to break all the rules at a moment’s notice!
• Take the shot. Forget about niceties and rules. Go for broke. Make it quick and simple. If the designs don’t work be ready to go in again immediately.

The Problem in Being Public, and In Space (And American)

Public companies are made for bureaucrats, low risk types who don’t want to stand out, make money or otherwise distinguish themselves.

Does this work with normal rules and public companies, with auditors, compliance types, rules and protocols? Nope, of course not; the leader is her own unique solution protocol.

On top of all that Americans now have a well-deserved reputation for being fair, moral and ethical.

We Need a Bowie for Boeing

Will our Chosen Bowie armed with that big bad knife get another shot? Probably not.

If it’s you that’s chosen, don’t think you’re ever coming back That’s the reward. Glory is the only thing you will think like you truly earned.

The Post-Solution Disrupters

Space wasn’t ?made for humans. You have to think differently.

Invent a new form of benefit corporation devoted to building the cultures, outside the box thinkers and infrastructures for disruptive engineers’ organizations which will be needed for the soon-to-emerge aerospace organizations that will get to the planets and the stars.

Without these, humans are going to be dead in the water. Alongside Boeing.

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