Boeing Could Enhance their Safety Simply by Following Their Own Stated Core Values

As we observe organizations and their responses to current events in accordance (or sometimes in contradiction) to their core values (CoreVals™), it remains fascinating to me how some of the strongest fall & how some of the underdogs rise to the occasion. One of those giants that came to mind was Boeing and the revelations resulting from the years-long investigation into the fatal crashes of their 737-MAX aircrafts in 2018 and 2019. Even the strongest set of CoreVals can’t protect your organization when they are not adhered to from the top, down and the bottom, up.  

In this blog post, I want to begin with sharing a summary of the Company Values shared on Boeing’s website. Looking at this introduction, as well as the dual set of Values, the message is one of responsibility & the kind of values you would expect from a manufacturer of aircraft. Take a look: 

Introduction

At Boeing, we are honored to serve all the people who rely on our products and services every day. That’s why we hold ourselves to the highest standards in our work, how we do it and how we treat one another.

Across our global enterprise, Boeing employees are united by a shared commitment to our values, which serve as the guiding principles for all we do. As we innovate and operate to make the world better, each one of us takes personal accountability for living these values and leading the way forward for our teams, our customers, our stakeholders, and the communities in which we live and work.

How we operate

Start with engineering excellence

Be accountable — from beginning to end

Apply Lean principles

Eliminate traveled work

Reward predictability and stability — everywhere in our business

How we act

Lead on safety, quality and integrity

Collaborate with humility, inclusion and transparency

Import best leadership practices

Earn stakeholder trust and preference

Respect one another and advance a global, diverse team

At face value, these Values seem almost flawless. From the very beginning it is stated that “Boeing employees are united by a shared commitment to our values, which serve as the guiding principles for all we do”, which is a huge- yet necessary- promise of unity on all levels. Words like accountable and excellence are attributed to the quality of their operations. Phrases like lead on safety, quality and integrity, best leadership practices and earn stakeholder trust are used to describe their business practices. Yet, based on the reports that surfaced in light of the deaths of 346 Boeing passengers, it became apparent that these were just Words on the Wall™. 

In fact, with regard to safety specifically, the stated value at the time that Boeing was compromising safety was:

“We value human life and well-being above all else and take action accordingly. We are personally accountable and collectively responsible for the safety of our teammates and workplaces, our products and services, and the customers that depend on them. When it comes to safety, there are no competing priorities.” Fail!

Interestingly, since writing this article, Boeing have revised their CoreVals™ and it now reads: 

“Lead on safety, quality and integrity. In everything we do and in all aspects of our business, we will make safety our top priority, strive for first-time quality, and hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.” This actually feels like a step backwards. Do they doubt their ability to keep the value they stated previously; no competing priorities? 

The saga of the 737 MAX jet began with the introduction of the new aircraft largely designed to save airlines the expense of re-training their pilots on flight simulators. For decades, Boeing was the preferred aircraft to pilots, even earning the saying “If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going." This came to a halt with the October 2018 and March 2019 aircraft crashes that Boeing was quick to blame on pilot- not mechanical or software- error. 

The Seattle Times has published a series of stories that chronicle Boeing’s 737 Max Crisis. This riveting story from beginning to end is made up of many accounts, reports and even Congressional Hearings. While planning this blog post, I found that simply the titles of some of these reports from The Seattle Times to be telling enough in where they strayed from their Values. In chronological order of publication: 

• Engineers say Boeing pushed to limit safety testing in race to certify planes, including 737 MAX
• Boeing rejected 737 MAX safety upgrades before fatal crashes, whistleblower says
• Boeing pushed FAA to relax 737 MAX certification requirements for crew alerts
• Boeing apologizes as internal memos reveal how workers spoke of deceiving regulators, airlines
• Boeing documents related to the 737 MAX jet suggest a troubling culture that prioritized costs over safety

Yikes!!! With the first crash taking place in October 2018, it took until January 2020 for the full breadth of information to become publicly available and the leadership of Boeing to be held accountable. 

The first value in Boeing’s Operations reads “Start with engineering excellence” with the first value on Action reading “Lead on safety, quality and integrity”. While it became clear over time that many engineers and others within the organization DID speak up to their superiors in an attempt to change course, it also became clear that there was no accountability WITHIN the organization to adhere to those standards. According to CNBC, a 2016 internal survey at Boeing showed a third of employees polled felt “potential undue pressure” on the job, including for safety approvals. So though the personnel within the organization DID respect and honor the values, and even identify the flawed process in an internal survey, it did not spark any change or raise any red flags as the issues made their way up the ranks. Where were those “Best leadership practices” when their very own stakeholders raised concern?  

What is also evident is that there was one value that was adhered to to a fault: Apply lean principles. This is an important value for many, especially start-ups, non-profits and other businesses whose primary concern ISN’T safety of its passengers. While this is a concept of all well-run businesses, it certainly does not belong in the CoreVals™ when the success of your business fully depends on the safety (in this case, life or death) of your customers. This focus on keeping costs low was highlighted in the January 2020 article by The Seattle Times highlighting “sober internal emails (that) reveal the pressures the pilots were under from the MAX program leadership...suggest a troubling Boeing culture that prioritized costs over safety. All the messages from the leaders of the MAX program “are about meeting schedule, not delivering quality,”

The effects on Boeing have been widespread. Beyond the internal turmoil, the once squeaky-clean image of Boeing has been tarnished in the eyes of airlines, their employees and their customers. According to Captain Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the American's pilots union, “it's not just that Boeing installed a flawed flight control system that forced both planes into uncontrollable nose dives, but pilots are outraged because the company never told pilots the system even existed. That outrage only grew when Boeing initially defended the design and suggested pilot errors were more to blame for the crashes. This was compounded by revelations that Boeing officials knew about the systems flaws before the crashes and appeared to have downplayed safety concerns.” 

It’s safe to say that these revelations have tarnished the Boeing name & reputation, though to what extent it is still unclear. In the midst of one of the most difficult times for the airline industry, it was just announced that the FAA will be soon announcing a directive on design changes and crew procedures needed to return the jet to service. With this directive will come a 45-day public comment period on the matter. Though this could mean that the aircraft will be back in the air by the end of 2020, there is sure to be more dialogue on the subject before it becomes official & the long term damage to the organization becomes apparent. Will Boeing learn from its mistakes with a new CEO and the eyes of the world watching every move? We will see! I can recommend that a great place for the new CEO to start is to make sure the CoreVals™ (as they exist today!) are brought alive, made to thrive and used to drive performance of the company through training and indoctrination programs.