Boeing's Bad Year
David E. Johnson, CEO, Strategic Vision PR GroupTwo thousand and nineteen is drawing to a rapid close. And it cannot end one moment too, soon for Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners. To say 2019 was a bad a year for Boeing would be an understatement. It was a disastrous year. The company’s handling of the MAX 737 crisis was one of the worst examples of crisis management in recent memory. Following the March crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, aviation authorities around the world grounded the MAX 737 series and questions remain even after Boeing has gone to great lengths to fix the safety issues that led to the grounding if the plane will ever fly again. Worse it was apparent Boeing had been aware of the issues with the MAX 737 long before this crash. Boeing’s stocks took a hit and confidence in the company is at an all-time low. Just before Christmas, Boeing announced that it had fired its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, over his handling of the crisis. Yet that in itself is not a solution to the crisis that Boeing still faces.
So, what should Boeing do? It needs to take actions that will address all of its audiences – the public, stockholders, employees, and regulators.
- Firing Muilenburg was a good first step but it goes far beyond that. Boeing needs to dig deeper into the root of the issues that led to the MAX 737 crisis. This means that the current board should be replaced. The lack of Wall Street confidence goes beyond just Muilenburg to the entire board. Replacing the board would show a clean start and address investor concerns. In addition, it should terminate some senior management that did nothing to bring the MAX 737’s issues to light before the tragedy and insisted the plane was still safe despite glaring evidence that it was not.
- The company needs to bring in a new CEO from outside of the company to restore public confidence, investor confidence, regulator confidence, and employee confidence. The company needs to bring someone in as CEO who was not involved in the toxic atmosphere that led to this disaster.
- It needs to be open with regulators, admit the mistake of the past, and promise not just on the MAX 737 but on all issues, a new policy of openness.
- It needs to address employees and show how this is a new day and a new start at Boeing.
- It needs to do a media and advertising blitz again doing a mea culpa for the past and outlining the new Boeing going forward to win back public confidence.
Boeing faces a long road to regain the trust it lost in 2019. Yet if it fails to take fundamental action to fix things, 2020 will make 2019 look like a good year.
About the Author: David E. Johnson is the CEO of Strategic Vision PR Group, a public relations and public affairs agency. Additional information on him and company may be obtained at www.strategicvisionpr.com.
