Boeing: wait, there’s more

Purpose The unfolding story of Boeing enables increased understanding of what transpired, of how what happened. That understanding enables fuller, more nuanced, specific, and useful recommendations for organizational leaders everywhere. Design/methodology/approach Compiling key events in Boeing’s migration from symbol of acclaimed quality products to a troubled maker of a repeatedly (and fatally so) flawed product ground interpretation and extraction of lessons for organizational leaders. Findings Restoring Boeing’s legacy of trust and industry leadership would demand more than words. It will demand rethinking strategic direction and implementation, such as restructuring its work systems, particularly the decision-making processes, and aligning them with long-term goals of quality, safety, and innovation. Boeing needs a coordinated effort to rebuild its culture, an effort necessarily comparable to the effort it employed to disassemble it. Practical implications This paper assists readers in understanding what underlies the Boeing story, indeed the Boeing tragedy. The facts testify to the decay and rot at Boeing. The facts alone, even when combined with first pass “sense making” under headings such as “culture” and “short term focus”, do not adequately explain what produced the facts. This paper attempts to provide that explanation in the service of furthering learning and improving future actions by organizational leaders, especially concerning their development and implementation of strategy. Social implications Boeing offers a cautionary tale-fatality, destruction of value, and erosion of employee well-being. Organizing this tale, as the article does, through both application of theory and extraction of lessons, moves the tale beyond frightening to understanding of underlying leadership and of how to avoid replicating Boeing's tragedy. Originality/value This paper assists readers in understanding what underlies the Boeing story, indeed the Boeing tragedy. The facts testify to the decay and rot at Boeing. The facts alone, even when combined with first pass “sense making” under headings such as “culture” and “short term focus”, do not sufficiently explain what produced the facts. This paper attempts to provide that explanation in the service of furthering learning and improving future actions by organizational leaders, especially concerning their development and implementation of strategy.