Todos
← Back to Squawk list
Boeing CEO’s penchant for cost-cutting doesn’t apply to his trips on the company jet
When it comes to building planes, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is all about streamlining costs. An accountant by training, Calhoun has prioritized fiscal discipline over his four years at the helm, tightening the belt to free up cash flow and put the company on better financial footing. ... Boeing reported in a regulatory filing that ... Calhoun got an extra half-million dollars worth of personal private jet travel on the company’s dime that had previously been improperly recorded as business travel. (www.cnn.com) Más...It has been many years, but on an American Airlines flight from DFW to SFO on a DC-10 (THAT long ago), seated next to me in First Class was....BOB CRANDALL, the airline's CEO! We carried on a conversation for most of the flight. The man was brilliant; it took everything I had to keep up with him.
On another trip, where I was traveling by Amtrak train between the Northeast and Florida, I was seated at a dining car table with W. Graham Claytor, then Amtrak president. He explained how he always preferred to travel overnight by himself, in a single-bed sleeping car room, and to share a dining car table as other passengers did. Later we hung out at an open Dutch door window, watching the scenery. He was as brilliant as Crandall.
These days, CEOs travel on private jets, and in the case of Amtrak, if not flying, then in a private car which is only one of several cars reserved for him and his entourage, with an exclusive handpicked crew to serve them. In the case of Amtrak, this is in addition to a large bonus, from a company which loses money, were it not for the dollars of tax money shoveled into it by the largesse of the politicos.
On another trip, where I was traveling by Amtrak train between the Northeast and Florida, I was seated at a dining car table with W. Graham Claytor, then Amtrak president. He explained how he always preferred to travel overnight by himself, in a single-bed sleeping car room, and to share a dining car table as other passengers did. Later we hung out at an open Dutch door window, watching the scenery. He was as brilliant as Crandall.
These days, CEOs travel on private jets, and in the case of Amtrak, if not flying, then in a private car which is only one of several cars reserved for him and his entourage, with an exclusive handpicked crew to serve them. In the case of Amtrak, this is in addition to a large bonus, from a company which loses money, were it not for the dollars of tax money shoveled into it by the largesse of the politicos.
In other words, there was a time when the CEO took pride in the company he ran, subjected himself to the same experience as his own customers, and considered bad performance to be a direct reflection of his own integrity and ability to lead.
I don't fully blame the CEOs but they're not off the hook either. CEOs answer to someone. Start looking into the Board of Directors. Look into their own businesses, the other boards they may sit on, their outside affiliations and the kinds of causes they support, and I'm betting you'll find a pattern.
Unless you've been sleeping or are in denial, it's very clear that many of biggest companies in corporate America have been infected with certain ideologies and it's not that difficult to find unscrupulous people who will prioritize social agendas over company excellence and customer service -- or even public safety -- for the right price.
I don't fully blame the CEOs but they're not off the hook either. CEOs answer to someone. Start looking into the Board of Directors. Look into their own businesses, the other boards they may sit on, their outside affiliations and the kinds of causes they support, and I'm betting you'll find a pattern.
Unless you've been sleeping or are in denial, it's very clear that many of biggest companies in corporate America have been infected with certain ideologies and it's not that difficult to find unscrupulous people who will prioritize social agendas over company excellence and customer service -- or even public safety -- for the right price.
A $45 million dollar retirement package along with everything else. No wonder Boeing can't afford quality controls.
Like most CEOs cost cutting does not apply to them. Remember arsehole supreme Robert Crandall, previous CEO of defunct American Airlines, all he could say was "you need to cut costs".