Middlesex Aerospace’s Post

With 24,000 employees and a 20,000-mile rail network, it can be challenging to keep #safety at the forefront of everyday decisions. CN had a cause-and-effect #SafetyCulture. Partnering with DEKRA resulted in a better understanding of how to manage safety, thanks to an emphasis on #leadership, #communication, and building relationships with employees. After only two years, the results of working with DEKRA weren’t just good—they were stunning. Read the full case study here. #Transportation https://brnw.ch/21wIPR7

👇 This is an electric and incredibly powerful video ⚡ It's an uncomfortable watch and shows the CEO of Boeing being questioned by a US Senator. Putting aside the issue of whether the questioning is fair on the CEO, or whether there is an element of political grandstanding by the Senator (opinions will vary on both these things) it is a prime example of this: 🆘 In organisations, you get the behaviours that you reward. Listening to the video, in Boeing's case, these behaviours appear to have included: ➡ Huge incentivisation for the CEO to drive up profits and increase share price, leading to..... ➡ Cost cutting by shedding critical staff ➡ Outsourcing critical capabilities ➡ Awarding minimal pay rises for employees (while the C-suite are handsomely compensated with very large pay rises and bonuses) ➡ Victimisation of whistleblowers ➡ ...and the list goes on For the record, I believe that Boeing is one of the world's great companies and undoubtedly employs many brilliant and hard working people. I like flying on Boeing jets and I believe that it can and will recover. However, this appears to have been a serious failure of corporate leadership. This is a problem that is not just limited to Boeing. Many large publicly traded corporates operate in similar ways. And here's why..... Ultimately, institutional shareholders, who control large blocks of equity (that they can easily sell at short notice) have huge leverage. They put tremendous pressure on Boards to continually maximise short term financial returns in return for these institutions remaining as shareholders. Obviously, if these institutions sold their stake, it would drive the share price down, which can often have terminal consequences for CEOs. Thus, Boards incentivise CEOs - to arguably ludicrous degrees - to appease the short term performance desires of shareholders. These shareholders are much more concerned with short term performance than with long term performance or with softer (but actually strategic) issues like employee engagement, happiness, retention, reputation and loyalty. They know they can easily sell their shares / stock and go elsewhere if things don't work out financially. So, the long term is not really a concern to them. Employee feelings and morale can often come well down the list. This all leads to the quarterly financial ‘panics’ that one tends to see in many larger publicly traded businesses. It certainly seems to have led to the behaviours seen in this example. As ever, it is all about human behaviour. P.s There ARE publicly-traded businesses out there with excellent leadership that don't behave in this way. I know a few. #leadership #humanbehaviour

I sold $30M+ of technology to Boeing and its many divisions in my early sales days. This was when Boeing was "the gold standard" of companies, working with Deming's TQM (Total Quality Management) process - in fact, as a vendor we were invited to attend their TQM program. In the last number of years, Boeing's brand has trashed and it is so unfortunate knowing what pride the leadership took when I worked with them. Boeing employees and pilots say they don't trust company leadership. Zero confidence in Boeing leadership, say some. This is a lesson to leaders everywhere - your reputation and good word is what sets you apart. When it is gone, it is nearly impossible (if at all possible) to rebuild. Never forget that. Sellers, and sales managers- how can you build on your word this week? #sales #reputation

Interesting panel discussion today at the The Economic Club of Grand Rapids on “Navigating the Current State of the Auto Industry” with - Christina Keller President of Cascade Engineering - Tobias Banik President of Tesa North America and - Jonathon Husby CEO of ADAC Automotive Moderated by Mike Wall Several themes that stuck out as these companies look to the future: Diversification. Automation. - talent supply - #ESG / Sustainability. Most importantly, I heard about key #leadership acquisitions - getting the right people in the right seats on the bus. Culture is everything.

It's a huge and important question - I have just written an article with my thoughts on how to approach the culture of "shut up and cover up". https://lnkd.in/drXex5zE

The United States, for national security reasons and for industrial competitiveness reasons, cannot afford to have Boeing disappear. It must find a way to solve its problems. There is no other alternative. A new article from Liz Fedor does a terrific job of highlighting Boeing's challenges and what needs to be done for the company to move forward. Thank you, Liz, for featuring some of my thoughts in the new Twin Cities Business article. Read the story here: https://lnkd.in/eaabQEgr #Boeing #Leadership #Challenges

This aerospace & defense manufacturer won several programs, and they were growing rapidly. Their warehouse, which supplied several production lines, became a bottleneck.  We were able to help them:  - Increase picking capacity by 42%  - Reduced picking lead times by 67%  - Reduce receiving lead time (dock to stock) by 75% Read below to learn how we were able to help this manufacturer get the abovementioned results. #lean #leadership #manufacturing #operations #leanmanufacturing 

This aerospace & defense manufacturer won several programs, and they were growing rapidly. Their warehouse, which supplied several production lines, became a bottleneck.  We were able to help them:  - Increase picking capacity by 42%  - Reduced picking lead times by 67%  - Reduce receiving lead time (dock to stock) by 75% Read below to learn how we were able to help this manufacturer get the abovementioned results. #lean #leadership #manufacturing #operations #leanmanufacturing 

When profitability prevails on safety & transparency, the evil side of business. A sad chapter for such a great company, that will hopefully act as a wake-up call and will lead to radical changes in their leadership & strategy.

#NJBIZConversations ▶️ Peter Connolly, the new CEO of the NJMEP, discusses the challenges facing manufacturers, what his priorities are for the organization and what it means to replace a prominent leader in the industry. https://lnkd.in/gSSZjHy7