Judge Boeing, U.S. Aerospace on How They Handle Failure

Innovation is core to America’s success as a great nation.

Innovation not only fueled our economic growth and improved our standard of living, but it helped protect us from the world’s totalitarians. For centuries, American companies have developed new technologies, which have enabled significant global progress.

However, in the process of any great discovery, mistakes are inevitable. Which is why we should measure the true strength of a company by how it responds to its mistakes.

Boeing is one such example of a great American innovator that has recently made mistakes.

Since its founding in 1916, Boeing has been at the forefront of aviation, helping bring safe and accessible air travel to people around the world for more than 100 years. It has also been an important innovator in space travel, satellites and national defense.

The company recently suffered a notable setback when a door plug separated from a 737 MAX on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

There is no doubt that Boeing has significant work to do to rebuild trust in the 737 MAX, and that has been well documented in the media. However, I highly doubt Boeing leadership, nor anyone who works at the company for that matter, thinks they can succeed without making the safest and most dependable products on the market.

And if you listen to the company’s leadership, it is clear that they are already working overtime to fix the problem and restore public trust.

Since the incident, Boeing has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to figure out what exactly went wrong. They have outlined steps to improve production quality and safety, including layering additional inspections further into their supply chain and increasing the training of its’ employees.

Of note, Boeing recently hired an outsider, U.S. Navy Admiral Kirkland H. Donald (ret.), to conduct a thorough review of the company’s quality management systems. A former director of the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program, Admiral Donald is a widely-respected expert in complex safety operations, having served as an officer on nuclear submarines for decades — and submarines, like airplanes, leave no room for error when it comes to safety.

Admiral Donald is custom built for the job of scrutinizing Boeing at every step. And it is revealing that Boeing has sought out someone of his reputation and expertise to help them find solid safety solutions moving forward.

Americans should feel assured that Boeing is opening itself up to not only internal reviews, but also multiple third-party reviews to ensure its airplanes are safe. And why wouldn’t they? Safety equals success.

Let’s not forget that it is also in America’s best interest for Boeing to succeed. Boeing is one of just two major commercial airplane manufacturers, the other being French.

Boeing is an iconic American manufacturing company, directly employing nearly 150,000 people across the United States, which doesn’t even include the major economic impacts stemming from their large supply chain. We can support both Boeing’s role in American manufacturing while also holding it accountable for high safety and quality standards.

And Boeing is clearly holding itself accountable to the highest safety and quality standards.

I will be watching Boeing closely in the coming weeks and months to see how they respond to the challenges in front of them. Boeing’s CEO, Dave Calhoun, has been upfront about acknowledging the company’s mistakes and his commitment to improvement, but what he does next will determine how Boeing will be measured by the American people moving forward.

Boeing is an iconic American company, and the future of American aerospace innovation will depend on how they continue to respond to recent mistakes. I will continue to measure Boeing on their performance, and will be proud when they succeed.