He was a great one

Here is an article Fortune ran six years ago called "The Ten Greatest CEOs of All Time."

Bill Allen, CEO of Boeing from 1945 to 1972, is ranked number 2.

I mention this article because I wanted to make sure you had read the opening paragraphs, describing an event in 1956:

"It's a familiar scene. An industry under fire. A congressional committee demanding answers. A corporate CEO called to testify.

"Yet the familiarities, in this case, end there. When Boeing CEO Bill Allen appeared before a House subcommittee -- addressing charges that military aircraft makers had improperly inflated profits at the government's expense -- there was no lawyer whispering in his ear. There were no notes before him. There was no hint that he wasn't personally responsible for Boeing's actions. And when he had finished his quietly forthright explanation, there was no question that Boeing -- far from gouging the government to pad executives' bonuses -- had in fact been laying the foundations for future greatness, plowing profits into research and development. The committee's response now seems unimaginable: It erupted into a standing ovation."

The people running Boeing today, and in the recent past, could not carry Bill Allen's [athletic supporter]. Boeing achieved aviation dominion under him, and it continued under T Wilson, but it has been slowly slipping away ever since.

Posted: Thu - April 30, 2009 at 06:05 PM

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He was a great one

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