What is it with the stuffed shirts at Boeing? The second CEO in a row has been fired in a scandal involving inappropriate relationships with women who work for them.
Phil Condit, former CEO, resigned in disgrace. Luckily for him, his private life was not the main reason, just one of many,
- He oversaw a manufacturing crisis that took Wall Street — and the board — by surprise and ultimately caused the company to take a $2.6 billion write-down.
- The CFO during his tenure is now serving prison time for illegally recruiting a top Air Force official to the company
- Boeing’s stock fell 6.5% under Condit — while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 61.8%.
While proving to be a terrible manager, Condit also proved that he had quite a shady private life, including marrying his first cousin (ewwww). This Business Week profile is devastating,
Condit’s personal life was similarly prone to excess, and it began to raise eyebrows within the company and among directors.
After his second marriage, to a Boeing secretary, broke up in 1990, Condit
embarked on a relationship with a Boeing receptionist, Laverne Hawthorne. They
dated for about six months — until Condit got promoted to president in 1992.
About the same time, the company’s customer relations department downsized, and
Hawthorne was issued a pink slip. She told BusinessWeek that she immediately
went to see him in his office and reminded him of promises he had made to her.
As Hawthorne recalls it, she looked him in the eye and said: “One of us in this
room has balls, and it certainly isn’t you.” Then she stormed out. Hawthorne
declines to say whether she filed a wrongful-termination suit against Condit or
received a settlement from the company, but several Boeing executives say both
happened. “Former Boeing director Charles M. Piggott, retired chairman of Paccar Inc.,
had expressed concern to several senior Boeing executives about Condit’s
behavior. Piggott did not return calls seeking comment. Said one Boeing lawyer
to a senior Boeing executive: “We have another Bill Clinton on our hands.”
The man that replaced Condit, Harry Stonecipher, was a well respected aersopace executive who was CEO of Northrup Grumman until it was acquired by Boeing. He is pushing 70, gruff, opinionated and known as a good manager. He had done a respectable job of turning Boeing around and helping them get past some of these ethical lapses.
That was until the shocking news this morning that he too could not keep his pants on, at least around the hotties who apparently work within the Boeing coprorate offices,
Boeing Fires CEO for Improper Relationship
CHICAGO, Mar. 7, 2005
(AP) Boeing Co. abruptly forced out its president and chief executive officer, Harry Stonecipher, for what the company said Monday was a violation of the company’s code of business conduct stemming from a relationship the married, 68-year-old Stonecipher had with a female Boeing executive. The stunning ouster makes Stonecipher the second CEO to depart the Chicago-based airplane maker and defense contractor in disgrace in the past 15 months.
Speaking of Bill Clinton, how long before he tosees his hat into the ring as the next CEO?