[IshanMi]

Personally, I think the issue isn't one of degrees or qualifications, but rather one of values.

The CEO prior to this one (Muilenburg) also had degrees in Aerospace Engineering, but chose to value profit maximization over things like security and a good engineering culture. Innocent people had to pay the price for it.

[colinng]

Are we reading the same sources? The ex-CEO, David Calhoun, has a degree in accounting.

https://www.boeing.com/company/bios/david-l-calhoun

> Calhoun has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Virginia Tech.

[IshanMi]

You're right about Calhoun- I was actually referring to Dennis Muilenburg, the CEO who was fired in 2019 after the two 737 MAX crashes and the subsequent groundings. My comment wasn't clear enough- I'll edit it for clarity.

[p_l]

The CEOs that triggered various financialization moves were engineers by background, too

[Andoryuuta]

The former CEO does (Dennis Muilenburg), but not David Calhoun.

[elygre]

David Calhoun is the current CEO until the end of the year.

[cryptos]

Isn't accounting "finance engineering"? :-)

[mlrtime]

I personally don't see a big reason why the CEO of Boeing needs a Engineering degree. This seems to me to be a scapegoat, there are plenty of bad CEOs with Engineering degrees.

I'd argue that the COO or another position needs to have this qualification and have the power to bring up these risks to the CEO/Board. Someone needs to understanding engineering, be close to the ground but also have the power to bring things up to the CEO to make appropriate decisions.

[_giorgio_]

Clearly you don't have a degree in engineering.

If you had one, you would know how much you need to suffer to explain to non technical people why a development direction is better than another, and how much it will profit the company in the end.

[ttyprintk]

You could tone this better. The clearest argument is that cost cutting for stock buybacks involves the same thinking, whether accountant or engineer. Since 2014, the CEO is explicitly compensated this way.

[arkey]

That's the whole point. That's precisely why you need managers with backgrounds in engineering in a business based on engineering.