One of the most astonishing announcements I've heard of late comes not from an automaker, but from a company in a completely different industry-at least I think it's a different industry. Boeing.
Listen to Phil Condit, Boeing chairman and CEO: "Simply put, we intend to run Boeing as a business that has the flexibility to move capital and talent to the opportunities that maximize shareholder value." And I thought that they built airplanes. But there it is: "a business that has the flexibility to move capital and talent." The guys at Airbus-its competitor in the commercial sector-and Lockheed Martin-with which it competes in the military sector-must be scratching their heads at that observation.
Now the reason that I'm not sure about what industry it is in goes beyond that comment. Condit said, "Boeing has a wealth of opportunities in our new definition of the aerospace industry." That definition includes communications, information services, and even financial services. (Sort of sounds like GE, which makes lots of money by doing things with money; perhaps Condit and GE's Jack Welch got together at some point during discussions of putting GE jet engines on Boeing airplanes).
The startling thing is that Boeing is going to move its headquarters from Seattle to the metro areas of Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, or Denver. Condit: "As we've grown, we have determined that our headquarters needs to be in a location central to all our operating units, customers, and the financial community-but separate from our existing operations." Perhaps they ought to look at Wall St.
OK. We've long defined (internally, anyway) AD&P as being about things with "wheels, no wings." So why talk about Boeing?
Simple. Read those quotes. The sound suspiciously like the things uttered by auto executives of late. The only thing missing is an Internet reference or two (hundred).
The auto people who say things like that don't necessarily make the world's greatest cars. Here's hoping that as it is moving all of that capital and talent around Boeing keeps its eye on building great planes.
