A tale of two cities

Sometimes you can tell a book its’ cover.  Consider these two incidents that occurred within a day of each other.

In Seattle, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg magnanimously offered to refuse his annual bonus.  Based on prior years this amounts to about $20 million.  Not a small amount but consider that under his watch the Boeing 737 program has ground to a complete halt and two Boeing 737 MAX crashes took over 340 lives in the past year.  The board will take his offer under advisement but this is the same board that has kept him on during this fiasco so don’t look for them to act on the offer. 

Hell, even if they do withhold it for a year, Muilenburg will somehow have to carry on with the $20 million he received last year.  I think it’s fair to say that he will manage to survive.

In Chicago, the very next day, Steve Easterbrook, CEO at McDonald’s, resigned at the request of the board because he violated a company policy about having a consensual intimate relationship with a direct or indirect subordinate.

Lest we have too much concern about Easterbrook’s future, he is leaving with almost $40 million of stock option and a generous severance package.

But finances aside, what do we learn about the culture at each company?

Boeing seems to conclude that the loss of 340 lives and a long term diminish of its reputation is not grounds for summary dismissal.  It is essentially saying to Muilenburg ‘…you got us into this mess, you get us out of it. Optics don’t matter; a questionable corporate culture does not matter; stockholders don’t matter.  It is the bottom line that rules.

McDonald’s though values its’ company image and its’ culture.  Despite a doubling of the stock price under Easterbrook’s guidance, the policies of the company must be upheld by everyone, without exception.

I have long held that authentic leadership must be ethically, morally and legally grounded.  If not, then all standards are only guidelines and are situational…let’s look at the circumstances before we hold anyone to account.

These two companies have a public persona that is vastly different.  When push comes to shove, which one will have your back?  Which one represents your values?  And why do many in Corporate America not understand the difference!