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You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing
The first book to explore the unique leadership style of Boeing’s acclaimed CEO
Jim McNerney was one of Jack Welch’s top protégés at General Electric and a finalist to replace the retiring Welch as CEO. McNerney lost that competition in 2001, but since then he has emerged as one of the most effective leaders of his generation.
You Can’t Order Change tells the amazing story of McNerney’s turnaround at the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer, which had faced a series of tough problems. Boeing is extremely hard to run, with more than $66 billion in annual revenue and 161,000 employees. A new product like the 787 Dreamliner costs billions to develop over many years, with global production hurdles and little margin for error.
Peter Cohan interviewed people who worked with McNerney throughout his career to explain why his consensus-driven style sets him apart. The title comes from a McNerney quote about the importance of winning hearts and minds with a clear vision of future success.
McNerney combines Midwestern integrity and humility with the brilliance and drive of a Harvard Business School and McKinsey alum. This book reveals his approach to accountability, growth, cost cutting, leadership development, customer focus, and other universal challenges.
Jim McNerney was one of Jack Welch’s top protégés at General Electric and a finalist to replace the retiring Welch as CEO. McNerney lost that competition in 2001, but since then he has emerged as one of the most effective leaders of his generation.
You Can’t Order Change tells the amazing story of McNerney’s turnaround at the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer, which had faced a series of tough problems. Boeing is extremely hard to run, with more than $66 billion in annual revenue and 161,000 employees. A new product like the 787 Dreamliner costs billions to develop over many years, with global production hurdles and little margin for error.
Peter Cohan interviewed people who worked with McNerney throughout his career to explain why his consensus-driven style sets him apart. The title comes from a McNerney quote about the importance of winning hearts and minds with a clear vision of future success.
McNerney combines Midwestern integrity and humility with the brilliance and drive of a Harvard Business School and McKinsey alum. This book reveals his approach to accountability, growth, cost cutting, leadership development, customer focus, and other universal challenges.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published December 26, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 25, 2023
You Can't Order Change is a textbook example and case study of how the leader at the top can drive behavior throughout a struggling organization.
Boeing prior to McNerney's time was a company known for troubles and corruption. Leaders were unethical and in some cases were illegal. McNerney came in and changed that culture and created a true turnaround in the business. If you look at stock prices for Boeing during his tenure it doesn't look like the typical EKG chart with radical up and downs. With the exception of the recession of 2008-2009 Boeing had a steady growth incline. With little to go on this makes me believe that the tactics discussed in this book, were driving factors. After Jim, you see radical swings in value in both up and down directions.
The topics the author highlights are:
1) Make people 15% better
2) Lead groups to higher ground
3) Profitability vs. Stock Price
4) Build customer focus
5) Invest in strengths
6) Grow through people, not deals
7) Tackle challenges quickly and effectively
8) Tighten operations with process improvement
9) Partner with suppliers to minimize risk
10) Make ethics a competitive advantage.
11) Reduce the company's environmental footprint
As an audiobook on leadership goes this is a very easy book to listen to and take notes. It is very much a textbook. The author tells you what he is going to tell you, tells you, expands, and summarizes. This gives you ample time to write (or in my case voice text into Evernote) the lessons.
Where this book falls down a little is I'm not sure if this is written as a business case for the lessons or lessons from a business case. A business case for the lessons this is excellent (a 5 star) if this is supposed to be more autobiographical on how McNerney developed his style it falls a little short.
In any case I don't think that any of these lessons are bad for leaders, he has definitely been influenced by some of the great minds in leadership such as Zigler, Maxwell, Covey and others.
Overall good read and case study geared to upper managers.
Boeing prior to McNerney's time was a company known for troubles and corruption. Leaders were unethical and in some cases were illegal. McNerney came in and changed that culture and created a true turnaround in the business. If you look at stock prices for Boeing during his tenure it doesn't look like the typical EKG chart with radical up and downs. With the exception of the recession of 2008-2009 Boeing had a steady growth incline. With little to go on this makes me believe that the tactics discussed in this book, were driving factors. After Jim, you see radical swings in value in both up and down directions.
The topics the author highlights are:
1) Make people 15% better
2) Lead groups to higher ground
3) Profitability vs. Stock Price
4) Build customer focus
5) Invest in strengths
6) Grow through people, not deals
7) Tackle challenges quickly and effectively
8) Tighten operations with process improvement
9) Partner with suppliers to minimize risk
10) Make ethics a competitive advantage.
11) Reduce the company's environmental footprint
As an audiobook on leadership goes this is a very easy book to listen to and take notes. It is very much a textbook. The author tells you what he is going to tell you, tells you, expands, and summarizes. This gives you ample time to write (or in my case voice text into Evernote) the lessons.
Where this book falls down a little is I'm not sure if this is written as a business case for the lessons or lessons from a business case. A business case for the lessons this is excellent (a 5 star) if this is supposed to be more autobiographical on how McNerney developed his style it falls a little short.
In any case I don't think that any of these lessons are bad for leaders, he has definitely been influenced by some of the great minds in leadership such as Zigler, Maxwell, Covey and others.
Overall good read and case study geared to upper managers.
January 1, 2009
This is a cold book; no life beyond the title and its bullet points. Cohen diminishes McNerney's name through constant repetition in every paragraph.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews