His first meeting as head of the jet engine business was with Bob Crandall, the powerful and notoriously cranky CEO of American Airlines. McNerney urged him to buy the new GE engine. Crandall said he wouldn’t buy it. American Airlines was buying the Rolls-Royce engine. McNerney told him the GE engine was superior. “Well,” Crandall replied, “you’ve got to go fix that fucking engine before you sell it to me, and fix your boss when you do that.”
