Lessons from the Titans

Lessons from the Titans tells the story of some of the biggest industrial companies in the United States and presents life-long strategies, valuable ideas, and mistakes to avoid for any business who wants to achieve long-term success.

There were times when GE’s lights weren’t shining so bright and Boeing was facing major turbulences. When Welch became the CEO of GE in the 80s, he took a lot of risks. Some parts were justified and brought plenty of revenue in. However, the success may have gotten to his head.

GE formed two branches: the one focusing on its core business, and another one that acted more like a bank for its customers. They lent risky credits, issued bonds and credit cards, and spent money in other risky businesses. As a result, GE created a bubble ready to pop. However, management effectiveness couldn’t be questioned.

The culture just didn’t permit it. The outcome? GE fell tremendously during the 2008 crisis. Luckily, Warren Buffett and the US government stepped in and saved it from bankruptcy. Boeing faced a similar story when they produced faulty 737 MAX airplanes that ended up crashing twice in 2019.

The major issue reported by employees was that management was chasing profits and not listening to the workers when they encountered problems. With so much arrogance and so many deals with Wall Street on the table at the top, who was taking care of the core business and the employees? No one, therefore Boeing collapsed.

Nowadays, companies often promote workplace security, values, and principles at the core of their business, and hide their greed for profits. Let’s take the example of Boeing once again. Obviously, this company magnate dominates the market in their industry and has met tremendous success.

Still, greed caught up with it, up to a point that Boeing’s executives were getting into shady deals with Wall Street, fixing books with the accounting department, pushing production just to meet targets, and keeping everything hidden from the public eye. Again, the fault begins with executives and the culture of canceling whistleblowers.

Greed plays a huge role in the downfall or dissolving of companies. Short-term profits can overshadow long-term prosperity and even cost lives. For example, in Boeing’s quest to compete with Airbus and push production of the 737 MAX, they deliberately failed to train pilots on the new features of the plane.

Even worse, they didn’t even try to let them know about these changes. The result was hundreds of lost lives, two crashed airplanes in 2019, and a declining stock followed by negative figures. The lesson here is to never let short-term profits take over the bigger picture and shadow the core values of your company.