Boeing boss flies into sex storm

[emad]

BBC

Boeing chief executive Harry Stonecipher has stepped down after the firm asked for and received his resignation on Sunday.

The move followed an investigation into "a personal relationship between Stonecipher and a female executive of the company", Boeing said.

The US aerospace giant said that chief financial officer James Bell would replace him on an interim basis.

It also said chairman Lew Platt would assume an expanded role at Boeing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4325769.stm

[Demeter]

1. So, They Fired the HIgher Ranked, Male Lover?

Either the Millenium has finally arrived, or it's a smoke screen for something much more heinous.

I'm betting on heinous financial or maybe political miscues.

[Nimrod]

2. And another CEO

Floats gently away on a golden parachute the size of South America. I'm starting to think these corporate monsters are deliberately sabotaging themselves so they can grab all their severence before the Dollar vanishes completely.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I'm wondering why there was no moral turpitude clause in his

golden parachute? Shouldn't they lose those benes if they do something that brings moral shame to the company?

[Nimrod]

7. Who do you think creates these packages?

The ones who design these humongous rewards are the ones who will receive them.

[lonestarnot]

11. Oh you may have something there! n/t

[KlatooBNikto]

3. My question is: why are they firing any one for something as innocent

and non threatening as sex? especially when mutual consent appears to be involved?

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Some large corps

have anti-nepotism rules.

I know General Mills does. I don't know about Boeing.

[bemildred]

6. A good question.

Although various places I have worked had "rules" against
shaggin your co-workers, they were uniformly ignored unless
some further misbehavior/malfunction/non-performance forced
the issue.

[Jonathan_Hoag]

8. Were they also selectively enforced against men?

I mean the "female executive" is not even named, much less fired.
It takes two to tango and to have sex. She is as responsible as he is.

[bemildred]

10. I'm saying they were not enforced at all.

On those occasions when something was done because someone
shit on the floor in some other way, who got punished and how
was very political and tended to depend on what was good for
the higher level bosses, and it could go either way depending
on your EEOC climate, who "picked the winner", etc. Some
people are not allowed to fail, for instance, and it's not a
gender specific issue: look at Ms Fiorina, look at Ken Lay,
then look at Martha Stewart.

[Jonathan_Hoag]

15. What I am asking is

that ok, a person does something else, they get fired for "having sex". But I can't imagine, in today's corporate climate, a woman being fired for having sex while her partner is not fired. However, the oposite happens every day.

"Gender equality" my ass.

[bemildred]

18. So your beef is that women don't get in trouble for "sexual harassment".

That is true, in my experience, and it can be annoying,
unless they are really egregious about it, and then it is
called "stalking" or something.

However I do read stories now and then where some female
boss gets canned for shagging or harassing her minions,
but it's less common. I would say that power corrupts the
genders in much the same way, but the manifestations are
often different.

[NashVegas]

13. Industrial Espionage?

An affair leaves one open for blackmail and pillow talk, I'd reckon.

[emad]

17. Good cover story for something else? Nothing like a sex scandal

to paper over any cracks...

[emad]

9. Predecessor Phil Condit....any relation to Gary C?

Snip:

His predecessor, Phil Condit, resigned Dec. 1, 2003, as a result of the defense contracting scandals that ultimately sent two Boeing executives ex-Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun and chief financial officer Mike Sears to jail.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=557586

[inslee08]

21. No

No relation.

[Vladimir]

12. This sounds very strange

He had a consentual relationship with someone who "did not report directly to him". "The investigation determined the relationship... had no effect on the conduct of the company's business". And then he was fired? Why do I feel the whole story is not being told?

[colorado_ufo]

14. Setting aside momentarily

issues of poor judgment, the following facts are of concern:

1) Information was sent "anonymously" to the "legal and ethics leaders";

2) Suddenly on Friday, before any public announcement of the problem or of Boeing's decision, "the US Air Force lifted a 20-month ban that prevented Boeing from bidding for its satellite-launching contracts."

I don't have to go any further. You can figure the rest yourself.

[bemildred]

19. Dang, good research. The roadblock done been removed. nt

[Ripley]

16. ACK! Here he is...

I think he is an ugly asshole with a wife, kids and grandchildren.

[artr2]

20. Was it raining tits??

LOL

[flamingyouth]

22. This is odd

I wonder what the real story is? Stonecipher has been lousy ever since he came to Boeing.

I used to work with his wife in a charitable capacity.

[megatherium]

23. Anyone remember the Michael Douglas movie Full Disclosure,

based on the Michael Crichton novel? A very good movie which showed a man getting sexually harassed by a female superior. Folks complained about the movie as being unrealistic, since it's usually men pressuring women for sexual favors, but the movie actually did a good job of showing its male audience what it's like to be on the receiving end of this kind of abuse.

[cosmicdot]

24. Bu$h** contributor

STONECIPHER, HARRY C MR
CHICAGO,IL 60606
BOEING/C E O
4/20/2004
$5,000
National Republican Congressional Cmte

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?txtName=Stonecipher&NumOfThou=0&txt2004=Y&submit=Go%21

are Falwell and Robertson up in arms?

[shantipriya]

25. Stonecipher!

Is he a Repug? If so, what does the "moral values" crowd have to say about him?

[banana republican]

26. After Retiring From BOEING

I doubt very much that this is *only* about sex.

Boeing seldom "fires" anyone. Most of the terminations have to do with Alcohol or Drug abuse (on your next airplane ride would you like the plane to have been built by a drunk). One of the senior managers last fall was said to have bilked the company out of several hundred thousand dollars. He was not "fired" but he "left the company to pursue other interests"

Nepotism is rampant at Boeing. Some families have worked at Boeing for 3 generations. The only prohibition is that one of them cannot supervise the other. I have known a large number of married co-workers. Some of them working in the same organization.

In any event Harry's termination is one of the BEST things that could happen to the company. Ever since he took over the company in 1997 he has ran it into the ground.