My Case For Alan Mulally as UAL CEO
 

Given the current status of UAL, it's only prudent to speculate who could make an effective head of the company going forward.

My natural choice is Alan Mulally. He started his career at Boeing, rising to general manager of the 777 program, them head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division. He is currently retiring as CEO of Ford. He is a high-profile, and highly respected figure within the American business establishment, and would make a big splash if he were to head UAL. Furthermore, there's a narrative for him ride on, given UAL's current situation, much as there was at Ford.

A little trip down memory lane will have us remember that there were whispers of Mulally being a potential replacement for UAL's Creighton in 2002.

There's sufficient reason to believe that UAL's board was interested in recruiting Mulally to lead the company through what they had to have known was going to be a Ch.11 filling. His strong respect by labor at Boeing certainly made him an attractive candidate.

He's further had a strong working relationship with UAL in the past, the latter having been the launch customer for the 777, and one of four (UAL, BA, JAL, ANA) that had a close say in the design of the aircraft, an idea conceived and championed by Mulally.

For those who quip that the pay would scare him away:

His current departure from Ford has left many speculating his next move.

In sum, Mulally's history to spearhead progressive ideas (777 development process), terminate bad ones (Ford's Premier automotive group), combined with his "intimate knowledge" of UAL, makes him uniquely qualified to lead the company moving forward into the next decade.

I think that he would be a trade up for all the stakeholders.

He's 68 years old. He strengthened Boeing. He saved Ford. He's got to want a beer in the shade with his feet up. And Mrs. Mulally has probably warned him not to start so much as a pet shop.

If they dump Jeff, the best thing will be getting rid of those corny intro videos and all that loud noise when we get on the airplane. Just play the safety video and let the passengers enjoy their flight without a shpeel about wi-fi thats taking a decade to come.

It's been my experiencee that people like him basically LIVE and THRIVE for these challenges - and most would lose their minds trying to "retire" or put his feet up in the shade with a beer. Their whole life is / was devoted to it and that's all they know... Most never retire - they are more likely put out to pasture....

Yeah, good point. Don't underestimate that.

bt

After a great career at Boeing then a superstar at Ford who'd want to run an airline?

There are hundreds if not thousands of people who would make a good CEO for United (and I'm quite confident that few, if any, on FT qualify even though many think they could do a better job).

Exactly. Quit while you're ahead, etc etc.

Given his age, I have my doubts he'd take up the challenge of turning around another company. That said, it would be fascinating to see what someone with his skill-set could do with an airline. I'm still not sure if anyone could turn United into a wild success, but he's certainly as qualified as anyone.

Mulally is a good choice for United for a couple of reasons: Like Gordon, he is ex-Boeing exec who lives and breathes aviation.

More importantly, Mulally at both Boeing and Ford re-engineered two large organizations to focus on the needs of the customer as opposed to accepting a group think mentality that posited internal stakeholders know best about what the customer wants.

At Boeing, he delivered the 777 and ditched the Sonic Cruiser for the 7E7 that became the 787. The 787 of course is the fastest selling airliner in history -- and despite a lot of challenges -- is a pretty awesome piece of plastic. One UA pilot told me, "this thing prints money for UA."

On to Ford, he ditched large cars and trucks well ahead of the financial crisis to retool plants to build smaller cars like the Fiesta. GM and Chrysler were still thinking large car and truck into 2009 whereas Ford had already significantly changed course.

If Boeing had not gone after the 787 market they would have faded away in the commercial airliner business. At Ford they would have followed GM and Chrysler into BK but instead were able to survive the GFC without BK and service the UAW pension and medical plans. Mulally gets a lot of credit for both strategies.

While St. Alan (as the SEA press has dubbed him for the outsourcing debacle that was the 787 program) has his detractors, he understands customers. In his organizations, he seems a step ahead of demand and demonstrates a passion for what his customers need and want. Under his leadership, BCA and Ford were success stories.

The UA BOD would be foolish not to offer him a job if he wanted it. I am sure that SMI/J could line up a teaching position at Yale law if he wanted.....

Mullaly occurred to me, also. He would do an incredible job but I doubt he would want to take it on. His family did not move to Detroit and he commuted via private jet. I doubt that would look good to United's shareholders.

That said, he would be an ideal choice.

I think Mr. Pillows is the obvious choice

Alan would be a great choice. One of the many talents he offers is the ability to get both customers and employees excited about the product. He has done an excellent job with that concept at Boeing and most recently Ford. Not only do customers and employees need to see light at the end of the tunnel, customers need to not have to work to do business with United. Right now among many other problems, it takes quite a bit of effort to do business with UA. IMHO

He would be perfect no matter the cost. He is why CEO compensation has grown so high over the years. Too bad other CEO's are bench-marked to this standard.

I'd bet he would love the challenge. In fact, he could work 2 days per week and accomplish twice as much as the current CEO.

Let's make the phone call.