Booming Boeing

Nobody would mistake Boeing's new CEO, Philip M. Condit, for a clotheshorse. But on a recent "casual Friday" at the company's Seattle headquarters, he changed outfits four times--from racquetball togs to slacks and a V-neck sweater for morning meetings, then into a coat and tie for a luncheon speech to a veterans' group, back into casual duds for a visit to the factory floor, and then into a suit for an evening event. Call him a chameleon: This chief executive doesn't want appearances to get in the way of a good relationship.

Only the seventh man to lead Boeing Co. in its 80-year history, Condit, by background and demeanor, seems particularly attuned to this era. Unlike his more formal predecessors, the gregarious Condit is as comfortable in engineering meetings or on the factory floor as in the executive office. He has done stints in aircraft design, marketing, sales, and project management, and he led the early development of the computer-designed 777 widebody. But perhaps his most contemporary and un-Boeing-like quality is his strong interest in the people side of the business. If Condit's avowed desire to bestow on Boeing "a focus on people, on the role they have in the organization" is more than just talk, it could make him the right man at the right time. With all that Boeing has on its plate right now, motivating its 118,000 employees to perform at their peak is crucial.