Executive Interview

Laurette Koellner

Vice President of The Boeing Company

President, Shared Services Group

Effective Enterprises

January 31, 2002

Laurette KoellnerPresidentShared Services Group

• Joined Boeing in 1978, in current position since November 2000

• Shared Services Group provides infrastructure support to The Boeing Company operating organizations– Computing, Voice, Security and Fire, Facilities

Management– Travel Management, Recruiting and Relocation

• Serves on the board of Seattle’s Intiman Theatre and on the board of directors of Exostar – an aerospace e-business trading exchange

Laurette KoellnerPresident, Shared Services Group

• Koellner held a variety of management positions during her 19 years with McDonald Douglas Corporation including division Human Resources Director and Director of Overhead Management

• Bachelor’s degree in business management from University of Central Florida, and a Master’s degree in business administration from Stetson University in Florida.

Leadership Style / Philosophy

• Definitely inclusive• Values everyone’s ideas• Delegates but feels accountable• Has 1-to-1 relationships with people in many

organizational levels• Organization levels do not matter if you’re

sincere• Answers her own electronic mail

Impact of style

• Put the right people in place and trust them• You earn people’s trust, you are not entitled

because of your position on an org chart• Encourages employees to go into new areas

to stretch their ideas and careers• Employee survey results show statistically

significant improvement

Ability to Manage Change

• Involved in change at all levels – from career moves to corporate merger

• Inclusiveness is very important• If new to an area

– trust the leaders you have in place– overtime you will get the right people in and have

the guts to make changes– don’t act like you know it all don’t make drastic

changes immediately

Ethical Issues

• You must treat all employees with dignity and respect

• Let them know their opinion counts• Committed to safety all the time• Emphasis on providing a safe work

environment

Shapes the Culture of the Organization

• Get buy-in from all employees on direction and guiding principles

• Build and maintain effective teams • Provide easy-to-access services to customers • Manage e-business as an asset• Key leadership skills are not technical – it is

knowing how to lead cultural change

Our Findings

• Build trust in all organization levels• Don’t be afraid to change and stretch your

ideas and skills • Build effective teams to lead change• Use processes that provide structure for

growth • Don’t focus on what’s wrong – focus on

where we’re going and how to change • The future is here – we need to be strong

leaders to help change the business culture