As I said before, industry experience can help drive business success. But, industry experience is not enough. In fact, industry experience can be a double edged sword. It can be extremely beneficial in some situations, but can have disadvantages in others.

Not long ago, material related to industry experience appeared in a Crain’s Chicago Business column. It was in the Joe Cahill September 13, 2021 “On Business” column titled “Time for Boeing to Shop Elsewhere for Top Talent”. The column reports that “newly hired GE veterans occupy three of the most influential positions at Boeing.” The article explains that GE’s jet engine business is one of the few places to get large company aviation industry experience.

Yet, as the column points out, Boeing’s business still faces challenges even after recruiting industry experienced executive talent with a prior background at GE. The column said, “Some blame a culture that overemphasized financial results at the expense of engineering, manufacturing, and quality.” It also said, “In the end, quality lapses begat financial calamity.” The column proposes that Boeing might have been better off if it had hired top executives from somewhere other than GE. It says that executives recruited elsewhere may be better able to innovate and bring about the change that Boeing needs.

As I see it, based on my 25+ years researching business success and failure patterns, bringing in outsiders for transformation and change is not easy. Transformational leaders from outside may or may not be well equipped to bring about the desired or needed change. Industry experience can seem ideal, and in some ways it is. Outsider executives who lack industry experience can easily become too attached to what worked well where those execs had previous experience. Yet, what worked in the executive’s previous industry may not work at all in their new industry. In that regard, industry experience can be of value since it brings knowledge of how the industry works.

On the other hand, especially during times of change, executives from the same industry may be too predisposed to ingrained processes that may no longer really be warranted. Sometimes, an outsider can more easily see where change is needed. Yet, lack of industry experience may prevent these outsiders from being able to successfully implement the right kind of change. That’s why industry experience is a like a doubled edged sword. It can have benefits, but in some situations, it can also be a misfit for the organization. Apparently, this is what happened at Boeing, based on what the Crain’s article is saying.

What can be done about it? Crain’s call to look elsewhere for top talent may be on the right track. Going elsewhere, however, brings the challenge of finding outsiders with the right kind of background to productively guide transformation at a company like Boeing. Despite the challenges, going outside the industry can sometimes work—if it is done properly. For example, when the retail company Best Buy faced turnaround challenges, they recruited an outside leader who lacked traditional retail industry experience, but had a background in areas close enough to retail and had other expertise, such as technology, that was valuable for the necessary transformation.

Thus, for Boeing, finding executives with the right mix of outside the industry background can be a step in the right direction. Yet, finding people with the right background can be challenging. Although it is a tough situation where there may not be an easy answer, looking elsewhere for the right talent appears to be well worth considering.