Jim Albaugh's Full Remarks

The full text of Jim Albaugh's remarks to the National Space Symposium are available at Boeing's web site. Jim is President of Boeing's* Integrated Defense Services, and is a heavy hitter as far as influence. Some of his comments include:

"We can be a leader. And we should...But to do so will require fundamental changes in the way we position ourselves as an industry, and as partners with government."

"where are the innovators of our time? I fear they are not working in our industry. I fear they are working in businesses that reward them for their innovations and ideas... not just for their years of service."

"Ours is an industry where the big companies have become more and more risk-averse... scrutinized by shareholders and market watchers who can be harsh judges... and where long-term visions succumb to short-term profits."

"In my view, propulsion is the great enabler"

"We are simply not producing enough of the scientists and engineers of the future. Where are the Robert Goddard's of tomorrow? My guess is they may be studying in Bangalore or Shanghai."

"Going back to space exploration, we must stay the course with our current Space Policy. That support needs to be continued through long-term commitment by elected officials, industry and the public...We have a good architecture to replace Shuttle and return to the moon. We must all remain solidly behind it. And we must be committed to it long-term. Changing it incrementally or as a whole is the worst thing we could do."

As the leader of the largest space 1.0 company, Jim's words offer unique insight. Get familiar with it so that you can have more intelligent conversations with your peers and leaders about space.

*The Author of this post works for Boeing