What does firefighting have to do with the aerospace business? On the face of it, very little. But Boeing CIO Scott Griffin, who worked as a firefighter during his college years, sees the connection.

Interviewed on "Information Technology Leaders," Griffin explains that firefighting was once a purely reactive job, battling blazes that were an immediate threat. Today, it also involves preparing for fires in order to mitigate their effects. Such proactive, problem-solving tactics apply well to business. When Griffin designed a computer application to forecast critical hiring needs for Boeing, it reminded him of cutting forest trails to thwart flare-ups back in his firefighting days.

"Information Technology Leaders," produced by the University of Washington’s School of Business, presents multi-faceted portraits of the people filling the top IT positions at major corporations such as Microsoft, Boeing, and AT&T Wireless Services. The revealing interviews show that personal characteristics often play an important role in the unpredictable career trajectories of this industry.

Griffin has worked at Boeing for more than two decades, primarily because the Seattle-based aerospace company has provided him with unending challenge and opportunity. Arriving there in the late 1970s--when the air travel industry was in growth mode, and computing was in its infancy--he was hooked immediately.

"In my first six months, I decided that big companies are fun, because without having to leave the company, you can do multiple things," says Griffin, whose early career aspirations included being a math teacher or a Perry Mason-style lawyer. "I was like a kid in a candy store."

Although he worked in various areas at Boeing, computing was the common thread. Early on he learned to work on mainframes, and while pursuing his MBA, he picked up some experience in writing programs. In that pre-PC era, Griffin says, information technology was a mysterious world to the uninitiated. "It was like ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Someone was standing behind the curtain saying, ‘You can’t come in here, this is the computer room,’" he jokes. Computing was soon revolutionizing the industry, and Griffin was in the thick of it.

In a series of management roles, Griffin directed teams that computerized Boeing’s business, training, and engineering systems. He served on a top-secret defense project, and assisted a monumental redesign effort that reconfigured not just airplanes, but personnel roles such as engineers, mechanics, and salespeople. Later, as vice president of information systems, he was responsible for building a business-to-business e-commerce site now rated one of the 10 best on the Internet.

Griffin is quick to deflect praise and credit his mentors: "I didn’t know what I was doing. I was smart enough to listen to the people who knew what they were doing." He once thought managers were the ones who knew it all, but after many years of managing, he realized that it’s less about brilliance than listening, building teams, and removing barriers. Even as CIO, Griffin knows he doesn’t know it all. "I believe I can learn something from anybody I run into during the day," he says.

Each one of those days is different--and many involve travel. With offices around the United States and in Paris, Dublin, and Moscow, Griffin logs plenty of hours on Boeing-built airplanes. He admits that balancing work demands and time with his family, his first priority, is tough.

There’s still so much at Boeing that interests Griffin--projects like placing broadband on airplanes, or linking up all the world’s air-traffic control systems. Despite being courted by other corporations, he can think of only one reason he’d leave: "If I stop learning, that’s it--I’m gone."

Produced By: Christopher Redner

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