Hey, everybody, it's Kai Rizdahl. Thanks for downloading the Corner Office podcast. Fresh episode for you today. This time, Dennis Mullenberg, the CEO of the Boeing company.

Boeing is America's biggest exporter. It's the Defense Department's second largest contractor as well.

And they are coming off a record-breaking year,

with revenue topping $100 billion for the first time. Aerospace and Boeing in particular

was part of what helped the United States drive the global economy in the 20th century, and it

remains a force in the American economy and worldwide today. I talked to Dennis Mullenberg, literally in his corner office, on the 36th floor of Boeing's corporate headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. We're expecting you. Don't you ever see? Ready to go to work? Dennis Mullenberg, welcome to the program. Well, thanks, Guy. It's good to be with you. So I want to take a quick virtual tour in the office here for a minute. And there's all kinds of airplane paraphernalia, and that's awesome and cool. You got a bicycle in the corner? Yeah. Did you bike to work today? It's 30 degrees in Chicago. I didn't bike to work, but cycling's my favorite hobby. No, I know. I know. Is that how you stay sane? Runnin's company? Well, it's part of it. I think, you know, taking time to invest in health.

And, uh, No, I know. I know. Is that how you stay sane, running this company? Well, it's part of it. I think taking time to invest in health and staying fit, it makes me a better leader. And it's also part of our message to our employees about, you know, investing in health and well-being and taking care of ourselves while we do our work. We've got important work to do, and being healthy makes us better at it.

Do you bike in Chicago in the wintertime?

I do, so I have a cold weather bike and warm weather bike.

I do about 10,000 miles a year, so it's my favorite sport.

And one of the things I love to do is get out and do bike rides with our team. So I'll visit a Boeing site. I can drum up, you know, a few dozen riders, and we'll hand out Boeing jerseys and we'll go out and ride 20 miles. And it's a great way to spend time with the team and, you know, get a little exercise and get a feel for what's going on in the business. The big boss says, let's go for a bike ride who's going to say no, right?

I'm just saying.

Sorry.

Anyway, 102-year-old company, yeah, right?

Coming off your best year ever, right?

How much of that was you and how much of that is this is just a good time to be an aerospace company in the global economy?

Well, it's all about the team, and I'm just extraordinarily proud of our team's performance.

We have the most amazing talent in the world, and I think that is the number one key to our success.

It's also true that the aerospace business, the marketplace, is extremely strong.

And I would argue the best industrial sector in the world.

So when we take a look at the state of aerospace today, it is a robust and growing marketplace.

The world needs about 43,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years,

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