Boeing's CEO just gave his rationale for giving up 'tens of millions' of dollars in bonuses and deciding not to resign

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Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg at a press conference after Boeing's annual shareholders meeting in Chicago in April.

• Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg decided not to take a bonus this year.
• He made the decision after a private meeting on October 29 with the families of victims killed in the second Boeing 737 Max crash, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
• At today's NYT DealBook Conference, Muilenberg said meeting the victims' families made things personal.
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Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has decided to not take his bonus.

This meant giving up "tens of millions of dollars," he explained at the New York Times DealBook Conference on Wednesday.

As he explained on stage, he was motivated to do so after meeting with families who had who had lost loved ones aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. This second fatal 737 Max crash led to a worldwide grounding of the Boeing plane and debate over who to blame for the tragedy.

Now, eight months later, global focus has continued to intensify on Boeing for answers. Muilenburg appeared before Congress on October 29, and was asked why he hadn't resigned or taken a pay cut. Later that afternoon, he privately met with victims' families in a meeting that was later described as "tense, heated, and emotional."

"I heard their sorrow, their grief," he added Wednesday. "As a father and husband myself, I was heartbroken over that."

After the meeting, he began actively thinking about how he could step up and individually send a message of responsibility as Boeing's CEO. He also thought big-picture about what Boeing could do to help these families heal.

"I wish I had gone to visit them earlier," Muilenburg said.

He explained that forgoing his bonuses reflected the sense of responsibility he wanted to convey to the Boeing team, customers, and the families of victims.

"It's not about my money," he said. "It's about the importance of what we do and our commitment to safety as a company."

A recent internal survey revealed that Boeing employees felt pressure to rush things along the assembly line, with one in three employees reporting "potential undue pressure" to approve aircraft safety features they'd engineered. In this kind of environment, even Boeing's CEO got lost in the minutiae of the bigger picture. The aerospace giant makes over $100 billion in annual revenue. Muilenburg had a $13 million bonus in 2018, federal filings indicate.

The issue of building both public and internal trust might not be cleanly resolved by giving up a year's bonus or giving money to affected families.

"He should resign," Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya Stumo was killed in the Ethiopian crash, previously told Business Insider. Stumo said that Boeing needs "a safety culture insulated from the profit culture." He was at the private meeting with Muilenburg.

Muilenburg was asked if he would resign at DealBook, and he responded, "To be frank, that's not what's in my character."

He said he feels a sense of responsibility to face challenges at Boeing's helm after the accidents that happened on his watch.

"So as long as the board allows me to serve in this role, I'm going to serve in it and I'm going to put everything into it that I can," Muilenburg said.

Get the latest Boeing stock price here.