Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for The Globe and Mail.

A WestJet Boeing 737-700 aircraft taxis to the runway for departure from Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on May 19, 2023.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

Ask any corporate crisis expert and they will tell you one of the first priorities in helping a company’s leaders manage a serious problem is to determine the things within their control and those that are not.

The logic is simple: Spending time, money and manpower on things beyond the C-suite’s control is a loser’s bet that will exhaust resources and drive down stakeholder confidence without meaningful results. Focusing energy on things executives can influence is a higher-percentage play in the race to resolution and avoiding material damage.

For Boeing BA-N, however, managing its latest crises is not so black-and-white.

The troubled U.S. aircraft maker has suffered a series of self-inflicted problems over the last few years that have added to its vulnerability to a big new problem beyond its control.

Last week, China, the world’s most dynamic growth market for commercial aircraft, halted delivery of all Boeing jets ordered by Chinese airlines in response to the 145-per-cent tariffs imposed by U.S.........

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