One answer for health care can be found in an unlikely place — in another industry, in fact: aerospace. Let’s turn to the story of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner – a tale of how visionary thinking in a time of crisis can turn despair into hope for the future.

At the start of the new millennium, it would have been difficult to find a large multinational corporation more demoralized and depressed than Boeing. It became embroiled in a major scandal over Pentagon contracts that still lingers and is likely to cost the company more than $1 billion in fines. Plus, during this same time period, Boeing lost its decades-long position as top seller of commercial planes to European manufacturer Airbus and was dealing with market contraction and an increased cost of doing business after 9/11. As a result, Boeing lost more than 20 percentage points of market share and laid off about 60,000 employees.

So as you can see, the walls were closing in and Boeing needed to find a way out. Its answer was the 787 Dreamliner – a revolutionary kind of aircraft. Moving forward with this new product when it was in the depths of corporate despair was a bold stroke by Boeing – but it looks more and more like it was the right thing to do. The company’s fortunes have recently changed: Boeing sold a record 1,044 commercial airplanes worldwide in 2006, beating Airbus for the first time in six years. And in the race to get the newest and best jetliner on the market – the 787 for Boeing and either the A350 or the A380 for Airbus – Boeing has achieved runaway success.

The 787 Dreamliner seems to be exactly what the doctor ordered for Boeing. The company’s executives have defined this jet as a “game changer” with a new approach to aircraft design that will transform aviation. How? With its practicality, its production model, and its interpretation of customer preferences and the future of the industry. Nothing about the 787 represents “business as usual” or traditional thinking – and therein lies the moral for health care leaders. Let’s take a closer look and see what this plane can teach us.

First, in terms of practicality for the 787, Boeing has largely discarded the use of heavy metals and replaced them with advanced light-weight metal alloys and carbon fiber composites. This helps to improve fuel efficiency as will the use of new engines with larger fans.

When it comes to a production model for the 787, Boeing has proved innovative once again.

Design, financing and execution are being outsourced to subcontractors in six other countries and hundreds of suppliers around the world.  Mitsubishi from Japan is building the wings. Italy’s Alenia

Aeronautica will contribute parts of the fuselage and tail, and France’s Messier-Dowty is making the landing gear. These companies will share the risks and the benefits that would traditionally fall only on the shoulders of Boeing.

And finally, the company is putting a lot of stock in customer preference and the future of the industry. What’s interesting about this is how different Boeing’s plans are from those of Airbus.

While both companies agree that the commercial aviation market may double over the next 20 years, their bets on the future are leading them in different directions. Boeing is wagering that medium-sized planes, capable of carrying 220 to 300 passengers long distances in relative comfort, non-stop from point to point, will be preferred over the Airbus solution. Airbus has staked $12 billion in development on its A380, a double-deck jumbo jet, because it believes customers will prefer the size and comfort of this jet over Boeing’s non-stop flights. The company will continue to support the current hub and spoke system, which enforces stops and plane changes.

However, both companies are hedging their bets. To compete with Airbus in the jumbo jet category, Boeing is working on an upgrade of its 747, which will have 450 seats and be as fuel efficient as its 787.

To go up against Boeing’s 787, Airbus is offering the midsize A350, which is a stretched and modified version of its existing A330 aircraft. To get to a decision about this model, the company first scrapped six different designs, costing them valuable time and money.

What does the future hold? Well, obvious long-term success will not be clear for another 10 or

15 years, but, for now, Boeing seems to be taking the lead in the industry. How’d they do it? They saw what the market needed, envisioned a solution and acted on it using a team approach.

And this brings us back to the messages for health care in the story of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

Here are the takeaways: