There are some. I have a friend who's now an exec, was a line engineer on the 717 when MD was acquired. Later he worked on the 787 (that's how he got promoted to exec) and then NMA, never the 737. He can't talk out of school of course, but once we're both retired I expect some very interesting discussions over scotch.

The issue is that MD managers took over and changed the management culture. They then developed upcoming managers in their own image, and set those folks up as heirs apparent. The board allowed, encouraged, or directed this.

Since it's gone on for so long I blame the board... the long, long term view is their job. I guess they liked the short-term money, or maybe they're captive to the management team.