Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) CEO, Jim McNerney, is managing a 159,300 employee aircraft manufacturer with $66.4 billion in sales and $4 billion in profits (both 2007 figures). If you're running a small business or aspire to start one, is there anything you can learn from McNerney that could help you achieve your business goals? Yes.

Portfolio is publishing my eighth book, You Can't Order Change, which studies how McNerney manages Boeing. To write this book I interviewed people who worked with McNerney and scrutinized how he manages people, strategy, operations, and communities. What I discovered is that McNerney has come up with very effective techniques for addressing 11 common CEO challenges.

Though McNerney is far from perfect -- for example, Boeing's popular 787 Dreamliner is two years behind schedule -- here are six such techniques that I think are the most useful to small business leaders:

• Make your people 15% better. McNerney motivates people to get 15% better every year -- and in so doing, boosts financial performance. Specifically, he focuses on people who have the potential to change due to their openness, courage, and teamwork. And he views his job as removing the bureaucratic obstacles that keep them from "igniting." To get there, he encourages the flow of information up and down the line. He gets phenomenally talented jerks out of the line, and he invests in leadership development.

Many analysts have suggested stocks that could benefit from President Obama's policies. But would it be better to find CEOs who lead people in a manner that's similar to his approach? If you believe that the president sets the tone for the rest of the country, the answer may be yes. Under a CEO who thinks of himself as the decider, investing in companies whose CEOs who lead by command-and-control might make sense.

But Obama's approach is different -- he inspires people, surrounds himself with the best, and listens to them before forming his opinions. And rather than trying to divide the world between those who agree and oppose him, Obama tries to find the center of an issue to bring along as many people as he can. I wonder whether this more self-effacing approach to leadership comes from the Midwest where patting yourself on the back is considered poor form.

Are there any CEOs who follow this approach to leadership? I can think of one -- but there may be others. James McNerney, Boeing (NYSE: BA) CEO, seems to follow the Obama approach to leadership in many respects. While McNerney may not have Obama's eloquence (and very few do), he does have an ability to put people at ease and encourages them to debate issues and find solutions to their problems instead of waiting for him to give them the answer.

Bloomberg News reports that Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) is delaying the delivery of its 787 Dreamliner into 2009. It already delayed it from May 2008 to November 2008 several months ago. This may well be the biggest business blunder of its CEO's stellar career.

Since I am writing a book about Boeing and its CEO James McNerney, I have been very focused on his career. And he has had an almost unbroken track record of spectacular success in everything he's done. He was a hockey and baseball player at Yale; went on to Harvard Business School for his MBA. Then he went from Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) to McKinsey & Co. to General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), where his 18-year career ended just short of succeeding Jack Welch.

After jumping from GE to 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), McNerney took over Boeing in 2005 and the company's stock rose dramatically until it became increasingly clear that Boeing would not be able to meet its original delivery deadlines for the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing now claims that the 787 will fly for the first time near the end of the second quarter of 2008 and won't ship to the first customer, All Nippon Airways Co., until 2009. Both dates were pushed back by about three months.

The New York Post reports on Corporate Leader magazine's poll of the top CEOs based on a survey of analysts and investors. Here's my assessment of the top five:

• Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). With its stock up 94.4% in the last year -- though 13% below its 52-week high -- Apple's new products this year have been outstanding. But it's a pretty pricey stock; it trades at a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 1.56 on a P/E ratio of 42.3 and Earnings Per Share (EPS) growth of 27.2% to $6.26 in fiscal 2009.
• Eric Schmidt, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). With its stock up 27.8% in the last year -- though 15% below its 52-week high -- Google continues to take share from traditional advertisers while struggling somewhat to profit from all its innovations. But it's a somewhat pricey stock; it trades at a PEG ratio of 1.39 on a P/E ratio of 49.6 and EPS growth of 35.8% to $18.19 in 2008.

Remember four, five years ago when everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Boeing (NYSE: BA)? The company not only lost market share to Airbus SAS but ousted its CEO, Phil Condit, and his successor, Harry Stonecipher, for among other things having affairs with subordinates. Former CFO Michael Sears was sent to prison for his role in one of many Pentagon scandals involving the company.

Under Chief Executive James McNerney, who joined the plane maker from 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) in 2005, Boeing has managed to put its problems behind it. The company reported net income of $1.11 billion, or $1.44 a share on revenue of $16.5 billion, beating Wall Street expectations. Boeing also raised earnings, revenue and cash flow guidance for the year. It trimmed back its forecasts for 2008, but that's to be expected given the delays in the 787 Dreamliner and the slowdown in the defense business.

Shares of the Chicago-based company are up about 6% this year, underperforming peers Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) mainly because of worries about the Dreamliner. This reaction is overblown. First of all, the fact that new, sophisticated aircraft has been delayed is hardly surprising. If the delays continue however, that's more serious. For now, Boeing's customers haven't lost faith, placing 710 firm orders.

If the Dreamliner stays on track and the company gets its fair share of defense spending, the shares may head higher.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage