Take that, United Airlines! (Houston, Dallas: house, airport, bill)

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by naadarien

A good CEO, like any good manager, cares about culture and morale. They set the tone for the organization.

When profits are low, all of that goes out of the window
1st is to make money
2nd to promote morale

[Augiec]

Originally Posted by Dopo

When profits are low, all of that goes out of the window
1st is to make money
2nd to promote morale

Shareholder value was the mantra of business schools for a while. That's what drove this race to the bottom in terms of costs & maximizing revenue. The flaw with that approach is you can only cut costs to some degree before it becomes counterproductive. Sure you can get back in the black with cost cuts, but if you don't address the revenue side you won't stay there.

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

I'm still bitter about the changes made after the merger. The service has gone downhill and the culture certainly seems to have changed, from a customer's perspective.

I think the CEO can really set the tone, and I think Gordon Bethune did a good job in that sense.

While my younger brother was going to junior college, he worked with his girlfriend at a catering company. They ended up working an event at Gordon Bethune's home. After the event was over, my brother was standing around waiting for his girlfriend to finish up her work when Bethune walked up to him and made a little small talk. My brother, who is into watches, made a comment about the watch Bethune was wearing and said that he's always had a fascination with watches. Bethune said that he also had always been fascinated with watches and had built a collection over the years. He then invited my brother to see his collection and spend about 30 minutes with him showing him his watches and some of the stories behind them. I think when the CEO of a major corporation takes time like that because he sees himself in a person and not a position, catering assistant, it says a lot about them.

As usual, Pedro hit the nail on the head. My older brother worked at CO back when Bethune was running the show. It was a much cooler airline largely because he was a cool guy. Living proof that Tone from the Top does matter. I remember I met my brother for lunch one day and we saw Mr. Bethune walking around the office. My brother, being an employee was too nervous to say hi, but I was just a college kid who saw him on the videos in the plane so I walked right up and said hello. He and I exchanged some pleasantries and chatted for a bit. I even introduced my brother to him, LOL. I can now say my first (and only) encounter with a large publicly traded corporation CEO was actually really chill.

I think the guy after him didn't last long for some reason, probably adversities in the market and the board wanted to go another direction. I was too busy getting plastered for those years, but the first time I saw Smisek on the safety videos, my dbag alert was going off like crazy. I didn't like the guy from the start, and seeing the results of that accursed merger... I'm sorry to say my instincts were right.

I miss Continental and CEOs like Bethune. They understood the value of the customer.

[shortel]

just wait they will probably get huge payouts for leaving.

[Augiec]

Originally Posted by shortel

just wait they will probably get huge payouts for leaving.

Smisek already did. It was announced he was getting $4.875M. Must be nice to get paid more than the average American makes in their lifetime just for getting fired.

[Oildog]

Originally Posted by Augiec

Shareholder value was the mantra of business schools for a while. That's what drove this race to the bottom in terms of costs & maximizing revenue. The flaw with that approach is you can only cut costs to some degree before it becomes counterproductive. Sure you can get back in the black with cost cuts, but if you don't address the revenue side you won't stay there.





I miss Continental and CEOs like Bethune. They understood the value of the customer.

I agree with this...for a while I cringed when a Big 6 audit team came in, chock full of folks fresh out of Wharton, Fuqua and the like. Everyone knew there was going to be positions cut/eliminated/combined.

[naadarien]

Originally Posted by Dopo

When profits are low, all of that goes out of the window
1st is to make money
2nd to promote morale

Again, not if you are a GOOD manager.

Those tough times of cost cutting and scaling back are when you need employee buy-in and cooperation the most. You get lackluster results if you are craptastic to your human resources.

I will grant you that far too many managers have neglected this for way too long, and, to me, it shows.

When I was the Manager/Director, I never ever did this. I work in IT so skills are paramount in just about every way and it is extremely hard to find the good ones with the experience necessary to run a smooth operation. It was in my best interests to keep my staff happy. We performed far and away beyond expectations on a regular basis because my staff had the flexibility to create a work environment that made them happy. It was my job to merely provide them with the tools they needed, explain our vision to the higher ups, and otherwise get out of their way (despite being an engineer in my own right).

I wish American companies would get back on that track TBH. Short term profits or results is not more important than consistency and longevity. I, as a shareholder, care much more about have a steady dividend stream than I do about hitting the lottery and getting out with my max profit (at least if we are referring to supposedly stable companies).

While CO had some cash flow and access issues when this merger happened, they also had the youngest and best maintained fleet. They had developed, over the years, the gold standard computer system. United had problems in both areas prior to the merger. This was deal that was way more level and complementary than you (or simply profits would) suggest. They didn't have to choose between good culture and profits, and if they felt they did, they lost that gamble too.

[JimBaker488]

Updated Sept. 8, 2015 8:18 p.m. ET
191 COMMENTS
United Continental Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Smisek and two top lieutenants stepped down as the result of a federal investigation into the airline’s relationship with the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

United Continental CEO Jeff Smisek Departs Amid Continuing Investigation - WSJ
***
That's because he was just fired by his now former employer United Airlines. Houstonians reacted in a very childest manner in their resentment towards Smisek for locating the new Untited-Continental headquaters in Chicago instead of Houston by way of in a weird form of retaliation opening up the smallish, regional airport Hobby to international travel which did nothing but handdicape long-term growth prospects at the citys primary airport Bush ? Wow was that stupid ! Why ?

[Meyerland]

Increased competition is good for consumers. It's not in retaliation for anything.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

....by way of in a weird form of retaliation opening up the smallish, regional airport Hobby to international travel which did nothing but handdicape long-term growth prospects at the citys primary airport Bush ? Wow was that stupid ! Why ?

Sorry that we hurt United's monopoly in Houston

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

United Continental CEO Jeff Smisek Departs Amid Continuing Investigation - WSJ
***
That's because he was just fired by his now former employer United Airlines. Houstonians reacted in a very childest manner in their resentment towards Smisek for locating the new Untited-Continental headquaters in Chicago instead of Houston by way of in a weird form of retaliation opening up the smallish, regional airport Hobby to international travel which did nothing but handdicape long-term growth prospects at the citys primary airport Bush ? Wow was that stupid ! Why ?

I think accessibility to an airport is more important than having one huge mega airport, plus Southwest was flipping the bill for the International Terminal so why not let them do that ?

I guess instead of being childish as you called it the Houston Airport Authority should have said oh no we don't want you to spend a quarter billion dollars on our airport we want to be adults about this....