A Letter to Mr. Horton

[SkydrolJunkie]

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: --------------
To: [email protected]
Subject: Leadership Lessons
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 1245 +0000


Dear Mr Horton,

Under normal circumstances I would welcome you to AA. However, since you
left AA in 2002 for a bigger payday, I can't be sure if this is just
another stopover until something better comes along.

In your 1st public comment as CFO you said AA needs to cut labor costs
further. Gee, that gave morale a boost, but not in the direction you
prefer. Incidentally, I added up your base salary, bonus, stocks, &
performance units & calculated your compensation package at $9 million.
You aren't exactly the best choice for the poet laureate of labor cuts.

Shakespeare's Henry V embodies all the characteristics we expect from
leaders. At the play's climax the British army is surrounded &
hopelessly outnumbered. At the eve of battle, King Henry stands with his
men rather than abandoning them. Then rallies the army with a stirring
passages; "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that
sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." Shakespeare understood in
the class conscience 17th century that a king (management) & commoners
(Labor) were equal components in a great struggle. A "band of brothers"
by his definition. You were given $9 million just for walking through
the door & the next day you want more concessions from me. Hey, try
leading by example!!!

During WWII, the US submarine Growler was caught on the surface by a
hard charging Japanese warship intent on ramming the sub. The Growler's
skipper, Howard Gilmore, stood atop the conning tower shouting
instructions down to the control room. His last order was to "Take her
down! " Gilmore then closed the hatch from the outside as the sub dove,
drowning himself to save his crew. In the kaleidoscope world of AA,
90,000 employees would be condemned to close the hatch from the outside
for the well being of 40+ executives safely inside the sub. After all,
we have to retain the talent of this management team.

Gen Eisenhower wrote 2 statements prior to the D-Day invasion. The 1st
is the historic announcement of a successful invasion. The 2nd was more
chilling & thankfully never delivered. It was to inform the world that
the invasion failed. In this statement we see the essential leader.
Without hesitation, Eisenhower was prepared to take full responsibility
for the failure. Compare this to the AA leadership who blame all our
woes on "market conditions" & my personal favorite "labor costs."
Conveniently omitted from this laundry list is the abundance of
mismanagement that has siphoned billions from the treasury. For
instance; investing pension assets into risky dot com stocks, selling
valuable fuel hedges to a competitor, stadium sponsorships, lobbying
Congress against upgrading airport security, removing seats from
airplanes, & flying out of Love Field with the expressed goal of losing
money. Nobody here takes responsibility for these mishaps. Then again,
if executives did they couldn't justify multiplying performance units by
a whopping 175% of the AMR stock price to retain their services. "Such
is the breath of kings."

While you spend Easter with your family, thousands of employees will be
away from theirs & depressed by the separation. This is a normal
experience for workers already displaced by job cuts. They wallow in
misery every moment spent away from home, & struggle to maintain 2
residences with a paycheck that doesn't add up. The financial crisis at
home dwells on everybody's mind. Families are severely budgeted, spouses
are forced to work, the employee probably works a 2nd job, & the kid
won't be getting a bicycle for Christmas. Consequently, the employee is
stressed before starting shift. Once at the airport, employees will work
shorthanded while corporate communication bombards the workgroups with
industry gloom in a covert attempt to increase productivity through
fear. You can't comprehend the hardship caused by corporate policies,
but you try to capitalize from the hardship.

Both Herbert Hoover & John F Kennedy didn't collect a single penny in
salary as President. They led by example . . . you haven't. If $9
million is the minimum needed to keep you motivated, then please submit
your resume to Exxon. We don't need this oblique type of leadership.

AA Aircraft Mechanic

 

[AMFAMAN]

I don't think it could be said any better than that. Thank you to the author.

 

[flyhigh]

...I would have loved to lived Kenedy's example...unfortunately my family isn't so abundantly wealthy that I can make that choice.

First off, i'm guessing this is a typo or some reference to something that doesn't make sense:
"...struggle to maintain 2 residences with a paycheck that doesn't add up."

If you're struggling to maintain two homes, why not sell one?

Second, do execs make a lot of money, yes. Compared to you. Compared to execs in other industries, they don't make that much in the airlines. Remember why Horton is at AA...because his sucessor/predesessor left for A LOT more money. And if you think they just work a straight 8 and call it a day you haven't the foggiest clue of what being management is like. I worked in a department where the VP bought a satelite phone so he could be reached while on vacation with his son's boy scout group. It's a choice they make, sure, but it's not walk in the park as you seem to make it.

Do you honestly think he was born, went to school and became CFO? He worked his way up to that level and that includes working long days, nights, holidays, etc. If you want to get ahead in the mgmt ranks, that's what it takes...especially at AA.

You clearly show no understanding of what makes an airline sucessful. It isn't just making you happy. That doesn't pay the bills. No airline is sucessful simply because their employees are happy. A lot will say that because it makes for good press. The reality, however, is that somebody is deciding where to fly, when to fly there, and with what equipment. But hey, that's just one of those mgmt slackeys...they don't matter, right??? You could do the job just as well.

If you are spending more than you make and you compare your spending to another mechanic who's doing ok financially (and yes, there are plenty...even at AA, I know enough of them) what do you cut? I'll even give you some choices:
A) The items you are spending less than your counterpart on
B) The items you are spending as much as your counterpart on
C) The items you are spending more than your counterpart on

That's what he's seeing...companies doing better than American are spending less on employees.

p.s. That's supposed to be "B )"

 

[AMFAMAN]

If you are spending more than you make and you compare your spending to another mechanic who's doing ok financially (and yes, there are plenty...even at AA, I know enough of them) what do you cut?

You must be talking about someone in Tulsa because the only ones who might be financially secure at DFW are due to the fact they work a second job or own a successful business. One thing for sure is that they are not financially secure from this grocery check.

If you're struggling to maintain two homes, why not sell one?

I would believe that it was a reference to the two residence needed due to layoffs. One for the working city, and one for the original city where the family is. I am sure the working city one would be an apartment.

 

[Imagolfer]

Go back to school, get a degree, then get an Post Graduate degree and get a job as an Executive for a company and you too can make a lot of money.

If you are content in slinging bags, or fixing airplanes, or sweeping airport floors...stop complaining!!!

He came back for a lot less than what the market pays executives of his level.

GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hopeful]

Where is it written that MBA's MUST receive obscene compensation?

It is determined by their peers who sit on boards of directors. These board of directors are CEOS and CFO's and other executive management types who also have their compensation determined by their board of directors who run other firms.

The cycle is endless.

This is more about one man going to school, getting an MBA and autmatically getting millions in compensation.

It is about a good old boys network who take very good of themselves while destroying the lives of their workers.
These are the good old boys who are outsourcing jobs and get rewarded handsomely for doing so.

So go on and continue to applaud these people who receive obscene compesation packages and continue wishing you were in their exclusive club.

You assume because of their education and position that they are more important to society then everyone else.

 

[TWU informer]

What is the point or purpose of the letter or this thread?

Do we actually feel that someone has made a difference by writing this letter, or posting it on the bulletin board?

The rich bastards are probably having drinks over a high dollar dinner this evening laughing about the whole thing.

When is everyone going to get a clue? They only understand one thing, and letter writing/venting is not the one thing they understand.

 

[Hopeful]

What is the point or purpose of the letter or this thread?

Do we actually feel that someone has made a difference by writing this letter, or posting it on the bulletin board?

The rich bastards are probably having drinks over a high dollar dinner this evening laughing about the whole thing.

When is everyone going to get a clue? They only understand one thing, and letter writing/venting is not the one thing they understand.

I guess it's like those who feel the need to write their opinions to their local newspaper and have their feelings aired.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

What is the point or purpose of the letter or this thread?

Do we actually feel that someone has made a difference by writing this letter, or posting it on the bulletin board?

The rich bastards are probably having drinks over a high dollar dinner this evening laughing about the whole thing.

When is everyone going to get a clue? They only understand one thing, and letter writing/venting is not the one thing they understand.

Perhaps a few readers of this letter will stop drinking the company Kool Ade.

 

[Skymess]

Go back to school, get a degree, then get an Post Graduate degree and get a job as an Executive for a company and you too can make a lot of money.

If you are content in slinging bags, or fixing airplanes, or sweeping airport floors...stop complaining!!!

He came back for a lot less than what the market pays executives of his level.

GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get over what? That some members of management at AA think they deserve to make more than the company makes in profits per year?

Maybe some of our managers need to go back to school and take a few math and accounting classes. I'd hate to see their home budget ledgers.

"Let's see... I make 1 million per year so let me spend one million per month. Yeah, that sounds good."

If executives of his level make more than let him go to a different company that actually makes profits and can afford to keep him. We can't.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

That's what he's seeing...companies doing better than American are spending less on employees.

The only things AA is not spending less on is its management. Horton is a prime example. if this sinking ship was turning out profits then by all means pay the captains of the ship what they deserve. I dont know what rock you have been hiding under but the captains of this ship should be compared to those of the Titanic.
compare AA's bloated overstaffed management with that of southwest which BTW pays its mechanics very well.
Maybe companies doing better have better management. I say clean house lets get rid of the good ole boys who put AA in this mess with thier clueless decision making. My bet is the kids out of Princeton or Columbia could do a better job than what we have at half the price.

 

[Bob Owens]

Where is it written that MBA's MUST receive obscene compensation?

It is determined by their peers who sit on boards of directors. These board of directors are CEOS and CFO's and other executive management types who also have their compensation determined by their board of directors who run other firms.

The cycle is endless.

This is more about one man going to school, getting an MBA and autmatically getting millions in compensation.

It is about a good old boys network who take very good of themselves while destroying the lives of their workers.
These are the good old boys who are outsourcing jobs and get rewarded handsomely for doing so.

So go on and continue to applaud these people who receive obscene compesation packages and continue wishing you were in their exclusive club.

You assume because of their education and position that they are more important to society then everyone else.

Thats right. The good old boys dont like to live by their own rules. The fact is that this country turns out more MBAs than the rest of the world and there are more MBAs than there are jobs for MBAs yet "Market Forces" do not apply.

There are plenty of MBAs that dont make the obscene money that we see in corporate America and it has more to do with connections than ability, obviously, with the dismal performance that some of these corporations have.

So as these people hypocritically talk about the effect of the "Market" they refuse to allow those forces to come into play from where they are siting.

As I've said before MBAs sit across from other MBAs in determining pay rates, so both sides of the table have an interest in seeing compensation go up, for those who have the connections. Thats the reason why despite the over abundance of MBAs and poor performance we see from them compensation has skyrocketed for corporate executives. They are not worth what they are getting.

 

[desertfox]

The only things AA is not spending less on is its management. Horton is a prime example. if this sinking ship was turning out profits then by all means pay the captains of the ship what they deserve. I dont know what rock you have been hiding under but the captains of this ship should be compared to those of the Titanic.


Everybody thinks pilots make too much, until a mid-air is averted, turbulance is gotten out of, go-around is executed, or some other inflight event that makes you wish you were on the ground, then you are glad to pay the person up front whatever just to get you down safe.

Thousand of jobs and the company future rides in the hands of CFO's and other strategic management. Do you want to trust your career, income to someone who hasnt navigated a company through tretcherous waters, or is the lowest bidder good enough for you?

 

[Bob Owens]

Problem is that the same people who steered us into these treacherous waters and put us into the rocks are the ones getting all these raises.

The fact is these people screwed up big time, and now we are being told that we should take pay cuts while they get paid huge sums of money.

They bought TWA.

They removed seats.

They kept expanding even when traffic was falling off.

They kept hiring even though they knew they already were overstaffed. We could not figure out why AA was hiring after they bought TWA and laid off thousands of workers. They left the TWA workers on the street while they hired new workers.

They started too many unneccisary Terminal construction projects.

They sold their fuel hedges.

They agreed to a $1billion covenant on an $800 million loan.

The fact is that these same people that you say we should pay a lot of money are the same people who wrecked this airline.

New blood and new ideas with a low bidder sounds good to me. Let him have a real stake at success. If Horton or any of those other schmucks dont turn things around what do they lose? They got their payoff up front. Horton already made more than Al Blackman who has been with the company for 64 years.

 

[goingboeing]

The only things AA is not spending less on is its management. Horton is a prime example. if this sinking ship was turning out profits then by all means pay the captains of the ship what they deserve. I dont know what rock you have been hiding under but the captains of this ship should be compared to those of the Titanic.
compare AA's bloated overstaffed management with that of southwest which BTW pays its mechanics very well.
Maybe companies doing better have better management. I say clean house lets get rid of the good ole boys who put AA in this mess with thier clueless decision making. My bet is the kids out of Princeton or Columbia could do a better job than what we have at half the price.

Here at TUL they are hiring supervisors that we do not even need.Recently they created new supervisory position for monitoring attendance of UNION EMPLOYEES.For at least 20 years the immediate supervisor of the employee dealt with attendance issues.
TWU cannot even remember yesterday much less the "so called" management layoff of 2003.They[AA] may have sent supervisors out the front door but they brought more supervisors in thru the back door and TWU did not even protest this.We have had an ongoing layoff for the last 3 years by attrition and AA management keeps hiring more management to manage a smaller workforce.At the current rate in about 2 years we will have 1 supervisor/union employee.