A Take of Two CEO's

SparrowHawk

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Nov 30, 2009
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From Gordon Bethune's FaceBook Page

Gordon Bethune
Just want to remind the good people at CO that it wasn't the IAM that made you cool. you did it yourselves and treated employees and customers with dignity and respect. No one can take that record away from you.

I got this from one of Sparrowhawk's "Little Birdies" via e-mail. What appears below is a redacted version of the e-mail. It's redacted because the person is a US employee and is AFRAID to post here out of fear for their job.

As you know from FB, Mr Bethune posted a nice note on his FB wall for the CO folks. It now has 560 "likes" and 206 comments, all positive. We both know he is cut from a vastly different cloth indeed than Mssrs Parker and Kirby and should not be spoken of the same breath.


I think I had been working for the airline about a week when he came up and introduced himself. I was truly impressed that a senior VP would do that. When I mentioned it to the my co-workers, they said "Oh, that is the kind of person he is". And that has stuck with me all this time.
Imagine where US would be today if it had kept him around after the PI merger. It's been a while since I read "From Worst to First"; really should read it again. I wonder if the Frat Boys have read it and if they would even if someone gave them a copy. The contrast between him and those running US is truly remarkable.


What strikes me is that he has a FB page with 4999 friends. Imagine the Tempe Frat Boys having public FB pages and being friends with so many people from within and without the company. It is amazing to see the responses, some of which are below. I think this merits discussion o Airline Forum. But, as usual, I am loath to bring anything up there that I've discussed on FB. Maybe I'm overly paranoid, but one never knows. And Tempe is watching.



You, Art Pushkin and 567 others like this.
50 of 206

Pamela Vaughn We were always cool ;-) and I will continue to behave as a Continental flight attendant, giving award winning service with a smile. I just hope the AFA allows me to work enough to support my children :(
16 hours ago · Like

Kimberly Magolas Williams Thanks Gordon Bethune...Wish you were still here to help us with the MERGER...
16 hours ago · Like · 3 people

April Glandt Gordon is right! Now stay involved and tell the AFA what you like and dont like. THEN take the best of both contracts and create one awesome new contract!!! Treat this like a golden opportunity to compare and share!!! YOU are the ones who make this job the best!
16 hours ago · Like · 4 people

Sharolyn Mary Well Said!
15 hours ago · Like

Laura Martin Amen!
15 hours ago · Like

Terry Page Smith In Jesus name we pray! Amen
15 hours ago · Like

Diana De Gennaro Gordon Actually it was you at the helm helping us to have that dignity.. You led us to the position of respect and dignity.I, We miss you!
15 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Michael Gafa We still have The Go Forward Plan that works well with any group. Trust at least in that and we will continue to make this the best airline in the business, as we have done for 16 years now. With our Four Corner Stones in place we cannot fa...
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15 hours ago · Like · 2 people

Roy Onora Gordon , thank you for being OUR leader & awesome example ...for many of us YOU are still our guiding light !!!
15 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Craig Dunman Thanks Gordon. I hope that the dignity and respect that you showed us, flows over to the management and the workers, from both, airlines. Hope you decide to come back. You were always "first class"!
14 hours ago · Like · 2 people

Dawn Yates Thank you GB!
14 hours ago · Like

Rocco Godino With you as our CEO we never needed unions. Boss be well and stop by ewr again when you have time. We all miss you.
13 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Cindy Seligman Engelstein Any chance you would consider stepping into Jeff's shoes once he steps down??
12 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Jacquie Fahey Papa Thank you Gordon, we wish you would come back, we've definitely slid backwards since you left! We are trying to give the benefit of doubt , but they aren't proving themselves right like you did. Seems we are slowly losing our dignity and respect. :(
11 hours ago · Like

Nicole Safford Harman Thanks for that - we couldn't have done it without you!
11 hours ago · Like

Mimi- Michelle Stenmark We miss you so MUCH Gordon....Please come Back!!!
11 hours ago · Like

Barb Maxey-Streeter Gordon, YOU helped make us cool. Thanks for yor leadership which helped make us a great airline... Let's only hope we can stay that way!
10 hours ago · Like · 2 people

Vicki Knotts Mr Bethune we are all just trying to maintain our CO culture and our house that you built for us. Right now we are just living with UA, we are not married yet and we are all concerned with how the pre nup's are looking
10 hours ago · Like · 3 people

Caldonia Ladouche Thank you Gordon for everything. Still praying you will return though:)
9 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Telma Andrade This is WHY we need u back..someone with a heart..
9 hours ago · Like · 2 people

Irshad Patel We dont need a union to treat each other right its actually mandatory to treat others right, to be treated right.
9 hours ago · Like

Christopher Allen Thanks Gordon.
9 hours ago · Like

Kadie McCurdy Cepauskas Well said Sir.
9 hours ago · Like

Shireese Lowery-Daniels Thank You Sir, So nice to know you still care about us!!! We at the old CO are so scared....I think alot of us just want out!!!
9 hours ago · Like

Leigh Yarbrough Kaercher YOU'RE OUR ROLE MODEL! ;)
8 hours ago · Like

NOTE: I shudder to think what the FB page of DP or SK would look like. Flames would shoot out of the screen :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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Reactions: 3 people
Hey DP is cool with me ! i think he's doing a great job , better than i could have ever expected ... heck we're still flying , and we look to stay that way ...

heres to having a job !!!
 
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Reactions: 2 people
I am no fan of Parker and Kirby, but do think that some of the stuff on this board is over the top. Still, can you imagine an airline CEO getting that kind of support, almost veneration, from employees? There are not many who could accomplish it, Bethune is one.

Does any remember why he was not kept around afer the merger?

Hey, for those who thnik the East/ West corporate culture gap is deep and wide, imagine what it would have been like the internet - and this board - had been around back then?
;) :blink:
My, the fur would have been flying!
 
i have yet to see a US CEO actually do what GB did to CO and Tom Davis for PI. I have nothing good to say about parker due to the fact he still has not single contract with two union groups, has made quite clear that we will not get raises while he is collecting millions upon millions etc lets see what else, oh yes he's been nailed for dui yet still has a job most of us would be in jail etc still has old cronies from the old EAST US in the mgmt area etc thats just to name a few
 
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The airline industry of the early 90's is far different from today. Gordon is a standup guy - no doubt about it - but I'd be interested to see him write a book on what he would do with a fledgling airline today (take your pick) to turn it around like he did with CO in the 90's. The circumstances are far different now in today's economy.
 
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The airline industry of the early 90's is far different from today. Gordon is a standup guy - no doubt about it - but I'd be interested to see him write a book on what he would do with a fledgling airline today (take your pick) to turn it around like he did with CO in the 90's. The circumstances are far different now in today's economy.

Gordon's concepts of management would still work well in today's economic environment. If you have happy employees, they are more likely to do what is needed to have happy customers. If you have happy customers, you will very likely have happy investors, even in TODAY's environment. What the Sand Castle Crew fails to see is that it DOES NOT WORK the other way around.

At this point I think BOTH labor and management are being unreasonable. Labor has to realize that their compensation levels are never likely to go back to what they were in times past. Individual employees have to decide whether or not this reality will work for them. Management on the other hand has to realize that employees are NOT the enemy, and should not be treated like liabilities rather than the assets they truly are...

Somewhere there is a middle ground, but it is taking too long to find it....just look at the NBA, NFL, and our Congress to see how stalemates will eventually hurt....
 
Gordon's concepts of management would still work well in today's economic environment. If you have happy employees, they are more likely to do what is needed to have happy customers. If you have happy customers, you will very likely have happy investors, even in TODAY's environment. What the Sand Castle Crew fails to see is that it DOES NOT WORK the other way around.

Just like Herb Kellerher's idea: Happy employees = happy customers = happy stockholders.


Her is probably the only recent airline CEO as well regarded as Bethune.

Look, I know the airlines and history have moved beyound the Jack Frye/Pat Patterson/CR Smith/Don Nyrop types. These people did what they did because of a passion for aviation, not profit. And they treated their people with dignity and respect. But Kelleher and Bethune show that you can be a decent human being and still run a great airline. Sadly, there are more Doug Parkers, Glenn Tiltons, and Gerard Arpeys around. And the employee and customers suffer as a result.
 
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Reactions: 1 person
I am no fan of Parker and Kirby, but do think that some of the stuff on this board is over the top. Still, can you imagine an airline CEO getting that kind of support, almost veneration, from employees? There are not many who could accomplish it, Bethune is one.

Does any remember why he was not kept around afer the merger?

Hey, for those who thnik the East/ West corporate culture gap is deep and wide, imagine what it would have been like the internet - and this board - had been around back then?
;) :blink:
My, the fur would have been flying!

To sum it all up, the US Air gang in CCY didn't like Gordons way of thinking etc. I can only assume that good old Uncle Ed was hell-bent on getting rid of him once the PI merger was complete either way. Needless to say, Uncle Ed jumped ship right after he put US/PS/PI together and dumped the mess in Seth's lap to handle. While he wasn't a bad guy, he wasn't equipped to deal with the merged airlines and the challenges they brought. This was the beginning of the end, and kicked-off years of endless financial and job losses. Way back in 1989 the combined airline had 454 MAINLINE A/C, and today following another merger with HP there are nearly 100 less Mainline A/C and thousands less employees.
 
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I have it on very good authority that Mr Bethune was offered very senior post in the combined USAir/Piedmont, but for reasons that this person could not elaborate on, it was unlikely that a CEO spot was likely. (Bethune was rumored to be the likely successor to Bill Howard at PI). So, Mr Bethune left US and went on to great success at CO.


Too bad.

Hey, "From Worst to First" in available used on Amazon for about three bucks plus shipping. Anyone want to send a copy to Tempe? (I might if I thought they'd actually read it)