USFlyer said:
MBAs in and of themselves aren't bad. Every company needs people who understand the finer details of balance sheets, financing, etc. Just in my experience many forget about the non-quantifiable aspects of running a business (e.g., morale) and how these aspects indirectly affect what ultimately appears on the balance sheet. I'm in the process of taking the GMAT, applying to business school, etc., so I've become more familiar with exactly what they learn.
There is a school of thought that Harvard (and particularly MBAs from) is directly responsible for the downfall of the corporate excellence in the United States. I believe it.
An MBA is all fun and good, but without operational excellent, it means
zero. Dave (and to a very real extent, most of the executive suite in CCY) is a perfect example of this. A great deal of having a profitable business is execution, operation, and process design. Dotting your "i"s and crossing the "t"s. Despite all their differences, you will find that operationally (particularly from a process and best practice standpoint) there is LUV and then everyone else in the airline industry, and it is
reflected in the balance sheet.
I give you the nightmare that AOG lives daily. The situation with spares and the maintenance farmout. The PHL baggage belt. The train wreck that is the US res (sabre) and backoffice systems.
The greatest strategic plan on the planet means nothing if it cannot be executed, or was written without any consideration about how/if it
can be executed with any degree of success. You are seeing such a train wreck at US right now.
An accountant can cook the books, and a finance geek can get finance. I maintain my stance the the current crop in the US executive suite has to learn how to operate a toaster (airline) before cooking up any more grand plans for said airline.