By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
An entrepreneur must build strong management and leadership for the company to keep growing.
A few weeks ago, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby appeared in an interview on “Brilliant Moves: Coffee with CEO” by McKinsey and Company. Kirby opens the book to share his thoughts on company culture, management, leadership, and more.
“One of the most cultural things, that’s the most impactful, I think, in the last five years since I became ceo is every airline has what are called delay codes,” Kirby said. “So if a flight is delayed even if it’s one minute, why was it delayed? There’s a code. Was it the pilots? Was it the flight attendants? Was it the caterer? They’re just like every airline I’ve been at; they’re just wars in break rooms. There are four-hour fights amongst people about who gets pinned with the delay.”
Kirby is all about investing in the right kind of technology. He also believes in the philosophy of a 5-year startup in a 100-year company. During those five years, Kirby added more members to the team, and he’s been innovative as well.
“People with a high school diploma can come work as a flight attendant or a gate agent or on the ramps or in tech ops,” Kirby said. “I’m proud of that. We open up our flight attendant hiring. I don’t remember the exact number we were going to hire, two or three thousand. We have like 75,000 applications within a couple of hours. For us, it’s more about how you find people who have the right mentality and customer service attitude.”
People can feel when the leader has energy and passion. Every entrepreneur should strive to bring those qualities to the company. Kirby thinks people get confused about the difference between management and leadership.
“Management is about compliance,” Kirby said. “It’s about did you show up to work on time? Did you do the checklist? It’s really important. But leadership is about inspiration and vision. It’s about how you make people feel.”
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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