Definition of Leadership? Read This.

by | Jun 20, 2013 | General

Many of us work for big corporations where thousands of employees are managed by senior executives, VPs, mid-level executives, and so on. We know they exist, because we see their names signed on memos, occasionally mentioned in the financial news, walking down the hall with an entourage of staff making sure they are happy.

Every once in awhile, you hear a story about one of these company heads that makes you feel proud. A CEO or other high-level executive who not only manages, but leads.

Here’s one I heard about recently:

An open letter to Delta CEO Richard Anderson:

Thursday was one of my more harrowing flying days. Due to weather, there were multiple delays, cancellations, re-routings and even a mechanical failure. A 2 hour flight turned into an entire day. By 9:30pm, I was just halfway home, waiting standby in DC hoping to make it out before the 10pm curfew.

During it all, I had contact with at least a dozen Delta employees – by phone, at the counter, at the gate, in the SkyClub… Without exception, they were all calm, kind, diligent, funny… and really went out of their way to try to help me. All this, while at the same time facing a firestorm of angry passengers because there had been so many disrupted flights.

I was 8th on the standby list, showing 0 seats left. I was about to give up, but the counter agent stopped me from leaving. He called 7 names… and then, finally, I was the last to be called. As we rushed down the jetway, the flight attendant at the plane shook her head – not a good sign – but then paused, talked to someone, and waved us down anyway. A vaguely familiar face met me at the doorway, not in uniform so probably an off-duty pilot I had seen before. He quickly grabbed my roll-aboard, helped clear a space in the overhead, and showed me to my seat.

It was important for me to get home – not important enough to tell anyone – but Friday I was to pick up my Type 1 Diabetic 12 year old from her diabetes summer camp. I’m sure she would have been fine if someone else had shown up in my place, but it’s a special moment for me. Camp Kudzu gives my daughter 5 days a year when she feels “normal.” Pick-up day gives me a glimpse into that special world where she’s just like everyone else, and she’s a little bit of a different person for the rest of the day. By the next day, it’s back to the harsh realities of managing a difficult, deadly, incurable disease that kills 1 in 20 before the age of 18. Most people just don’t understand how different it is from regular diabetes.

As the plane descended into Atlanta, the flight attendant announced that there was a special guest on board. He was riding in a jump seat, because he had given up his place to allow one more person on that flight. That special guest was you: Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta.

Suddenly I realized that “familiar face” was not an off-duty pilot. It was you, the CEO of Delta, vaguely familiar from the safety video. It was you, Richard Anderson, who gave up your seat for me. It was you, the Delta CEO, who helped me with my bag. It was you, acting just like an ordinary Mr. Anderson, who showed me to my seat.

You, Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, did all that for me, just an average, middle-aged, woman with, as far as anyone at Delta knew, no special reason to get home. But more importantly, it was all of your employees that day that did so much helping me to get home – and now I know why. Because Delta is led by you, Richard Anderson, a dedicated and inspiring leader who so clearly demonstrates, at his very core, that he leads by example, and does not set himself above all those who allow this airline to exist.

Thank you, Richard Anderson. As a result of your leadership and the actions of yourself and your employees, I had my special day with my special child. You and your employees gave us both one more day of happiness, and for that, we are both very grateful. I have always been a loyal Delta customer, but Thursday solidified that loyalty for life! To all Delta employees who helped me on Thursday: thank you again.

My Brief Visit to NYC Last Week

My Brief Visit to NYC Last Week

by | Nov 4, 2012 | General, Podcast

Had a trip on Wed-Fri that took us into JFK Thursday. Our approach brought us in from the Atlantic off the Jersey coast, but the undercast obscured our view of the damage. As we approached Fire Island from the South, and then over toward Hempstead on Long Island, a lot of coastal flooding was evident.

After waiting nearly two hours in the blustery cold inside the “Horse Shoe” of Terminal 3 for our transportation service, our limo finally arrived, and parts of three different crews piled into the black SUV. The driver apologized, and explained that fuel supplies were running dangerously low, and their company would most likely have enough for that day’s commitments, but Friday was a different story. He reckoned that fuel would be gone for their fleet. The local news station was playing on the radio, and we could hear reports of long lines of people waiting to buy gas, and sporadic outbreaks of violence related to the shortage. Since there were no rooms near Kennedy, the limo driver drove us into Manhattan via the Queensboro Bridge (59th Street), over to 45th Street and Madison Avenue (The Roosevelt Hotel). The roads from JFK to Long Island City were jammed with traffic, but the traffic on the bridge was extremely light, as the authorities were allowing only vehicles with three occupants or more to traverse it.

For the most part, everything seemed almost normal in the part of Manhattan we visited… something seemed slightly amiss, but it was hard to describe. The only evidence of the effects of the storm that I witnessed was the beer taps that had run dry at one of the pilots’ favorite watering holes on 3rd Avenue, the Blarney Stone. Luckily, the style of beer that I enjoy were still flowing from their taps (IPAs)!

Just a few blocks South of us, say 34th Street and South, it was quite a different story… Electricity was still off, flooding was all over. I didn’t venture in that direction, as we were advised that it wasn’t safe.

After changing into my “civvies,” I headed over to 5th Avenue, then North to 50th, to attend the last All Saints Day Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral this year. As usual, the cathedral was beautiful, and full of locals and tourists.

After mass, I headed East on 50th toward Park Avenue to grab my dinner from a street vendor. Chicken and rice, Halal-style. Continuing on, down 50th to 3rd Avenue, then South to just past 45th, I enjoyed a large glass of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA at the Blarney Stone (to aid in digestion, of course). Then West on 45th back to the Roosevelt.

To my great surprise, my limo showed up at 4:10 am the next morning to transport me back to JFK for my deadhead flight home. Apparently, there was still a supply of gasoline for the transportation company’s fleet.

My brief visit to NYC made the aftermath of Sandy much more “real” to me. Of course, my life didn’t suffer one little bit, but it gave me a great appreciation of the suffering that so many have endured and are now still enduring. It is my prayer to those affected that their lives return to normal soon.