Thousands of travelers with Southwest Airlines reservations are stranded and unable to get where they are going (or to return home). While weather delays initially caused this problem, Southwest’s own inadequate systems made recovery slow and infuriating. It took many days for the company to finally position itself to make things right. Let’s take a…
With the COVID-19 Coronavirus spreading, is it safe to fly? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says yes. From their site: Because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes, most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on airplanes. Although the risk of infection on an airplane is low, travelers…
I’ve known Charlene Li a very long time. And I’m convinced that her new book, The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail is her finest accomplishment: a fundamentally important and influential strategy book that’s perfectly suited to today’s biggest business challenge. Disruption is a buzzword. Since Clayton Christensen made it famous with…
Boeing and its airline customers are in a tough situation. Plane crashes are very rare — planes are safer than ever — but in the wake of two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, they need to both reassure people and indicate that they’re taking steps to solve the problem. Boeing clearly has a disciplined…
An International Air Transport Association study was unable to find a connection between passenger “happiness” and airline profitability. But that’s boring. So the travel news site Skift reported it as if happy passengers don’t matter. The lack of a finding, like a vacuum, sucked up the truth. Skift’s article, by Marisa Garcia, was titled “IATA Study Finds You…
A company with a clear mission has a soul. The soul motivates workers to contribute in positive ways to a shared goal. What do you call a company that has no soul? A zombie company. A zombie keeps moving forward but exercises no judgment. A zombie company has financial incentives where the soul should be. People do things because it…