For my last blog post, I will take a positive CEO leadership example in contrast to stories of corrupt CEOs and ethical scandals. This blog will focus on one individual in the business world who is admired by many and certainly looked up to by employees. I located a interesting article written by Patricia Sellers, “Azul: The next JetBlue.” The article presents detail information concerning David Neeleman, current CEO of Azul. It addresses his previous career struggles and how he arrived as Azul’s CEO. After studying the article, I was truly impressed by Neeleman’s passion and determination of developing into a successful leader and how he learned and gained valuable knowledge from past mistakes. Neeleman was able to turn past key weakness into strengths reaching the position of CEO at Azul, an upcoming and promising Brazilian airline.
Neeleman’s first difficult lesson learned came when he was only 23 years old. As a young businessman, “He started a travel agency with his main supplier being a startup airline that hurtled into bankruptcy, and he lost everything” (Sellers, Patricia). From that painful experience, Neeleman quickly learned his first difficult lesson as CEO, “Always bolster your business with plenty of capital” (Sellers, Patricia).
Neeleman’s second difficult experience encompassed the following lesson, “Always be your own boss” (Sellers, Patricia). This lesson learned came after selling his second company, Morris Air, to southwest Airlines thinking he would become the candidate to succeed CEO Herb Kelleher. Kelleher ended up firing Neeleman from Southwest. Never again would Neeleman make that same mistake and vowed never to work under anyone else.
“At age 39, Neeleman founded JetBlue. He built the airline into America's eighth largest and ascended into the ranks of the most admired and innovative CEOs” (Sellers, Patricia). However, Neeleman’s good fortune would not last long. At the time, his poor communication skills on developing a coherent explanation in reaction to an ice storm incident caused his downfall at JetBlue. Failure to effectively provide his plan in addressing the ice storm fiasco to his board of directors was the main reason Neeleman was removed as JetBlue’s CEO. From this experience, Neeleman learned another lesson from his mistakes, “The need to design his next company so that his board can't toss him out” (Sellers, Patricia).
From the accumulation of his past career corporate experiences, and improving with every lesson learned, Neeleman developed into an effective leader that many people thought never possible. Neeleman accepted his greatest challenge of his career. “Neeleman started Azul Airlines in 2008 and raising $235 million for the venture, a record for a new airline. Personally, he invested $13 million, some four times the amount he sank into JetBlue” (Sellers, Patricia). I believe that the personal financial commitment to Azul Airlines is linked to his passion to successfully run an airline -- it runs much deeper than just money for Neeleman. This is about his CEO leadership ability. Neeleman is willing to put up millions of his own money, knowing that he could lose all of his investment and perhaps more if the company goes under.
Clearly, this illustrates that Neeleman has developed into a confident leader, and believes his vision for this airline will prosper! This goes against the prevailing conventional agreement that the airline industry has been declining throughout the last decade. In addition, a startup airline in this highly competitive industry rarely sees profit in its first few years. Majority of senior airline executives would be extremely hesitant to gamble and start up a new airline in this struggling economy. “Neeleman is adamant that airlines can pay off -- if you know where to put your money. Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, has rebounded quickly from the financial crisis, with an anticipated 5.8% rise in real GDP this year” (Sellers, Patricia).
In my opinion, down deep Neeleman knows what he is doing presents significant risk to his own financial portfolio but he is extremely confident. Neeleman’s vision for Azul Airlines is built on past experiences at Morris Airline and JetBlue and he is well aware of what works and what does not work. Neeleman’s lessons learned can be linked to the skills approach on leadership in the class textbook. As stated in the textbook, “the skills approach suggests that knowledge and abilities are needed for effective leadership” (Northouse p.39). Associated to the three components in the skill model, Neeleman clearly demonstrates that he has admirable individual attributes and competencies, which is the reason he is a successful leader. Based on the skills model, the four attributes comprise cognitive ability, crystallized cognitive ability, motivation, and personality. Neeleman exemplifies all four of these skills attributes. Neeleman’s creativity and overall reasoning skills have allowed him to develop his cognitive ability. In addition, Neeleman’s chief strength in this model encompasses his crystallized cognitive ability that is, “intellectual ability learned or acquired over time” (Northouse p.48). Looking back on Neeleman’s past executive leadership roles, he has acquired knowledge from each of his past job experiences, strengthening his overall leadership ability. Neeleman’s painful experiences has helped him improve his competencies, such as problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and his overall knowledge in running a major airline company on a daily basis for the long-term.
Also, Neeleman exhibits behavior in the third attribute of the model, motivation. Neeleman is personally motivated to build a company from nothing, and build it into one of the juggernauts in the airline industry by motivating his employees to embrace his vision. Furthermore, Neeleman is certainly motivated to succeed from his past failures and, “He is committed to the social good of the organization” (Northouse p.49). The last attribute of the model, personality, is another element of Neeleman’s strengths. He demonstrates traits such as confidence and the flexibility a leader must possess in running a successful and vibrant company.
I firmly believe that some competing CEO’s in the airline industry are betting against the success of Azul Airlines and Neeleman. However, this is a bad bet since Neeleman has gained valuable leadership experience in the airline industry throughout his career. Also, one can definitely correlate Neeleman’s leadership traits, experiences, and accomplishments to the skills Model of Leadership. “Career experiences have an impact on the characteristics and competencies of leaders. The skills model suggests that the experiences acquired in the course of a leaders’ career influence their knowledge and skills to solve complex problems” (Northouse p.49). It is clear that past experiences and development of Neeleman’s leadership attributes and competencies has helped him with his performance as CEO of Azul Airlines.
As Neeleman works hard in proving his doubters wrong, it is apparent that he is on the right path leading to success. “Azul Airlines started flying in December 2008 and registered 2.2 million passengers in its first 12 months, shattering the previous record for a startup airline” (Sellers, Patricia). Neeleman is quoted, “With revenues of $150 million last year, we will probably more than double that this year, on track to turn the first profit” (Sellers, Patricia).
An exemplary leadership trait that Neeleman portrays is that he treats his employees with respect and dignity. Neeleman sets a strong example for everyone and fosters an environment that subordinates feel as equal partners in the company, disregarding current job title. “Neeleman assigns parking places by lottery” (Sellers, Patricia). When one star manager griped about receiving a faraway spot, Neeleman told him, "Dude, if you act like that, you're never going to be a vice president here” (Sellers, Patricia). This example depicts that Neeleman is a self-confident leader who demonstrates dominance when needed, and he has the desire to influence others. These are leadership characteristics that have made Neeleman a significant transformational leader. In return, his workers feel a high level of trust in Neeleman’s leadership abilities and his vision for the company.
In sum, one vital lesson I have learned concerning Neeleman’s career is that one should never give up. People from all walks of life, including CEOs, will make mistakes throughout a career. It is how the individual moves on and learns to correct past failures that will set one apart from the rest of the pack. As one builds a foundation of learning experiences, the competent leader does not make the same mistake twice. Neeleman’s determination and persistence did not allow him to fail as an innovator and leader in the airline industry. Based on his drive and motivation to succeed, Neeleman overcame obstacles to become a competent CEO of Azul Airlines.
What do you think about Neeleman’s past career successes and failures? Do you think that his painful experiences and several failures in the airline industry have propelled him in becoming a competent leader? What do you think about Neeleman’s leadership strengths and weaknesses that were demonstrated in current and past CEO positions?
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