Start it up

Have you ever wondered what it is to start a revolution? In my childhood, reading about Gandhi and MLK and Nelson Mandela inspired me. And then life took over, and the anxiety of taking care of the future guaranteed all my waking hours was wrestling with the tyranny of now. Until that inspiring day in September 2017. The day our family took a cross-country red-eye flight from SFO to Philadelphia flying United. And Captain Jason Lopez entered my life as the Captain of that United flight that changed the course of my life - and today tons of others. It all started with him coming out of the cockpit just before takeoff and addressing the passengers on the PA system. Eyebrow Raiser #1 - how uncharacteristic is that. My blogging brain was already whirring. And then the three things he said are etched in my brain. #Leadership #Empathy #Gratitude that caused me to write this blog https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-awesome-captain-jlo-demonstrated-leadership-empathy-krishnan/. And that went viral. And I moved on. #NOT

A series of events that transpired after that. Because at that moment, the seeds of a revolution were sown. One that involved not just Captain Lopez and myself but Dana Hughes and Charlie and a big United team. And I expect this revolution to continue to other organizations and people. That is my dream. Wonder what am I talking about - read on?

A United rep messaged me a few days later thanking me for my blog. No sweat I said. And I thought we had parted ways. #Wrong. A few weeks later Capt. J Lo messaged me indicating that he wanted to meet me to get to know me better and understand what caused me to write about this and in passing mentioned that in the United internal customer sentiment dashboard my blog was making some mini-waves. Well, I was certainly a little flattered but was more intrigued about meeting with Capt. Lopez who as you can imagine was a true leader in my mind. A few weeks later we met face to face in Menlo Park, CA. The first seed of an unlikely friendship. A middle-aged Hi-Tech exec turned blogger + interpreter + accelerator and an inspirational United Airbus captain. We spoke for hours. He described how he did the same routine on every flight. How his Sergeants at the City of Boulder Police Department - where he worked in the late 2000s - instilled in him this sense of pride and belief of looking up to every night of his night-shift as the best one yet. Those teachings he imbibed and carried over to his captain duties bringing that same sense of joy and anticipation to his passengers every single time he took off. And how he explained in plain English to the passengers' face to face at the gate every time (not let the hapless gate agents do the dirty work) when there was a flight delay and explain how the adjustable on-ramp timers to the freeway due to congestion they encountered as drivers was exactly what was happening with the flight as their onramp meter to the congested skies was extended. And how that would defuse and calm the passengers every time.

And then the revolution moved forward. Early January, Jason called me (we connect every couple of weeks) and asked if it would be OK if United PR connected with me as they had an idea for a video story. Huh? A video, United, me?! My mind boggled. As a freelancer now, there was no HR or Legal department to take permission from, so I hesitantly gave my OK. Dana Hughes from United then contacted me and we chatted candidly and I felt a little bit more relieved about how I just had to be myself and recount the why, how and what behind why I did what I did. And then we agreed for her and her crew to come over the following week - yes, they were in a hurry - flying in from Chicago! What followed in the afternoon that day in January was surrealistic. A videographer, an audio assistant, and Dana showed up. Walking up and down with Jackie (our dog who must have thought I was loony) with front, side, rear shots - a surrealistic experience for me. And shots of me blogging on my laptop. And finally, the interview which to my amazement was the easiest interview I have ever done in my life. Retrospectively - I believe this was because I just said what I truly believed in - Connecting people and Elevating every day. Just another day living my mission statement. And then they left and life went back to normal. Sort of. Subsequently, Jason Lopez was videotaped as well doing his flight routine and weeks later Dana told me they were going to roll this video at the United Connections 2018 leadership conference event in Chicago in March. And Jason was going to be a special invitee at this event. That really made my day. (Updated Dec' 18 - here is the video)

The revolution marched on. Jason and I connected a week after the event and I lived every moment over there vicariously through his commentary. The video clearly inspired a lot of United leadership, as Jason recounted meeting leaders of the corporate real estate, baggage handling, ticketing and customer service teams who were genuinely inspired and motivated after seeing how compelling the message in the video was. And he told me he was just doing his job that day. Much like I was just doing my job - writing about "positivity amplification" - and yet this went crazily viral. Why?

Because we started a revolution. One that elevates goodness and emphasizes Leadership, Empathy, Recognition, Support, Integrity, and Friendship, and transcends demographics, geography, and politics. And that is powerful. But I said the revolution has just "started". I am on a mission to spread this word to other organizations. If United can embrace this and elevate to inspire, why can't other employees inside organizations and individuals do the same? My mission just expanded. More amplification of positivity. And our friendship stays strong. What a script. Stay tuned.