Straight From The Top

A few weeks ago, I asked the airline community on LinkedIn for the recommendation on some good books about aviation, and an executive suggested me to read “Straight from the top – The truth about Air Canada“ by Robert Milton – the former CEO of the airline.

It’s a great book on what drives passion for the airline business and offers a fascinating glimpse into the workings of a major airline. For that reason, I'd like to give back the kind gesture, and sometimes, giving back can be simply spreading ideas that matter.

For those who have read the book or traced its reviews, you would find that people loved and hated Robert Milton. There’s a mix of perspectives on his leadership at Air Canada. That’s understandable, just as what a person once said to me: The issue with all these autobiography books is, they are 90% self serving about the character they are describing, but it’s the other 10% of truth we’re looking for. So this post is about the other 10% truth, where I note down some of Milton’s thoughts that I trust are applicable to the current and future leaders, both in and outside the airline industry.

1. To be successful in business, you need to be smart, fast and tough. They may appear to be basic characteristics, but very few top people in both government and business bring all three to the table. In fact, not many can deliver two out of the three characteristics.
2. Most of the hands-on employees know where the inefficiencies are and how much they are costing the company. As a leader, you should listen to these people. It’s a shame for us to rarely see this happen, but rather seeing leaders regard their employees as subordinates whose feedbacks are undervalued.
3. What we read in the press is not always what’s happening in the real world. Unfortunately, far too many members of the media do the public a great disservice. Thus as much as your can, meet people in person and hear their firsthand stories. Taking this to the organisational level, a leader should also embrace transparent and direct communications. One example is to encourage employees that if they make a mistake, before the news spreads around, do come and tell their leader that “I want you to hear it from me first. I did something I should not have done.” That’s simple but would be very much appreciated to facilitate appropriate actions to minimise the consequences.
4. “Failure-tolerant leaders” embrace mistakes that result from “intelligent risk taking”. That means, if, after weighing all sides of an issue, an employee makes an honest decision based on knowledge available at the time and the decision proves faulty, that’s unfortunate, but it is also understandable, and we should move on. A deliberate, well-thought-out effort that didn’t succeed is not only excusable but also desirable to encourage creative thinking that fuels the business.
5. Layoffs are, in one respect or another, a reflection of failed management, and anyone who authorises layoffs should admit this. It does not take a brilliant management to cut employment rosters. When the top management layoffs a significant number of people, it’s due to one of three things: (i) there’s a downturn in the market demand that they’ve failed to anticipate and adjust for in a constructive manner; (ii) they’ve been employing a large number of people whom they really didn’t need; or (iii) they’ve run the company into the red and have gone out of business. If a layoff is a tragic experience for the employee, the leader should feel the same too.

I hope the above key takeaways would inspire you to read the book. We do not live in a perfect world, which makes it difficult for Robert Milton to be a perfect leader to run a perfect airline. He has flaws, just like everyone of us. Yet the fact that he successfully restructured Air Canada tells a lot about his leadership and mindset. That’s essentially what we could learn from him.

Check out other LinkedIn posts on airlines by Phu Nguyen:

• Airline Leaders On Keeping Up With Millennials
• Leadership Insights for Budget Airlines' Growth in Asia
• "Sorry, I'm Also A Victim"
• How's Your Flight
• The Flying Data

About: Phu Nguyen is the conference manager of the Aviation Festival Asia series. She creates content and connects leaders from full-service airlines, low-cost carriers and airports across APAC and beyond.