After Thousands of Canceled Flights, United's CEO Sent an Email to Employees. This 1 Sentence Is a Master Class in Leading People
Posted Jun 27, 2023
I imagine that if you're the CEO of an airline, one of the most frustrating things must be that your business is largely dependent on things that are outside of your control. For example, bad weather can make it less safe to fly, which can cause major disruptions for airlines.
That's what happened last weekend when storms on the East Coast caused thousands of cancellations and delays, especially at Newark Liberty International Airport, which serves as a hub for United Airlines. It wasn't just the storms, however.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reduced capacity at several airports, not just because of the weather, but because of air traffic control staffing issues. Airline CEOs can't control the weather, and they can't control whether federal agencies have enough people showing up to work to make the system work.
United's CEO, Scott Kirby, pointed out the problem in an email to employees on Monday:
The FAA reduced the arrival rates by 40 percent and the departure rates by 75 percent.
That is almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA. It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position. And that put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening.
As a result, we estimate that over 150,000 customers on United alone were impacted this weekend because of FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic.
The FAA staffing and experience level is certainly beyond the scope of what the CEO of an airline can control, and it would be very frustrating to have something outside of your control so directly affect more than 150,000 of your customers. But Kirby's email isn't just a criticism of the FAA. He starts his email with something every leader could learn from:
I wanted to say thank you for the incredible work you did this weekend under what were unprecedented challenges. I know it was very tough on each of you, and it's not over yet with weather continuing today on the East Coast.
But I want you to know that I'm proud of you.
That last sentence is one of the most important things a leader can say to their team--especially when they're enduring a challenge. As a leader, those last four words, "I'm proud of you," are a secret weapon for leading people.
I know that there's a lot more involved with leading people than just saying words, but words matter. At its foundation, your job--as a leader--is to build up and encourage the people you lead. Your job is to tell them that you're proud of how they handle difficult situations and proud of how they rise to the occasion.
There are a lot of things about running a business that are completely out of anyone's control. That's not just true for airlines. It's true for bakeries, and flower shops, and restaurants, and accounting firms. It's true for every business--as a CEO, your job is to focus on what you can control.
You can control how you encourage your team. You can control how you treat them and how you motivate them through a challenge. You can be intentional about noticing when they perform well despite all of the things they can't control. And you can tell them you're proud to be leading them.
"While I'm frustrated that the FAA is letting us and our customers down, I'm encouraged at everything all of you are doing to manage the best we can," Kirby wrote. "At United, our team will continue to do great things to take care of customers no matter what happens outside of our control."
It turns out, that might be one of the most valuable things of all.