WING TIPS

I have strongly urged some of the younger folks I’ve encountered to choose to work for a good boss in a good company as they navigate their career. When offered this advice in speeches or other conversations, people who don’t believe you can choose your boss often challenge me. While acknowledging that many folks don’t choose a good boss, it’s not correct to say you can’t. I have only had one unsuitable boss in my entire professional career, and I decided to work for him. And even in that situation, he wasn’t a bad person. We just clashed on fundamental management style.

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Loving Northern Cal

When I got out of the Air Force to chase an airline career, I was living in Sacramento, California, and I thoroughly enjoyed the area with all it had to offer. There was skiing at Squaw Valley and Heavenly Mountain. The casinos and great nighttime entertainment at Lake Tahoe were only about an hour and a half’s drive away. The Napa Valley and Sonoma wine country and their many beautiful wineries were only about sixty miles in the opposite direction. They provided an easy date destination for a young single pilot on a Saturday afternoon. San Francisco was also an easy drive with all the attractions of a big city and its picturesque setting on the bay. So, I decided I wanted to stay in the area and I looked for an airline company that would be a fit  for me.

As I did the research, I discovered I had several options at the time: American, United, Western, and Continental all had San Francisco pilot bases, and they became the objects of my focus. But as I dug deeper, I also discovered some significant issues with those companies that I found unappealing, particularly concerning financial viability, employee relations, and retention. Reluctantly, I realized I needed to cast a wider net, even if it meant leaving the area I had grown to love.

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Go With The Best

In evaluating the remaining major airlines, Delta Air Lines, based in Atlanta, Georgia, stood out as the cream of the crop. The company had a stellar financial record with thirty-five consecutive, profitable years. In addition, Delta had inculcated a culture of treating its employees like family and had never furloughed or laid off any of its pilots. Delta and its senior management team had been highlighted in both Forbes and Business Week magazines, and they prominently featured the “Delta Family” moniker in the articles.

But I had grown up in the South and didn’t have a desire to return to that part of the country for my career. Yet, it was evident that I’d have to give up my home base on the West Coast for my long-term job security and overall well-being. I decided to try to get hired by Delta.

My goal was to get hired by a good company that was financially stable and had an environment where people were respected and valued. Delta fit that definition to a T. By prioritizing my work desires and requirements and eliminating the airline companies that didn’t fit the criteria, I chose to have a good boss. The rest, as they say, is history, and I had terrific chief pilots as bosses during my entire Delta career.

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A Quote To Consider!

“The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it.”

—Tricia Cunningham

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