Leadership On My Mind

Leadership has been on my mind this past week.

I started a new role at my company in July, and with the move came a new organization and a new set of leaders. Despite work still being largely virtual, it only took a few weeks to see that these people were special. Their attitudes were infectious, and their leadership behaviors came up often in conversations with peers. He remembered my wedding. She called me to learn more about my project. He included me in a big meeting. She thanked me for my work. In short, they demonstrated the traits of of charismatic leaders that Robert Glazer wrote about this week:

1. Empathy
2. Empowerment
3. Trust
4. Valuing others
5. Accountability

Taken individually, none of this is particularly special. In fact, what usually follows in discussions with coworkers is how obvious all of this stuff is, and why more leaders don’t do it. It feels like the approachable, caring and vulnerable leaders have fun in the job – and the egotistical, selfish, cold ones don’t. Why aren’t more leaders good leaders?

My own short career has been spent cataloguing what to avoid and what to model. At my first job, we had an insular leadership team that showed zero interest in how the rest of us were doing. I took notes. Later, I had a boss who took responsibility for a mistake I made, no questions asked or favors owed. “I don’t want anyone holding this against you.” Again I took notes.

Then somewhere along the way other pressures start to sneak in. “Work” gets in the way of leading. It didn’t take long after being given a team member of my own for me to start asking vague questions with no context, or to re-do their work because I could do it better or faster. Was I aware that both things sent terrible messages of distrust and disinterest? Of course. Had I seen how ineffective such behaviors were from bosses in the past? Absolutely. But now it was my a** on the line and there wasn’t time to do things the right way.

I’m being a bit dramatic, I know. But eventually, enough moments like these erase all the good lessons someone has learned throughout their journey. It’s why some leaders are cool people but horrible bosses. Or why some people seem so different as a manager than they were as a peer.

One key role of any organization, it seems, is to stop this corrosive trade off. To incentivize good leaderships behaviors and to protect them from the incessant creep of work. Because good leadership takes long term thinking. It is not the expedient choice to spend an hour training someone to do what would take you five minutes. It is not easy to relinquish control and empower others. But it pays off in the long term. We know it does. That’s why, on this new team of mine, everyone talks about how lucky we have it. It’s obvious that the right investments are being made.

I’ll leave you with a great example of how this type of culture can be set, from Rick Elieson’s resignation letter as head of American Airlines’ loyalty program. It’s long but worth a read.

I definitely took some notes.

– Emmett

AAdvantage Team,

In February 1994 my older brother called me to tell me American was hiring. There had been a hiring freeze, but it had been lifted and they were looking for foreign language speakers. He encouraged me to apply, saying, “American is a good company. If you’re smart and work hard, they’ll take good care of you.” I know, I know, there’s a presumption in that statement, but he should know – my brother was working for American at the time. He started his career on the ramp loading bags, and by the time he called me, he was leading one of AMR’s smaller subsidiary business units. He went on to spend almost 30 years at AMR and Sabre. I believed him, and I applied for a job.

Twenty-eight years later, it’s my turn to leave American and pursue other interests – and I still believe him. What I’ve come to appreciate along the way is that there is no “the company.” There’s just you and me. We’re each responsible to do our best, and to recognize and develop the smart and hardworking people around us. Because there’s really no such thing as individual success.

This is my way of saying thank you. I’ve been a part of many amazing successes during my career at American and every single one of them were the product of the amazing team of which I was a part. Thank you. Thank you for the honor of working alongside you in the Loyalty organization, and for teaching me something new every day.

There’s so much to look forward to for the rest of 2021 and in 2022. Throughout the pandemic you’ve been hard at work, focused on our customers and moving the program forward – making AAdvantage more engaging and rewarding for everyone. Exciting enhancements to our award-winning program are on the horizon because of the work we’ve done together, and I couldn’t be prouder of what you’re accomplishing and how you’re working together.

My day-to-day responsibilities will quickly fall on the shoulders of others, but I’ll continue working behind the scenes through the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition and the program’s continued success.

Thanks for all that you do for our AAdvantage members and for each other.

– Rick Elieson

What I’m Reading:

The Forgotten City Hal Riot – New York Magazine
“In 1992, thousands of furious, drunken cops descended on City Hall — and changed New York history.”

What I’m Listening To:

Lance Armstrong: The rise, fall, and growth of a cycling legend – Peter Atia Podcast
“That guy needed to die and a new guy needed to come around.”