What happened here?

I find it hard to say that I am not of the mind to inundate people with my political beliefs while I sit in bed and type this sentence.  But truth told, after I look at it I realize that I am not so much spewing (thanks Carrie) my beliefs so much as taking the political pulse of my peers.  In my own ground rules I asked for your opinions and asked that you respect the others you read in these passages.  With a rule like that I might as well test its elasticity and see what happens so here goes.

This afternoon I was watching the Bloomberg report when the story broke that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had finally resigned his position after 18 days of protests.  While watching history occur before my eyes via a 52” TV I was struck by the fact that Bloomberg seemed indifferent.  Sure they were excited in the moment but the political speculation and opinions that other channels were vomiting up all over the airwave just wasn’t happening.  It was almost peaceful.  I was learning that as the rest of the world stopped to watch, the Egyptian oil industry kept on churning.

After a brief pause the US financial world went up all across the board on all three exchanges and that is never a bad thing.  I listened intently to an Egyptian born professor of economics at some really big US college talk about how Mubarak’s exit stage left would not only help to stabilize the volatile mid-east market but could have long lasting positive ramifications.  Of course he talked of change and hope and pride and even dabbled in what he thinks could happen but only a little.  That was a refreshing change in and of its self.

After a while I switched over to the other channels and half heartedly listened to ‘experts’ on middle eastern affairs set up the different models for what we should expect in the next 12 months.  I skimmed through FOX News, MSNBC, Headline and CNN (Communist News Network was one title I heard today) and quite frankly, none of the above impressed me.  Depending on which channel you listened to one of two things was going to happen; we were either going to have to prepare for al Qaeda to take over our own soil while based out of Cairo or we can all go on smelling the daisy’s while some great democratic government materializes out of the desert floor but still nothing would affect us here in the great ‘ol United States of America. 

But what prompted this post, what set my mind on fire, what really sent me into a frenzy of thinking (and yes it hurt to think) was an interaction with a friend of mine about it all.  Now this guy truly is a best friend, the kind of guy that if given the right set of circumstances would do anything for me.  We served in the Marines together, fought our way out of more than one bar together and shared our hopes and dreams.  He is a cop’s cop in a big city somewhere west of here and he’s a hell-u-va guy, no two ways about it.  We are probably more like brothers than I am with my own blood brother at times because the way we think, the way we react to life and the way we navigate through this world are so much the same.

But today my buddy responded to a post on Facebook that took me by surprise.  It was totally of the FOX News Channel ilk where as the new ‘power vacuum’ created by the president’s departure was definitely the start of something negative for the free world.  How could anyone make such a statement at such an awesome time?  How, in the very bosom of freedom, could anyone not in the CIA begin to set up such negative thoughts about the day’s events?  Really, the birth place of al Qaeda because at one time it was a Muslim ran country?  Egypt??  One of America’s most strategic partners in the Middle East and we would let it get that far as to go backwards?

I won’t go into the details about the interaction that followed because that is not important but my mind was already ablaze with emotion about it.  Not long after my buddy’s post I received two different private messages blasting him and one was supporting me for “putting that pig in his place.”  Do what?  That is my best friend we are talking about, I would take a life for him and you call him a pig and I put him in his place simply be sharing my opinion with him?  What the heck is wrong with people?

We can sit and listen to our preferred flavor of news and that is what we take as bible?  Concrete evidence of the world as it is because you heard it on the idiot box?  What happened to the good in people, to the innate ability to look for the good in all things before you discover otherwise.  To hope for the best but to plan for the worst if it comes?  Now we jump to conclusions, expect the worst outcome in everything and secretly pray it turns that way so that everyone else involved can suffer with us in our own destructive attitudes.   No one and I mean no one on the news reports today acted as if a positive outcome was going to come true.  And because of those opinions that is how a couple of my friends think too? 

I’m asking, are we that far gone now as a society?  Is everyone that negative and I am in the minority or is the world, America specifically, full of generally positive people who don’t care what the news ‘experts’ think?  Is it just me or do we all wish politicians would just shut up and act right, work for a common good and expect the same of the news channels?  Do we still hold doors for others, do we still allow the guy to the right to go first and tell the lady at the checkout counter to have a good day after getting change?  If “we” are the majority why are there not more people ringing the bell for the common good to be a common value? 

Tell you what; post your opinions here and send the link to your friends.  This is my unofficial poll for these questions.  Do you care what the news says and think that they have the master plan or are you hoping for the best in the Egyptian situation?  Do you hold out hoping that the common good is the common value in society or do you think we are too far gone as a nation to care and just secretly hope that others suffer and our personal space is unaffected?  Tell your friends, I want to hear about it.  And remember, opinions are just that so respect others as they will respect yours! 

This could be fun!

db

Smart Business

I have been reading a little on the net about Delta and the 'crisis' that they are in with labor issues, financial troubles and their indifference to customer complaints starting to haunt them  In 2010 they had multiple troubles, on the same day, more than once.  I'm not an expert, never been to school for business and I don't know the first thing about running an airline but I can assure you that is no way to run a company of any kind.

I'm reminded of a story I heard a few months ago but it has stuck with me.  On September 8th, 2010 a series of thunderstorms was forecast to hit the Dallas metropolitan area bringing everything you would expect; heavy rains, strong winds and the possibility of hail and even tornado's.  In anticipation of the sever weather many employees of major airlines servicing DFW either called in sick or began to take early time off as the day would be cut short by cancelled flights anyway.  As a result several flights were delayed long before the inclimate weather even reached Ft. Worth.  By mid afternoon DFW was a mass of late departing flights and a quagmire on the runways as incoming flights had no where to go.  As rain started to fall in short but heavy spurts the major airlines acted accordingly and began cancelling flights altogether.  But that was their own problem, caused by their people and not the weather.  Mother nature just provided an excuse.  By early evening it only got worse as the airport began to crawl to a pedestrian speed.

During the same time about 18 miles away at Love Field, or DAL, Southwest Airlines were running as scheduled.  Staff and ground employees along with everyone in between worked as diligent as ever to ensure that arriving flights were brought in on time, the planes were 'turned around' and departing flights would not only take off in a timely manner but would arrive at destinations on time, every time.  At sometime after 7 in the evening the local Doppler radar detected a possible tornado approaching DAL.  As expected the airport began shuffling passengers and crew members towards shelter.  Stories abound that rather than seeking shelter some of the grounds crews outside the terminal worked twice as hard to load some planes faster, button them up and then seek shelter until after the rouge cell passed.  Really?  They worked HARDER to help complete the mission?  Why would they do that?

It  turns out that the tornado passed just south of the airport but did cause some damage to the surrounding area.  Crews were immediately dispatched to check for debris on the the tarmac, in the rain and the wind mind you.  Flights got a little backed up as delays of 35 minutes were created by the weather system.  But, as you would want every airline to do, Southwest personnel buckled down and went to work harder than normal in order to get back on time.  Crazy right?

Why would the super airlines have to cancel hundreds flights, at an airport that sees thunderstorms several times a year, and yet another smaller airline at an inferior facility could continue on with minor delays?  Better equipment perhaps, better people or maybe better emergency preparedness?  No, nope and nada.  Then what was it that made their day different, why break the accepted 'normalcy' of how the others acted?  Simple really, it was the people that were willing to make it happen.  But why them, why then?  Another easy answer; Southwest treats their people right.

There are no unions for the attendants, ground crews and pilots.  There is no super structure of company representatives, union delegates and mid level third party observers to argue over minute details and cry foul while real work does not get done.  There are no memos sent out about how to treat a supervisor when you are asked to do something you don't want to do.  Instead there are open lines of communication going both ways.  Employees on the ground know that they are important and that they are part of something special, something bigger than them.  Southwest has a clear mission to provide a better travel experience than their competitors all while doing so at a lower price.  There is a sense of pride in the employees vs. the sense of entitlement you see at other airlines.  Ever had a bad experience at a Southwest counter or a snobby flight attendant?  (I did, once, and called the counter lady out on it.  She simply stated it was marital problems and she was extremely sorry for her attitude.  I've had those same problems, can't say I blamed her much if you know what I mean.)

Southwest people work at making sure you have a good experience.  There are smiles everywhere, humor in some cases and efficiency at every point.  Look at the boarding process.  There is no calling for twenty different passengers who have not checked in yet.  Nor is there any worrying about zones, silver platinum gold super passengers and what not.  Everyone in line like a stable, you pick your seat once you're on and there is definitely less waiting to sit down.  Speaking of the people, ever noticed that your fellow passengers are a little nicer too? just saying.  But what about the planes themselves.  Southwest can 'turn' a plane in less than 30 minutes on average.  That is landing, porting, debarking of passengers, refueling, replenishing, inspection, crew swap if necessary, loading of passengers, pushing off, taxiing to the runway and wheels up.  Are you kidding me, in less time than it takes Perfect Couples to go from start to finish?  The airline industry standard for major carriers, damn near twice that.

It's all about how you treat your people.  You treat them right, give them ownership of the mission and it's outcome and you can make anything happen.  You make the work place a great place to conduct business and I assure you the customer experience is amplified.  So why don't the other airlines get it?  Do they not care or is it just that they do not know how to change.  You can argue that if would be difficult to make the changes but certainly not hard.  The unions that represent the workers would most definitely fight a change as they are there to make money.  Make no bones about it, in the end that is all the unions care about, their bottom line and not the care of the people they represent.  But the airlines can make strides by simply making an effort.  I don't care what if you fly buses of sell fruits and nuts at a pet store, or manage any of the above because it's all the same.  How do you make for a great customer experience, you make for a great work place first.

And having those two together are one in the same.  Just Smart Business.