JetBlue/Neeleman Message to CEOs: Boards Value Long-Term Risk Management over Crisis Response
JetBlue’s founder and CEO David Neeleman stepped down today when his board suggested that he ‘could best serve the company as a strategic visionary.’ According to the board and Neeleman, this was in the works for quite some time and has nothing to do with the February 14th flight delays.
However, it’s hard not to hear the message being sent: Board members value long-term risk management over immediate crisis response. Even nearly heroic crisis response measures aren’t as important as an aversion to risk.
There are several lessons that other CEOs and boards can learn from this situation:
- It comes down to money: JetBlue says this was planned for some time, but it’s highly likely that the Valentine’s Day disruption hastened the board’s decision. Despite his very strong leadership, David Neeleman is learning the unfortunate reality that, at the end of the day, ROI is what matters. The bottom line is the bottom line.
- Manage risk over crisis: There is no doubt that Neeleman guided the company through a tough time that cold February weekend. The JetBlue board’s decision was a sign that they value long-term risk management more than crisis response. Avoid crisis by managing risks today.
- Don’t sacrifice the brand: The JetBlue board is betting that the JetBlue brand is greater than Neeleman–and they’ll be correct, if the airline continues to place emphasis on the customer service policies Neeleman created and implemented…after all, there aren’t many companies that set up their self-service systems so that customers in ‘irregular’ situations can waive their own change fees, or that promise to pay customers who are unnecessarily delayed. Make sure that your brand fulfills its promise to customers.
