With everyone flying home recently during the holidays I thought it would be interesting to look into who is the CEO behind the world’s largest airline United Continental Holdings (with the merger between Continental and United Airlines.)
There is a very interesting article from USA Today on the background of this CEO, Jeff Smisek.
Most interesting is that the USA Today article includes an interview with someone who knew him best, Smisek’s mentor and former Continental CEO Gordon Bethune. Smisek’s success can be attributed to his aggressive business tactics and competitive nature (graduated top of class at Princeton and Harvard Law School).
There is also an excellent LA Times article on Smisek, in which he gives some insight into his leadership skills, stating “There’s an old saying that we use here a lot: There’s no rearview mirror on the flight deck….Because it doesn’t matter what’s behind you. If you’re going 540 miles per hour, who the hell cares what’s back there, right? So you need to look forward. There’s nothing we can do about our past or United’s past. But we can work together to create a tremendous future.”
USA Today article located HERE.
LA Times article located HERE.
