2008 Woodie Awards
Award Winning CEO Speaks at SHU
Brad Holland Staff Reporter
Issue date: 4/14/05 Section: News
On Wednesday March 5 at 6:30 in the Pitt Center board room, the leader of one group of Pioneers introduced another.
SHU president Dr. Anthony Cernera welcomed JetBlue CEO Dave Neeleman in another installment of Sacred Heart's Corporate Strategies and Insights Forum. Neeleman came to tell "The JetBlue Story."
His story begins like this:
On February 11, 2000, JetBlue Airways took the skies with service between New York's LaGuardia airport and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dave Neeleman was the driving force behind JetBlue. He was in position as Chief Executive Officer.
Beginning with the most private startup capital in Airlines history, with over 100 million in equity, Neeleman felt secure. He had new ideas, a new vision of the American corporation. But still his fledgling company suffered constant attacks from men and women who didn't share his optimism.
"Critics scoffed at our dream of creating a successful low-fare airline based in New York City," Neeleman posted on his JetBlue website. "They said we'd never find quality employees, that no one would want to fly domestically from JFK, and that we'd never be able to offer both low fares and a product that includes new planes, leather seats and live satellite TV with DIRECTV® programming. Twenty-two million customers later, we're proud to be proving the critics wrong."
How has Neeleman managed to silence the critics? By pioneering new methods: his business policies and practice were radical and untested. His techniques could even be considered dangerous and seen as a threat to corporate America.
What does he do? He treats his employees as trusted friends and family.
He has a hiring policy for each one of his people. That policy, from the ticket-taker to the pilot: once hired, never fired. Neeleman also allows his employees to work at home. And each employee owns part of all 74 JetBlue passenger jets.
Whenever Neeleman flies those planes, for business or pleasure, the CEO helps flight attendants clean up the garbage.
SHU president Dr. Anthony Cernera welcomed JetBlue CEO Dave Neeleman in another installment of Sacred Heart's Corporate Strategies and Insights Forum. Neeleman came to tell "The JetBlue Story."
His story begins like this:
On February 11, 2000, JetBlue Airways took the skies with service between New York's LaGuardia airport and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dave Neeleman was the driving force behind JetBlue. He was in position as Chief Executive Officer.
Beginning with the most private startup capital in Airlines history, with over 100 million in equity, Neeleman felt secure. He had new ideas, a new vision of the American corporation. But still his fledgling company suffered constant attacks from men and women who didn't share his optimism.
"Critics scoffed at our dream of creating a successful low-fare airline based in New York City," Neeleman posted on his JetBlue website. "They said we'd never find quality employees, that no one would want to fly domestically from JFK, and that we'd never be able to offer both low fares and a product that includes new planes, leather seats and live satellite TV with DIRECTV® programming. Twenty-two million customers later, we're proud to be proving the critics wrong."
How has Neeleman managed to silence the critics? By pioneering new methods: his business policies and practice were radical and untested. His techniques could even be considered dangerous and seen as a threat to corporate America.
What does he do? He treats his employees as trusted friends and family.
He has a hiring policy for each one of his people. That policy, from the ticket-taker to the pilot: once hired, never fired. Neeleman also allows his employees to work at home. And each employee owns part of all 74 JetBlue passenger jets.
Whenever Neeleman flies those planes, for business or pleasure, the CEO helps flight attendants clean up the garbage.