The CEO Of Delta Reveals His Secrets
Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, was interviewed by the New York Times and shared his tips on hiring (ask about their family life), running meetings (no Blackberries!), and dealing with customers: "I find myself, more and more, writing hand-written notes to people," he says. "I must write a half a dozen a day." These are apology notes, we're guessing.
He also says that too many executive types aren't good communicators:
[I'm looking for] really good communication skills. More and more, the ability to speak well and write is important. You know, writing is not something that is taught as strongly as it should be in the educational curriculum. So you're looking for communication skills.
We think, in light of this statement, our policy of suggesting an EECB for when you can't get a problem solved is actually helpful to executives. It gives them a chance to practice their communication skills.
Here's Anderson's list of rules regarding time management:
1. Only touch paper once.
2. Always have your homework done.
3. Return your calls very promptly.
4. Stick to your schedule.
Interesting. Compare those to my time management rules, which may explain why I'm not on the CEO career track:
1. "Let's see what's on Twitter."
2. It's always time for another beer.
3. Let it go to voicemail.
4. Blame it on Google Calendar.
Anderson also brings a bell to meetings, which is sort of like a talking stick, except it's used to silence someone who has gotten too off-topic or personal. That's a pretty good idea, but I've heard tell of someone at SAP who used to remove all the chairs from a meeting room before starting the meeting—this prevented anyone from becoming too comfortable and kept meetings shorter. Then you'd have even more time to write all those apology notes, Mr. Anderson. You're welcome.
"He Wants Subjects, Verbs and Objects" [New York Times]
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Comments:
@Dancin' Hooooomeeeeeer!: Oh, I'm sure he gets more notes across, but those are all "intangibles." And the intangibles are what really matter.
Intangibles.
I didn't think that was all that bad. I liked his point about being able to take data and actually do something with it. So many people spend a lot of time spinning the wheels and not really doing anything.
I bet this guy doesn't have to take his shoes and belt off at the airport.
Isn't asking about family life illegal?
@dohtem: I bet he does actually. I also bet he gets pissy about it while thinking everyone should know who he is.
@dohtem: I had a summer job with Northwest Airlines at MSP, and was often the guy that checked boarding passes for the first class/elite security line. My supervisor pointed out someone in the line that I let through (busy business flying day, sometimes that line gets to be as long as the others). It was Doug Steenland, the man replaced by Richard Anderson after the merger for all intents and purposes. He went through security the same way as everybody else, subjected to the same rules as everybody else.
His other secret is to spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington in order to avoid government crack downs on their thieving, lying, crookery, and cheating of the American people.
"shared his tips on hiring (ask about their family life)"
This is illegal. Hope he gets sued.
@Justin Larson: You can ask about it. You can't require an answer, or make hiring decisions based on it. Which is why managers are trained to never give an candidate a reason why they were passed over.
6 huh...man his hand must hurt. Give the hurt guy over here more money to sink the airlines.
Does anyone who works for an airline ever think the public might hear what they are saying? Or are they just that obvious/stupid?
Private Plan here I come!
Asking about family life is TOTALLY illegal. I hope anyone he interviews that doesn't get hired sues like CRAZY.
So in one story we get to hear from the Delta CEO and in another we get to hear about their flight attendants that are afraid of dogs. I can't wait to see that letter of apology.
@snickers: I think it's a great idea, and I would totally do this if I was a manager/executive (within legal limits of course).
If someone can't run their family well, how do you think they will do working for you? Do they cheat on their spouse? If so, they may cheat you. Are they happily married? Less problems with sexual harassment in the workplace. Are they a good father/mother who takes care of their children? Then they'd take good care of things entrusted to them.
Additionally, I'd rather have a person with a strong family working for me. When times get tough, I would know they'd have support at home and bring less of their problems to the office.
@Dancin' Hooooomeeeeeer!:
If I ever got an apology from the CEO of a major company I would be ecstatic. I once got an apology from the VP of a midsized chain restaurant and I was very impressed. Most of the time it is just a letter head the PR department writes.
I thought he had some very good ideas. I like the idea of being able to write/ speak well. The communication breakdown is a major problem and the result usually ends up on a site like the Consumerist because of the problems. The return calls promptly is also a good idea. Too many times you put off making a call the end result is the call will never be made.
@PerryIke: For real! I was thinking the same thing. Uh, unless you only ask questions that don't force the candidate to reveal their marital status, whether they have children, their sexuality, or their age...
No, I can ask you any damn question I want.
BTW, you only have to anwer the legal questions.
Family questions may or may not be illegal. It tends to be an issue of how the family question if phrased and the purpose of the question.
Mostly we interviewers are trying to elicit personality and an idea about your thought process from a basic question, the answer of which is not important.... ie asking about your favorite elemetary school teacher or whether anybody in your family or neighbors etc helped you learn how to ride a bike... questions that are about getting the applicant to talk about themselves in a positive manner without giving cause to boasting or bragging.
For me:
No chairs = lying down on floor.
Ringing bell to interrupt me = height of rudeness. I have no problems reciprocating with that behavior.
@shepd: the "trick" about that bell ringing is that it is OBVIOUSLY the height of rudeness, but just like shit, it only rolls down hill. Nobody is going to ring the bell when the CEO decides to describe his granddaughter's front teeth, or even their own manager when they feel they've gone on long enough.
I wouldn't mind hearing any tricks he has to keep conference calls minimized. Those things drive me effing crazy. Half the people on them don't know/use any etiquette, so you have people talking over other people, hanging around in noisy environs/having side conversations without muting themselves out... And it's a physical impossibility to have one *shorter* than 30 minutes. God I hate conference calls.
He is a Big Picture Guy!
Further reinforcement of why I left the Corporate world and--without consciously doing it--going Galt.
Like far too many of his peers, this guy confuses style with substance, and quite probably action with accomplishment.
@GuinevereRucker: How likely is it that a candidate is going to admit in a job interview that he/she cheated on a spouse or can't handle taking care of his/her own children? Admittedly, if they're dumb enough to actually say that in the interview, you clearly do not want to hire them, but still - I doubt many people would 'fess up to stuff like that.
@snickers: Agreed. Asking questions like that opens the door to so many potential lawsuits it's not even funny. Well, it will be if Delta gets sued as a result!
What does "only touch paper once" mean?
What a clown. What's wrong with the CEO class is they think what they do (his time management rules, his meeting rules) is special- I and most of my colleagues do those every single day- every competent person who is at any level in a workplace can do those.
@snickers: In this state, at least (don't know about any others) you are not able to ask a candidate if they are married, if they have children, or if they are or may become pregnant.
Typical ivory tower "the rules don't apply to me" thinking. I hope he loses every dime in the resulting class action for discrimination.
@dohtem: And he rings his little bell if the person in front of him is taking too long to untie their shoes.
@all: But if you ask someone about their family life, you'll get them talking about something we all love to talk about: ourselves. Asking easy questions in an interview can relax someone. If someone is relaxed, you might be able to get a better feel for what they're going to be like in a real world situation, because interviews are incredibly artificial.
Snickers, do you care to cite the law(s) that make it illegal to ask someone about their family life in an interview? The only thing I could think that might be illegal would be if you asked that question, the person you interviewed said his family was (insert any ethnicity here) and the company told him they didn't hire him because of that ethnicity. Simply asking if someone has a spouse or kids and asking them to talk a little about them isn't in any way out of line for an interview.
@shepd: I'm glad I don't have to sit through meetings with you. I wouldn't want to sit through a meeting with anyone that is opposed to any measure to make the meeting more efficient...
@shepd: I don't think it's necessarily rude, but given how he likes to characterize himself and his organization, it should be totally unnecessary.
The man said he prizes the ability to communicate, but needs a hokey device to get through moments of difficult communication?
I don't have a problem with an efficient meeting, in fact I usually like them. :) I do, however, have a problem with passive aggressive attitudes. If you think I am making meetings suck by chatting too much during them, just talk to me before (if it's a very tight/important meeting) or after the meeting. Assuming I don't forget (I try not to) I'll do what is asked with a smile.
If you are in a rush to get the meeting done (for whatever reason), simply announce the fact at the start of the meeting--you'll save time as compared to removing the furniture, as well.
But give me a passive aggressive attitude and refuse to actually SAY what the heck is on your mind and I am not going to put in any effort to figure out what you want. I will just assume you want to have a meeting with 'tude, and I'll comply.
It's none of their damn business. Someone can have a wreck of a personal life and still function at their job just fine. In fact, for some people, that's the ONLY place they have it together. It depends on how good they are at compartmentalizing, which you can't tell just by asking these (nosy) questions.
This is there to prevent people from discriminating against you because you have kids, you have a different religion from them, etc.
But it can be used to discriminate -- "Oh, he/she has young children; therefore when they get sick, injured, in trouble at school, etc. then he/she will have to go deal with it and won't be available." Or pregnancy leave, or even the potential for pregnancy leave.
The laws were passed to prevent this sort of discrimination.
@moore850:
It means to deal with a memo, order, letter, etc. when you first get it. Don't put it aside for later. Write back, do the thing the memo has on it, file it, throw it away. Don't let it stack up because then you will get behind.
Actually, he certainly does! Our inaugural flight out of JFK was delayed because Branson and our CEO at the time didn't go through security - so they had to unboard everyone, re screen us, and do a sweep of the aircraft.
They probably just wanted to play Doom and check out our mood lighting though!
@Cynicor: But you know that if they asked a question then that affects the hiring decision. If it wasn't important then why ask it?
In any case if the company can't even refrain from breaking the law before you're even hired they might be doing you a favor in not hiring you.
My dad works for Delta. It is a jack ass of a company. Treats workers and customers like ca ca. I could fly for free if I wanted too but I would rather fly Southwest the service at Delta is that bad.
Exactly. When i was job hunting and I got asked illegal questions, I knew for a fact it was not a company I wanted to work for. Further questions from me regarding the job confirmed my suspicions.
@HogwartsAlum: I once had an interviewer ask me who my parents were, what fraternity/sorority they were in, what clubs, etc. I flat out told him that wasn't relevant to my ability to perform in this particular position and he told me he was trying to get a sense of who I was as a person.
I didn't answer his question and I had a thanks but no thanks email waiting for me at home. I was just pissed he beat me to it!
6 whole apology notes a day, huh? Something tells me that a LOT of people are still waiting for their apology.