IT’s a well-known fact that the management’s positive or negative dealings with employees will reflect on their behavior with customers, and their lack of pride in the institution or company where they work is an indicator of a major defect.

Simon Sinek, author of the book titled “How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”, explains the role of good and bad leadership in changing the condition of a company. He said an airline company in the US went through difficult times in the 80s and early 90s as it suffered heavy losses, and had filed for bankruptcy. It appointed 10 senior executives one after another within a short period of 10 years but its performance indicators remained the same.

When Gordon Bethune was named the airline’s new CEO he wrote a report entitled “From worst to first,” explaining how he transformed the airline into a profitable company.

He wrote: “I was able to discover the biggest problem the company faced within a few seconds. It was a miserable place to work, its staff members were dealing brusquely with customers and rudely among themselves, and were ashamed of their company. You cannot make a good product without people who love to come for work.”

The key solution for Bethune was the principle of “staff first”, which he developed from the idea that a happy employee will be able to make his customer happy while the happy customer will make the shareholder happy.

Trust was missing in the company’s working environment. A floor in the company’s headquarters was dedicated to executives where access to other staff members except those in the rank of vice presidents was denied. Entry required an e-card, and there were surveillance cameras while armed guards roamed on the floor.

After Bethune became the CEO things began to change as he fostered a new work culture.

Let’s see what he had done?

Bethune was convinced that in order to achieve a sustainable and real success the staff should play a significant role for the progress of themselves. Subsequently, he focused on how to enhance benefits and gains of employees.

He insisted that financial rewards should be given to all employees, either they can gain it or lose it collectively and not individually.

He got rid of the guards on the executives’ floor and introduced an open-door policy, suddenly arrived at airports and supported workers to carry bags. He expelled an executive officer for delaying a flight for the latter to board the flight after he arrived late at the airport. He decided to reward every employee $65 each month when the company is classified among the top five airlines in punctuality.

The following year the result came fast with the company making a profit of $250 million. Later it became one of the best companies in the US.

There are so many positive things to write about this outstanding experiment but I am unable do it because of space constraints. Perhaps the most important point to be underlined is the love and commitment of the employee toward his work and his pride and attachment to the organization. Developing a culture of confidence and fairness was another important principle followed by Bethune, the hero of this fascinating story.