From Worst to First
Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback
Bethune, Gordon (CEO Continental Airlines) - Huler, Scott
First Edition
When Gordon Bethune took the captain's seat of Continental Airlines, in 1994, it was a Company coming apart at the seams. Running at a loss of nearly $55 million a month, and unable to pay its bills, Continental was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy for the third time in a decade. In terms of quality Continental was rated worst across the board and by a wide margin among the nation's top ten airlines. Not surprisingly, employee morale was also at rock bottom. Underpaid and embittered over having to take the rap for ineffective revolving-door management, many of the rank and file actually ripped the Company logos off their uniforms.
Yet, within months of assuming control of Continental, Bethune and his new team managed to pull the Company out of its tail-spin and set it on the path to recordbreaking profits and performance. Continental has experienced 11 straight quarters of record profits since 1995, and the value of its stock has increased by nearly eighteenfold. Consistently rated among the best in customer satisfaction and other major quality categories, it was recently named "Airline of the Year" by Air Transport World, the leading industry monthly. And morale has never been better. As early as 1995, employees were so happy with their new boss's performance that they chipped in to buy him a $22,000 Harley-Davidson. Just as telling is the fact that major "people power" companies such as Honda now regularly call Bethune for advice on how to improve morale.
In From Worst to First, business legend Gordon Bethune tells the complete inside story of how he and his team engineered one of the most dramatic Comebacks in the history of business. As inspiring as it is instructive, it is the story of how a plain-speaking ex-Navy aircraft mechanic, armed with a few common-sense notions about good management and the courage to look past the bottom line, managed to motivate his people to bold new heights of excellence and win back his company's long-lost customer base. In reading it, business readers will learn valuable lessons on leadership, employee empowerment, team-work, and strategy that can be applied to just about any type of business organization. No matter what business you're in, you'll find out how to use Bethune's strategies, techniques, and ideas to take your Company to the top.
A fascinating business success story and a down-to-earth recipe for turning any company around, From Worst to First is must reading for all business professionals.
Hardcover with dust jacket
294 Seiten / pages
very good condition
New York - Chichester - Brisbane - Singapore - 1998 - John Wiley & Sons
Art.Nr. 18993
