Business Policy&Strategy

Organizational Leaders: David Neeleman

Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of JetBlue Airways managed to succeed in a highly competitive industry operating at an international scale. His positive outcomes were basically possible due to the organizational culture he implemented, which was focused on two primary directions. First of all, Neeleman understood the role played by the human resources and valued and encouraged their unique skills which he then used to add more value to the organization. The former CEO implemented an organizational culture centred on the fair treatment and utmost respect of their staff members. Also, he encouraged the staff to get involved in the decision making process and contribute to the corporate well-being by showing creativity. The founder also included the workers in the distribution of profits. "Earlier this year, employees were given 17% of their 2003 salaries in profit sharing" (Mount, 2007). And the strategy paid off in the form of a great loyalty to the employer, a sense of security and belonging, to finally culminate with an intense desire to increase performances and sustain JetBlue in reaching their overall goals.

But despite the implemented corporate culture, the employee at JetBlue still makes a rather low salary in comparison to other airline workers across the United States. The strategy has helped a limitation and a better control over the costs and it was subscribed by Neeleman himself, who only makes $200,000 a year in wages - quite low in comparison to other executives at international corporations.

The second feature in the successful corporate culture implemented by David Neeleman was that of an increased focus onto the full satisfaction of the customers' needs and wants. Instead of prospecting the market to identify the strategies implemented by the competition and trying to top them, the founder researched the market in order to identify the needs of the customers. "So instead of trying to beat the other airlines, he took a different angle. He's not in the aviation industry, Neeleman says, "We're in the customer service business" (Mount, 2007).

As such, by cutting costs while satisfying both his staff and his employees, David Neeleman was able to find a perfect recipe for corporate success and ensured his position among the world's most capable organizational leaders.

Works Cited

Mount, I., 2007, America's 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs, Inc.com, http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040401/25neeleman.htmllast accessed on May 20, 2008