United's Performance Imperatives

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 17

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. had a widely attended aviation conference with analysts and investors on March 10, one of the periodic events Wall Street hosts for various sectors to present updates and positive highlights about their businesses. These tend to make news, and this was the one at which deeper capacity chopping in 2009 was the topic du jour for several airlines.

But in reviewing the presentation by United Airlines (UAUA) CFO, Kathryn Mikells, I was struck by this slide. (Above right.) It lists five performance imperatives at the company – and those cynics among us will note that courtesy, care and respect finish last here. United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski says the core imperatives apply to everyone in the company – and that these do not have any such order in practice. “They’re all dependent on one another .. they all interlink with one another,” she said of the corporate mandates. “I don’t believe there was any rhyme or reason why she put the numbers there.”

This is possibly a case where a businessperson will tailor a talk to the specific audience, and Wall Street analysts are certainly focused on revenues and costs above all else when it comes to running an airline these days. But why not tell analysts and investors (and everyone else in the world) that there is a decided order to what you deem important? To send the message loud and clear that in your company being caring, courteous and respectful comes first because other goals stand little chance if you don’t master this trio.