Lessons from a Leader

This past Wednesday morning I had the opportunity to hear Richard Anderson the CEO of Delta Airlines speak at the Thrivent Leadership Speaker Series here in Minneapolis.

He began his career as a lawyer in Houston and then eventually was at Northwest Airlines and United Healthcare before being named the CEO of Delta. His speech was based on an organizational guide he has developed for Delta called "The Rules of the Road". Essentially it is a guideline on how he expects the team at Delta to perform on a day-to-day basis.

The rules he described are:

1) Connect with your customers - he actually rides coach to experience what his customers do every day.
2) Know your business cold - don't let up until you understand EVERYTHING about your business - especially your strengths and weaknesses.
3) Know thyself - understand your own personal strengths and weaknesses.
4) Always be honest - integrity is the only way to operate
5) Speed wins - in today's world you need to address things quickly. "Perfection is the enemy of good".
6) Always respect the competition - don't denigrate the competition and don't burn bridges.
7) No politics - enough said
8) Be open minded - listen, listen and listen - let people get their messages out - be patient
9) Mange to five goals - you can't handle more than five major goals as an enterprise at a time - more than five and you lose focus

What terrific guidelines to follow. Simple and practical and easy to implement. Clearly you understand what he is all about based on this.

He is impressive and while I watched and listened to him - you could feel the integrity he has a person and as a leader. The team at Delta should feel fortunate to have a leader such as Richard leading their organization.

He told of something that he his in his conference room - a bell. Why a bell? If someone in the room takes a cheap shot at someone else - the bell is rung and the offending person has to make a personal donation to the Susan Komen foundation. I'd love to know how many times the bell clangs.

I have friends at the former Northwest Airlines who speak very highly of Richard and after seeing him in person - I get it also. He is impressive and clearly a leader with a vision and an unbelievably high Emotional Quotient. Delta clearly is in good hands. America needs more leaders like Richard Anderson.

If you ever have the chance to see him speak - make the time - it will be well worth your time investment.