In this day and age, it is fair to expect a CEO of any huge company to travel by company jet. It's a more efficient use of his / her time than flying by commercial airline. No time wasted for waiting for departure and there is no need to wait for connecting flight. Definitely no missed connection. The efficiency gained is not just from time saved, but also from lack of aggravation that may arise from airport or airline staffs. The payback is well worth it when the company's business involves significant travel for the CEO. And when the CEO is not using the jet, the rest of the executive team can use it too. It's a win-win proposition. (Unless of course if the CEO is appearing before the U.S. Congress to ask for bail out fund of multi-billion dollars during a terrible financial crisis - that's another story.)
On a recent business trip, this author ran into the CEO of one of the largest drug maker in the world. His company definitely can afford to get him a company jet, and given how much he and his team travels, he probably should get a company jet. But he flies commercial airline.
Despite the logic and value proposition that company jet offers, not all huge companies use company jet for their CEOs. Not for lack of money - many of them certainly can afford company jet. And executive compensation backlash usually does not hammer the use of company jet as bad as the bonus pay out - anybody who does a lot of travelling understands that company jet indeed offers attractive value proposition. So why not? Obviously there is no one right answer for it, but there is one answer that is attractive to explore.
Management by walking around
Remember management by walking around? Conceptually, it implies that the manager should talk to as many staffs and stakeholders as feasible. The objective is to communicate two ways. To listen and understand what is going on and seek ideas. At the same time, to reinforce consistent message.
Now "management by walking around" is not as popular a phrase as it used to, but the concept is always valid and still well practiced by a number of respected leaders. So what does this have anything to do with CEO travel? For starter, a CEO flying around the globe to talk to his / her employees is one form of the practice, in this case - management by flying around. Additionally, a CEO who travels by commercial airline has chances to meet employees and other stakeholders during the trip - be it at the airport or in the plane.
Engageability
Certainly talking to employees and other stakeholders can be done in another way. Flying by commercial airline just to accidentally meet and chat with them is not a good reason by itself, so there is no need to cancel that company jet contract yet. What counts is the leader's attitude.
Returning to the CEO story above, he talked to the employees that he met on the trip. He did not just nod, he actually engaged his employees in conversations. These were employees that he accidentally met, not just employees that travelled together with him as a group. (Any company large enough and international enough is bound to have employees sharing the same international flight at any given week.) This CEO knew that his face was recognised by the tens of thousands of employees that he had never met and he was not shy to chat with any perceived stranger who greeted him. The stranger might be an employee.
And one can never know who else he might have met at the airport or in the plane. Could be a customer, a supplier, or an influential industry thought leader, et cetera. Compare that to flying alone in a company jet -- not possible.
Flying with the opportunity
Okay, admittedly not on every trip will one want to be chatty to too many strangers, but the possibility is there when the opportunity arises. The point is, if you do not get to travel by company jet, there is no need to sulk and pout when you travel by commercial airline just because you are a CEO of a large company. The person sitting next to you may be travelling to family Christmas gathering with a decision maker at a potential customer. Or the person you meet at the airport lounge may be a smart employee who is considering leaving your company. A single individual you engage positively may become the tipping point you need to leave a lasting legacy.
"We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you ... We are in charge of our attitudes." Charles Swindoll
- -December 2009
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