“We decided that at the new Continental, the employees were going to be liberated to do right by the customer and to have fun at work.” Actively involving employees in the turnaround is essential. To figure out which products to make, you first have to ask your best customers what they will pay extra for (for example, safe and comfortable airplanes, good food at mealtimes).ĥ. Once you’ve rebuilt strong customer relationships, you can proceed to the next step: making better products they’ll pay for.Ĥ. The first step in refocusing on “money in” is to apologize for your bad service.
But he also knew that when you focus only on cost reductions, you risk sabotaging the very products you’re trying to sell. Think “money in,” not “money out.” As Brenneman wryly states, “I knew the fastest way to make money was to stop doing things that lost it,” such as flying empty planes. But he didn’t stop there he cleaned house from the top floor to the baggage handlers, keeping or recruiting only individuals who were smart, driven to get things done, and team players.ģ. Brenneman replaced 50 of his 61 top officers with 20 new individuals. The plan also included key performance measures to track internally as well as against competitors (for example, monthly on-time performance, mishandled bags, customer complaints).Ģ. and start serving food when people were hungry.” The plan got every employee heading in the same direction. get people to their destinations on time and with their bags. needed to stop flying 120-seat planes with 30 passengers. Strategic clarity is particularly important when time and financial resources are limited. File your flight plan and track your progress. “None will knock your socks off,” he acknowledges, but all are well worth considering for any company.ġ.
Their strategy focused on understanding markets, improving products, increasing revenues, and infusing employees with the energy and power to transform Continental’s corporate culture.īrenneman attributes Continental’s turnaround to five operating principles, which incorporate the key components of any successful strategy-markets, products, finances, and people. They created a model that works when you have little time and less money-as well as when you have more of both. How? Above all else, Brenneman explains in this HBR interview, it was common sense and simple logic. Brenneman and CEO Gordon Bethune produced one of the fastest and most unlikely corporate turnarounds ever. “I had never seen a company as dysfunctional,” writes the air carrier’s president. Little wonder it had churned through 10 presidents in as many years. When Greg Brenneman joined Continental Airlines, the company was plunging toward its third bankruptcy in a decade.
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