As I predicted back in August, Jim Whitehurst has reemerged at the helm of a company. Starting January 1st, 2008, Mr. Whitehurst will begin his new role as President and CEO of Red Hat, an open-source software company. I’ve heard many people comment on the airline industry’s difficulty in attracting and/or retaining top talent among the management ranks; this would seem to bolster their point. Gordon Bethune used to say that the sickest patients need the best doctors. It will be interesting to see what medicine Mr. Whitehurst has for Red Hat and how that company’s performance compares to that of Delta’s. Vastly different companies, to be sure, but I don’t think the impact a CEO can have on a company can be overstated.

I just finished reading From Worst To First and wanted to share my impressions. A quick disclaimer: this book was published in 1999, so there is nothing new or trendy here. That said, I found Gordon Bethune’s narration of his efforts that led to the successful turn-around of Continental Airlines in the mid-90’s to be a very worthwhile read even 8 years later. The problems Mr. Bethune faced and the strategies that he and his team formulated and implemented could apply to almost any business in any industry at any point in time. It is a tale of leadership. I was actually a bit disappointed that more than 95% of the book really isn’t specific to the airline industry, however I quickly came to realize that many (most?) of the problems airlines really face aren’t really that unique to the airline business anyway. Companies in every industry need a good product, they need to be strategic in how they employ their capital, they need to position themselves against their competitors, and they need good leadership. In this book, Gordon Bethune outlines the approaches he took on these topics after becoming the CEO at Continental which was in rather dire straits at the time.

Although the book could have been condensed fairly easily, I found this to be a good read that anyone who manages people should consider reading despite its age.