By now we have all seen the passenger physically removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight. This was a crisis that through better policies could have been avoided and certainly the aftermath could have been handled better.
I think we need to discuss something that way too many of us ignore.
During my time as a Coach, Club owner and Administrator, I have learned that there is one important skill every leader must internalize. And that is – Empathy.
Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
As USA Gymnastics found out. PR disasters can happen at any time. There’s only so much you can do to control the actions of everyone within the organization. But how you RESPOND to the crisis is completely under your control.
After the passenger was dragged off the plane, the CEO decided to point the finger at the customer (the passenger). CEO Oscar Muñoz offered that this was “an upsetting event to all of us here at United.” It’s bad enough when you’ve dragged and bloodied a customer. It’s worse when the reported cause was that you wanted to accommodate some of your own employees.
Muñoz wasn’t done. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers,” he said.
What? The customer wasn’t re-accommodated. He was treated like an animal.
Muñoz said that United would conduct a review. He said it would reach out to the passenger.
His remarks were accusatory and defensive:
“He was disruptive and belligerent”
“He refused to comply”
“We decided to re-accommodate him”
Furthermore, the former CEO of the parent company responded by claiming “immaturity” on part of the passenger. Regardless of protocol, context etc etc … when the outcome is as horrifying as a customer bleeding profusely – you simply MUST summon your empathy.
I believe CEO Oscar Munez may have been trying to put on a strong show of leadership by standing behind his employees. That’s great. As a business owner, I stand by my employees too, however, he failed to realize that he is not only responsible for his employees but also his customers. It has been reported that the passenger had a criminal record. That doesn’t matter. That is victim shaming.
Had Oscar Munez empathized with the man – who was subjugated by being dragged out of his seat and getting his face rammed into the handrest (through no fault of his own,) – I’m sure his response would have been different. If he had wanted to put on a show of leadership while empathizing with the customer, he could have said something like this.
The United Airlines employees followed protocol as advised, but the result was horrifying. We are investigating the matter with seriousness and looking into revising the protocols to ensure that an incident like this never happens again”
I’m no PR expert – but I put that together in about 90 seconds. This would have at the very least allowed customers to feel somewhat safe in traveling United Airlines again. Instead, CEO Munez decided victim blaming is the way to go. The PR backlash has been severe. With social media and influencers calling for the boycott of United Airlines. (Sound familiar?)
Share prices for United Airlines dropped by 3.3% – making them the worst performed in the S&P 500. And I have a feeling like there is more to come. Perhaps a lawsuit? Time will tell how events shall unfold.
If you were the CEO of United– how would you respond?
If you were the CEO of USAG how would you have responded?
I really want to know. I think we can learn from each other.
We can learn from each other to deal with these situations better when they arise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y8HdeHtOJs
