Great leadership in the face of ash-versity!

In all my years in recruitment, I’ve seen two wars, two recessions, Sep 11th disaster, SARs, Swine Flu and now Volcanic ash in the stratosphere!! Whoever said running a business was a piece of cake (well no one I know anyway!!). It’s certainly unpredictable though where expecting the unexpected is par for the course.

In the face of disasters, there is no business school for how a Director should react. Everyone generally looks to him or her for the answers and often they have to make it up (after intelligent consideration of course!). Sometimes the answers will be right and sometimes wrong, but decisions have to be made for businesses to continue to survive, prosper and provide jobs.

So, when I read today that Joachim Hunold CEO of Air Berlin and Peter Hartman, Chief Exec of KLM had both independently inspected the ash for themselves, I was amazed!! They had taken off literally in their jumbos with a test pilot to take a look at the volcanic ash and see if their planes would survive. This showed incredible leadership and courage and is a great example where there is no precedent for how to react to this unusual situation. These men created a strong message to all their staff and customers that they are confident the ash will not stop them from flying – for long anyway!

Their act of bravery also shows their levels of positivity as without their belief that they would be ok, they would no doubt not have gone. I’m sure all the scientists and experts would have had their conflicting opinions to add to this dilemma of flying or not and no doubt insurance companies would not have covered them! In a world of ‘better be safe than sorry’, these chief executives waved their hands and took the glass half full attitude (probably with a good dose of brandy just in case!).

Well I don’t know how long ash will remain causing a problem for us all and I don’t know anybody else really does either. So along with all the other disasters that come along, it’s new territory. I do know the industry is spinning its tyres to help everyone get back to the UK. Tui has marshalled coaches, ferries and cruise ships to get 5000 people home. Following on from one of the worst recessions in decades, many travel companies will probably hunker down and carry on as best they can. ABTA run excellent ‘disaster’ coping courses, so many travel companies will be very equipped to react professionally and along with the excellent staff that New Frontiers supply, will no doubt get through this latest business roller coaster!

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