Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Wanted: Hero

I succumbed to the flu bug and spent Monday at home, which gave me a couple of minutes to watch some of the Miracle on the Hudson coverage.  I was immediately struck by the humility shown by Captain Sullenberger.  Apparently, so were a lot of other people.  

Today I stumbled across this USNews blog entry titled:  What Sully Sullenberger can Teach CEO's.   It's well worth a quick read-through.  

One thing that struck me as missing in this entry - undoubtedly as a member of USAirways pilot's union, Sullenberger has over the past years been asked to give up some of his compensation to help the airline survive not one, but two trips through bankruptcy court.  And yet he didn't use this as an excuse to not continue to train, work, and behave as a professional.  

On the other hand, we have CEO's who decimate U.S. workforces, burn through their company's cash reserves, and make such poor risk management decisions that we the people must help their companies stay afloat - and yet they worry about a $500k salary cap - or even worse - their personal income taxes being raised.  

We need a hero - a real hero - who doesn't use drugs to enhance athletic ability, who doesn't think about me first and to h*12 with everyone else, who can find a win/win solution when none seems to exist.  

Thank you Captain Sullenberger - we need you more than you know.  

2 comments:

Reva said...

Amen to that!

Wish more Washington people in high places and elsewhere in the country would pattern their behavior and humility after the captain.
Who knows, maybe our country wouldn't be in the jam it's in today.

Unknown said...

Great observation! In addition, did you know that Capt. Sullenberger is paid over $15,000 less a year than other US Airways pilots who were merged from America West?