People of faith are called to use their influence and power to work toward the common good. Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow D. Michael Lindsay says his new PLATINUM Study on elite leaders tells an important story about how leaders can work toward the common good through workplace generosity.
The story of David Grizzle, Chief Counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stood out to Lindsay from his interviews of some 500 leaders. Grizzle had a long career at Continental Airlines, retiring in 2008 as senior vice president of customer experience. (The High Calling interviewed Grizzle in 2006.)
In the late 1990s, Grizzle brokered a landmark marketing deal between Continental and Northwest Airlines that transformed the industry, according to Lindsay. Continental and Northwest sold seats on each other’s airplanes and shared reciprocal agreements in their frequent flyer programs that laid the groundwork for the mergers and consolidations that have since become standard in the airline industry. …