Oscar Munoz, CEO, United Airlines: Why It's Never too Late to do the Right Thing (Pt 1)
Stumbling Blocks: How Great Leaders Are MadeShow Notes
The viral video that changed aviation—and the CEO who broke the rules to fix it.
On April 9, 2017, United Airlines faced the world’s first truly global viral crisis when a passenger, Dr. David Dao, was forcibly dragged off a flight in Chicago. The internet exploded, calls for resignation mounted, and the airline’s initial response—calling the incident a "re-accommodation"—only poured gas on the fire.
In this episode of Stumbling Blocks, I sit down with former United CEO Oscar Munoz to take you inside the war room during the company’s darkest hours.
Oscar pulls back the curtain on the disaster, revealing: The "Insider" Reality: Why the facts of the incident were far more complex than the video showed. The Advice Trap: How legal fears and corporate mumbo-jumbo led to one of the worst apologies in corporate history. The Turning Point: The spiritual moment in the middle of the night—inspired by his grandmother—that convinced Oscar to stop listening to the experts and throw away the script. The Gamble: Why he threw away his prepared talking points on Good Morning America to take full blame on live TV.
Special Feature: This episode features real-time breaking news audio from 2017, immersing you in the crisis exactly as it unfolded.
Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. Next Week: We explore the turnaround, the massive union negotiations, and the "Day 1" surprises. Follow the show now so you don’t miss the conclusion.
Links: Oscar's Book, Turnaround Time: https://www.amazon.com/Turnaround-Time-Uniting-Employees-Friendly/dp/0063284286 United Airlines: United.com
Credits: ABC Nightly News with David Muir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdWe6I3hBxk
Good Morning America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90jSUe_vdhM&t=32s
CBS Evening News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyHu76Ofp2Y
CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/04/11/united-airlines-faces-social-media-backlash-in-china.html
Questions? Ideas? Shoot me a note: [email protected]
More from Stumbling Blocks: How Great Leaders Are Made
In 2016, a former PEOPLE reporter named Natasha Stoynoff said Donald Trump attacked her during an interview at Mar-a-Lago. Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, the Washington Bureau Chief for PEOPLE Magazine, made a business and editorial decision: She would stand by her friend and colleague. The magazine would cover the President's policies, but it would not cover his family the way it had covered every other First Family. This is the story of that decision... and what happened next.
Tim Creasey: Chief Innovation Officer, Prosci: How to Lead Change
On 9/11/2001, Scott Stanzel was 28 years old, working his dream job at the White House when Secret Service agents came running down the halls, throwing open doors and shouting at everyone to get out. They had two minutes.
Most crisis experts have never actually sat in the room when everything fell apart. Jim Olson has. He was head of communications at US Airways when Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson. He was at Starbucks when its flagship store in Jakarta was bombed. And he was at United Airlines the night Dr. David Dao was dragged off a plane and it became one of the first viral crises in business history.
Kelli Arena spent her career at CNN telling the public what powerful people would rather keep quiet. She covered the Justice Department, won an Emmy, and reported the Moussaoui trial, the only 9/11 case tried in an American civilian courtroom. After Kelli left journalism, she went into another form of public service, serving as Chief of Communications for the National Security Agency, spending eight years helping the Agency find its voice.