Episode 11
A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID NEELEMAN
CHARTING THE COURSE | DAVID NEELEMANS PATH TO SUCCESS | LIVE RECORDING
“Difficulties are required—but failure is optional.”
In my conversation with David Neeleman, the renowned airline giant, he demonstrated this principle through the story of his life. I was struck by how many setbacks and tragedies David had been through. Listen to this series of mishaps and struggles:
When he was young he had trouble focusing and failed most of his school’s exams, only later to learn that he was experiencing what would later be known as ADD. Although he struggled for many years, he persevered and didn’t allow this to stop him.
Fast-forward to his airline career, David had the opportunity to work at his dream company, SouthWest Airlines, and was even told he would be CEO one day.
But apparently, David’s ambitions and dreams for the airline were too big. They felt like he was making too many changes and ruffling too many feathers, so eventually they decided to let him go. David was devastated.
Undeterred, he then went on to start an airline called WestJet in Canada while the non-compete was in effect in the United States with South West. After the non-compete ended, he promptly returned to the US and started JetBlue, which quickly grew into a massive success. However, a few years later, the company experienced some downturns and difficulties and the board decided to let him go. Yet again, David was crushed. This was easily the most difficult thing he had ever experienced.
But even that crushing defeat didn’t stop him. Now that he was freed from his responsibilities at JetBlue, David returned to Brazil, (the country where he had served as a young LDS missionary), and decided to start his next airline there.
Dubbed Azul Airlines, this company quickly grew and became one of the most important companies to ever have been started in Brazil. But David didn’t stop there—he is now growing his next airline project, known as Breeze Airways, which is also quickly becoming a massive success.
David’s story shows that although he got hit time and time again, he never chose defeat. He refused to accept failure. He pressed onward, and now those perceived “failures” are the moments he now calls his “biggest blessings” because of what they allowed him to do after. I think that’s the biggest lesson we can learn from this story.
Every single one of us experiences difficulties and trials in our lives, relationships, business, and health. And when these moments arrive, we all have the choice—will we admit defeat and choose failure? Or will we learn, grow, improve, and go on to accomplish more than we could have imagined?
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MY FAVORITE INSIGHT FROM THIS EPISODE:
David said that he never starts an airline unless there is a clear purpose for it needing to exist. (In other words, it solves a problem and improves peoples’ lives).
Sometimes I’ll have startup ideas pitched to me where the main focus is money. “If we build this we can all have a huge exit!”
While money can be a good motivator, it is often ineffective at truly inspiring people. If you want to build a great company, it must inspire people to be more, to do more, to give more—and the best and easiest way to do that is to have a purpose for your company that will make the world a better place.
All of David’s companies are built around purpose.
➜JetBlue was built for inexpensive quality travel.
➜ Azul Airlines made a huge impact on Brazil’s connectivity and economic growth as a country. ➜Breeze Airways was created to make flying as effortless as possible.
“The purposes behind these airlines didn’t just attract customers—they also inspired the employees within the organization to go above and beyond in their responsibilities.”