United’s Master Class Managing Crisis, Target’s Missed Bullseye and Biden’s Not-So-Apologetic Tour

Would we even know about safety issues at Newark but for United Airlines? It’s questionable, which makes the company’s sound-the-alarm approach all the more admirable.

The first news stories about air-traffic control failures at New Jersey’s Newark Airport appeared on Friday, May 2, when United Airlines released a statement from CEO Scott Kirby detailing technology issues, understaffing and over-scheduling at one of the nation’s largest airports.  

It was only after United went public did we learn of harrowing safety incidents that occurred on April 28 and 29 where pilots lost contact with control towers and controllers couldn’t even see some planes on radar. Similar issues happened again Friday and apparently previously as well without public knowledge. After an in-air collision in DC in January and heading into the busy summer travel season, this is particularly problematic.

Today’s tumultuous political environment has sent many CEOs into duck-and-cover mode to avoid attacks by the White House and its consorts. And that wasn’t the only precarious aspect of United’s move: After all, the company makes money by flying people, not by scaring them into cancelling trips. Getting the balance right here required skill and nuance, and that team delivered.  

United could’ve quietly cancelled flights as it announced May 2, letting news of the safety concerns leak out on their own. After all, more than 30 airlines including all the majors in US and internationally fly in and out of Newark regularly, which handles some 1,200 flights a day. Any one or more of them could’ve spoken up: They didn’t.

Not only did United move out first, the execution was, at least to this observer, flawless. And in doing so, there are lessons for all leaders and communications professionals navigating choppy business waters.

·       The strongest communications start with the CEO. One insider shared United CEO Kirby drove the company’s decision to go public and that makes all the difference. Any communicator can rattle off the number of times when they pushed for more proactivity and were shot down. But when the CEO drives, the opportunity to communicate clearly and confidently gets so much easier.

·        United relied on a strong team inhouse. With former White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest running communications and Theresa Fariello leading government affairs and public policy, United’s Communications and Government Affairs teams were able to move swiftly and surely to protect the airline’s reputation while increasing public pressure on the government and those running Newark to take necessary actions.   

·       Understand the audience. United’s multi-dimensional plan is a master class in navigating treacherous waters. They made sure the FAA and White House weren’t surprised by their actions. They were sure to lay no blame, citing challenges at Newark for “years” while heaping praise on the current administration’s efforts to address these issues. Kirby spoke at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s press briefing last Thursday and authored an editorial for the Fox News website that ran Friday.  By leaning further into the audience that might have been most critical,  United neutralized opponents while polishing its own brand as a responsible steward of passenger safety.

·       Diagnose and prescribe. Too often, leaders identify and lament about the problem instead of fixing it. (See Target below.) Not so here. They called out an issue few of us were aware of – that Newark gained permission in 2016 to set its own number of flight slots unlike JFK, LaGuardia and other major airports that led to increased delays. In addition to this fix, United is looking for the Department of Transportation and the FAA to align other airlines to reduce their own flights in and out of Newark to match their own move earlier this month to maintain competitive balance.  

·       Employ lessons from Covid. United learned during Covid they were being viewed as a bellwether on the economy and employment, not just on travel. Maintaining regular communications with the company’s more than 100,000 employees was key to that strategy. The May 2 communication to customers, detailing the situation at Newark, also went to employees. That was followed up with another email on May 7, outlining ways to fix Newark to get ahead of the crisis.

This weekend, Kirby and Duffy appeared on Sunday morning news shows. On Face the Nation, Kirby conceded there will be a financial impact on United due to the reduction in flights and that the company is adjusting aircraft and schedules to limit the impact on customers while maintaining safety. On Meet the Press, Duffy said he’d be meeting with airline CEOs this week to get agreement on reduced flights, one of United’s suggestions for addressing the crisis.

Meanwhile, boy did Target CEO Brian Cornell’s all-staff memo last week miss the bullseye! If you want to make 400,000 employees barraged with news about people boycotting their workplace more nervous, send them an email filled with platitudes that provides no insight or details about how the company’s leadership plans to overcome the situation. Check out this line: “The team members running our stores and loading our trucks aren’t just employees – they’re friends and neighbors.”  Good lord!

I’m old enough to remember when people hated Walmart because they were destroying mom-and-pop businesses with their superstores selling cheap versions of products. When Target came on the scene as the kinder, more sophisticated alternative, it garnered the name “Tar-jay,” a French-inflected term suggesting a more upscale experience.  

Not anymore. Recently I was eating at a restaurant in Brooklyn and two women were discussing where to buy new curtains since they don’t shop at Target anymore.

Let’s face it: Target’s leadership hasn’t proven a profile in courage when it comes to cultural issues. Last year, the company rolled back its Pride merchandise because of criticism and this year scrapped DEI policies for the same reason. A high-profile boycott has tarnished the brand and pummeled its stock, down 42% off its 52-week high of $167. The company provided no update on the reported meeting Cornell was supposed to have with Rev. Al Sharpton in light of criticism from the Black community.

Much the way Kirby is driving the proactive approach at United, Target needs a leader willing to tackle tough issues head-on, not hide behind happy talk that convinces no one.

Speaking of happy talk that convinces no one, can Joe Biden please stop doing interviews?

Lately the former president has been on the interview circuit. No doubt trying to get ahead of fallout from the potentially explosive book coming out on May 20 called “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson. Last week he sat for interviews with the BBC and The View. Will there be more? Who knows.

Maybe he’s getting advice from the same folks who encouraged him to stay in the 2024 presidential race. Not only is this little media tour not working, it’s reminding people on both sides of the aisle how foolish and selfish Biden was to run again in the first place. And it’s all happening at a time when the current administration is scaling back our rights in ways that imperil democracy.

Not that he seems to understand this as he repeats his belief he could’ve beaten Trump if he’d stayed in the race. Seriously… all the Biden team needed to do was read the harsh comments on Tapper’s social media feed when the book was announced to understand the level of anger many Americans have toward anyone who knew how diminished Biden was and didn’t disclose it earlier. I mean, George Clooney saw Biden at one fundraiser and wrote a New York Times editorial three weeks later calling on him to step aside. Where were you, Jake?