I read the JetBlue article ("And Now the Hard Part," May) while flying to France on yet another cattle car. Coincidentally, while having breakfast at my hotel, I met and chatted with a JetBlue pilot. During my week in Toulouse, I got to know many of the JetBlue team. They are kind, customer focused, and dedicated to success. Will they succeed? I understand the hurdles as described in the article. But based on my firsthand observations of JetBlue personnel -- on the ground -- I am betting yes.
Edward Johnson
Technical director
Naval Oceanographic Office
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi
In 90% of your article on JetBlue, if you take the name "JetBlue" and replace it with "Southwest Airlines" and take the name "David Neeleman" and replace it with "Herb Kelleher," it could have been an article written 25 years ago on Southwest Airlines and its chairman. Much of Neeleman's modus operandi with his employees and his basic business model isn't so innovative but simply a copy of Southwest. Apparently, he learned a lot during his time there.
Frank Gaines
Orlando, Florida
Last year, we took our kids down to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa on JetBlue. Traveling with three children under the age of 4 is intimidating enough, but imagine getting them through an airport and on and off a plane -- not once but twice.
The folks at JetBlue were amazing. They helped carry all of our paraphernalia on and off the plane, made sure our children were all settled in, and even offered us an early snack run. They didn't have to cater to us and the other families on the plane. But they did, and it made our experience all the better. It's that sort of service that made us JetBlue customers for life.
David Parmet
Pound Ridge, New York
You're quite right to point out what a spectacular job David Neeleman has done at JetBlue, against awful odds. And you're also quite right to point out that Neeleman and company have an entirely new set of challenges facing them as JetBlue achieves scale and matures. In particular, JetBlue needs to learn to form the same sort of emotional connection with corporate customers as it currently has with individual passengers.
All too often, business-to-business marketing is viewed as a mechanical exercise based on strictly numerical offers and counteroffers. The fact of the matter is that businesses buy with their hearts as well as their minds, and JetBlue has a unique opportunity in the airline industry to gain "heartshare" with these customers. It doesn't take a genius to market emotion successfully in a B2B context, but it does take courage. Let's hope Neeleman harnesses some of his formidable courage to forge these links successfully.
Bede Klinger-Desai
Principal
Bakoven Partners LLC
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
I must set the record straight about Seth Godin's opinion on clowns and clowning ("Send in the Clowns," May), because I do not feel that he gets what clowns are all about. As a professional clown for 18 years and as a businessperson, I feel that his analogy is far from accurate. Here's why.
1. Being called a clown is a great compliment no matter what your line of work. It means you have a sense of humor and aren't afraid to share it. His derisive definition of a clown offends what I am and what I do. I hear his definition as meaning dumb, ignorant, and stupid. Clowns are far from stupid. It takes great intellect to see the humor in all situations, good and bad. And I have medical benefits!
2. Clowns do not ignore science. We use many of the basic principles of science. For example, in juggling we use the principle that what goes up must come down. There is no "magic" that can fit 16 clowns in a car; it's science. Spatial relations! We use centrifugal and centripetal forces, inertia, rotation, revolution, momentum, and many other great scientific principles and theories. Kodak shouldn't be called clowns; they should simply be called blind businesspeople with poor leadership.
3. Clowns plan ahead! We spend hundreds of hours practicing and perfecting our craft for the amusement of others. I personally have spent 18 years and thousands of dollars studying and perfecting my craft. That takes careful planning.
Some of the best working environments I have had were with other real clowns. We care about each other and work together to reach a common goal: laughter. That sure beats any other business goal I can think of.
Instead of not being like clowns, maybe people should be more like them! Maybe we should issue red noses. It would lighten things up. And it would certainly make everyone take notice of how utterly ridiculous most arguments are and how working together would be much more effective. So, Seth, before you downgrade the life of a clown, maybe you should walk a mile in my shoes. The offer is open to you any time!
Christy McDonald
Goodwill ambassador (and clown)
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Hometown Edition
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