hopeful said:
I highly doubt that the company elected the split date based on a new hire class date that will effect 15-20 pilots. A few thousand options aren't going to be the determining factor when a million shares are on the line.
Stick your tongue out and look at it in the mirror, Looks pretty silly after drinking all the Blue-Aid.
Whether the rumor is true or not, doesn't really matter, though it does impact significantly more than 15-20 pilots...there are two classes in question, 36 pilots, plus many, many other employees hired in October. The JetBlue leadership really does care enough that it is quite possible this is true.
Why do I know? I'm in the new hire class and just listened to a day and a half of sessions on everything from crew care to values and airline economics to safety taught by none other than David Neeleman (CEO), Dave Barger (President), Al Spain (VP of Ops), Pete Russo (Chief Pilot), Mike Barger (Director of Training), Dean Melonas (Director of Pilot Recruitment) and many others on the leadership team.
To put this koolaid in perspective, I am not a spring chicken, nor am I here because I was furloughed or begging for a job. I came here because I researched this culture up one side and down the other, and made the choice to leave my past employer on my own. No, I was not in danger of a furlough, and no I don't think my past employer is going out of business. I just wanted to work in an environment where the leadership values it's workers and visa versa.
Let me tell you about an experiment I conducted a few months ago that convinced me this move was right for me (I'm not saying its right for everyone, and its not, but for me it was):
I asked the following three questions to 32 random JetBlue crewmembers on both coasts (pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents, mechanics, etc.):
1. Do you feel valued and respected at work?
2. Do you feel you have a voice?
3. Do you like your job?
32 of 32 answered yes to all three questions.
Then I asked the same questions to a similar random sample of "employees" at my former employer. How many said yes to even one of the questions....zero! Ask yourself and your fellow crewmembers these questions. What are their answers? Ask yourself if you like their answers. I didn't,so I left, even though I left significant seniority on the table.
Back to the stock at JetBlue. I think the 3-2 split says volumes about the philosophy here. Most airlines in the hey days would do anything for a short term rise in price. If the JetBlue leadership team were like the others, they would have split it 3-1 or at least 2-1. No, they did a 3-2, which means they don't want the stock to rise so fast. As my husband just said, David Neeleman threw a log on the fire (keeps the fire burning slow and long), not kindling (greed). Scaled, controlled growth are big words here....not explosive.
Maybe I'm drowning in blue koolaid, but my husband is a skeptic's skeptic and even he could read the sincerity in the leadership team's voice. We could see right through their brains in straight into their heart. Its not a pyramid scheme, its not Amway, its not People's Express. As Mike Barger said, "all of us are just 'dudes,' that includes you, me and David. None of us are special, we're all in this together." David Neeleman said "you will feel valued, respected and important in this organization."
Guys and gals this is real. I've spent significantly more than a decade at a major, and been through many, many leadership teams. None have ever been like this. If they are dispensing koolaid, so be it, sure tastes great.
Skirt
Thanks. Cant wait to be on the JetBlue side.
