By Kenn Ricci
Chairman, Flexjet
In my more than 30 years in the aviation industry – closer to 40 if you count schlepping bags in Africa – I’ve seen a dramatic shift in how we develop leaders. When I started flying in 1978 and became a private pilot in 1982, the industry was thin. Margins didn’t allow for professional leadership teams.
What survived were pilots with some business skills who built companies through sheer grit. That changed when people like Richard Santulli came in from places like Goldman Sachs – in other words, non-pilots who understood business and saw opportunity. That was the start of fleet operators, fleet maintenance, and manufacturers building fleets of aircraft. Before that, it was one-off here and there.
Today, we’re in better shape than ever. Private equity brought professionalism, discipline, analysis, and educational opportunities. And this industry is romantic. People want to talk about airplanes.
Younger people are focusing on aviation, but what we lack are educational programs tailored to private aviation. Embry-Riddle does a lot, but few institutions listen to private aviation. That’s why my family and our company invest in programs that build leaders for our future.
At Flexjet, we do 3 things to attract and retain talent. First, we create an environment where people want a career destination. Culture is vitally important. People need to feel they’re contributing and that their job has meaning. Second, we create a family environment. In an age of
cutbacks, we’ve over-invested in health care and family support. And third is compensation.
I’ve made a commitment that our pilots and mechanics will be the highest paid in the industry. Clients don’t mind paying more for the management fee. They want the best pilots, not inexperienced ones.
We’re also revolutionizing recruiting. Our human resources office looks like a bar with stools, high tops, and booths. We invite candidates to pick a spot, and we interview them there. That tells us about their culture fit. Through Flexjet careers, we teach people what jobs even exist, from dispatcher and owner services to concierge. Most people don’t know they want these jobs because they don’t know what they are.
We bring in 24 interns every summer for an 8-week program that pays about $4000 a month. They work in operations, maintenance, sales, and marketing.
We target juniors so they go back to their universities and talk about their experience, building momentum. Embry-Riddle has been a great source of professionals. Their president sent me a photo of the line waiting at our career booth, saying we’d need a bigger booth.
We hire 600 to 800 people a year. Training is significant. And we promote almost exclusively from within. We need 150 to 200 middle managers. These are people who have “tribal” knowledge. They know what a Phenom is or what a G700 is.
Now we need to develop their management skills, teach them empathy, and show them how to maintain culture.
Our 3F process is formulate, follow through, and follow up. Everyone has ideas and can implement, but follow-up is the hardest – reviewing constantly whether what we did had the intended effect.
The future is bright. The industry is on fire right now, and there’s genuine need across all areas for professionals. We just have to keep investing in that pipeline.