When JetBlue founder and CEO David Neeleman was at the University of Utah working toward an undergraduate degree in accounting, he dreamed of a business opportunity that would involve using his creative marketing and people skills to fulfill a higher need. He soon found that opportunity, negotiating time-share condos along with airfare deals to Hawaii. He then expanded that package into a start-up travel agency, which offered low-end packages, all by the age of nineteen. An airline junkie was born.
In Flying High, author James Wynbrandt details the life of Neeleman and offers a glimpse of the JetBlue CEO's lifelong battle with attention deficit disorder, a struggle that eventually cost him a job at Southwest Airlines.
While Flying High reads like a biography, it also offers some business tips for those thinking of joining the service industry. Some of these tips help make Neeleman's JetBlue what it is today: a safe, customer-centered, fun, and passionate airline that offers modern conveniences along with low-cost airfare.
Wynbrandt wants the reader to take away some of Neeleman's "rules" to be applied in both business and life, including "be ready to move on," "respect your customers," and "attract lots of attention."—Sara Grant