From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback

I had the pleasure of doing media relations for Continental in the early 2000s, including the years after 9/11. The Gordon Bethune in the book is the Gordon Bethune you meet in person: incredibly smart, driven, concerned about the people whose paychecks he signed, and satisfied with nothing less than the best. Great read. (I sound like a PR guy... But I mean it sincerely...)

This is an excellent book, its full of examples, easy to understand, easy to read, great for everyone who is interested in the basics of management, not only of an airline, but any company.I am new to the airline industry, and this book has let me understand a lot about it. Really easy to read, it is written in an easy language.Contiental was the worst airline to fly, the worst airline to work for, and in 1994-1995 when Mr. Bethune rode the cockpit of it, in a year he made it to have its first profit in 10 years. How did he do it? Read this book.This book was written previous to the September 11th 2001, so it has nothing about the recent economic crisis affecting all airlines worldwide, but it explains the plan (the Go Forward Plan) that has kept CO working these last years and how CO is, among major US carriers, one of the ones with less looses and debt in the industry.Definitely a must read!

This book is absolutely invaluable for any manager or leader in an organization, regardless of size. The techniques are fundamental and scale to any size, whenever appropriate. I've already recommended this book to many friends and associates and I continue to purchase countless copies as gifts or (effectively) as an "investment" in companies that I'm involved with.As someone with a pre-Gordon "Member Since" date on my Continental Elite card, Bethune's description of Continental in the 80s and 90s brings back some all-too-familiar bad memories of what it was like to travel on the world's worst airline when failure was imminent. Although he accurately depicts the bad times with great detail, those people that experienced the disaster will probably best appreciate and understand Gordon's incredible undertaking and the drastic changes that were the result.Additionally, it's noteworthy (and consistent with Gordon's nature) that all proceeds from this book will be donated to a non-profit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need. Best of all, you get inquisitive looks and smiles from flight attendants when reading this book on a Continental flight.It's a shame that every company can't be as lucky as Continental to have a Chief Executive like Gordon Bethune.

With literary assistance from journalist Scott Huler, Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune describes how he transformed the near-bankrupt airline into one of the best companies in the industry. He describes the massive changes he made to improve the product, changing a low-cost, unreliable airline to a top competitor that emphasizes customer service. The transformations he brought about by exerting strong leadership reshaped financial controls and employee-supplier-creditor relationships. The book is a fascinating read, written in a straightforward, this-is-how-it-was style, typified by Bethune's characterization of the company he took over as a... "lousy" airline with terrible service. Sometimes he gets a little repetitious in summarizing the action at each new step in the transformation, but that's just a minor complaint about an otherwise excellent book.....

An excellant book! Gordan's ideas are strongly emphasized in each chapter as he deals with the strategies of creating a winning team. His stories and metephors for dealing with issues that face all types of business are a slap of reality. They clearly explain his motivation and decision making. Coming from a technical background, Gordan explains this very plain and simple. I am in the IT world now, and see many strong points that could be applied from this book.