David Neeleman, the founder of New York–based JetBlue, works in the trenches each month with his baggage handlers and ticket takers. “With other aviation companies, upper-level management doesn’t like to mingle with employees,” says Fred Ramos, JetBlue’s ground-operations supervisor. “But David wants to be smack in the middle of everything.”

Companies can learn from this executive. Rather than waiting for film crews to arrive, some executives step into the shoes of their employees as a regular routine to understand their problems and help resolve them to the best of their abilities.

Cite this as:

YouSigma. (2008). "David Neeleman's Reality Check with Front-Line Workers." From http://www.yousigma.com.