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Howard Putnam started in aviation loading
luggage in coveralls, his roots. He was raised on an Iowa
farm and learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father's
J-3 Piper Cub. He entered the airline business as a baggage
handler at Midway Airport in Chicago for Capital Airlines
at age 17. Capital was soon merged into United and Howard
held thirteen different positions in sales, services and
staff assignments in several cities, before being named
Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines,
the world's largest airline, in 1976.
In 1978 he was recruited to become President and CEO
of fledgling Southwest Airlines in Dallas, TX. While at
Southwest Howard and his team tripled the revenues and
tripled profitability in three years. They also successfully
guided Southwest through airline deregulation and Southwest
was the first air carrier to order the Boeing 737-300,
which later became the largest selling aircraft ever for
Boeing.
Howard led the visioning process at Southwest as well
as further developing the "fun" culture and
excellent customer service that South is still known for
today. Southwest has been profitable in every quarter
for over twenty-five years, a record unsurpassed by any
airline.
In 1981, Howard was recruited by the board of directors
of Braniff International to come aboard as CEO and save
and/or restructure the financially failing airline. He
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was the first airline CEO to
successfully take a major carrier into, through and out
of chapter 11. Braniff flew again in 1984.
He is the author of "The Winds of Turbulence"
on leadership and ethics. Harvard University wrote a case
study on his experiences at Braniff, "The Ethics
of Bankruptcy" as a model as to how to handle stakeholders
in crisis.
He has since been an entrepreneur, the Chairman of a
startup investment company and in 1998, the co-founder
and chairman of AIR, a commercial airline seat refurbishment
company.
Howard is a founding faculty member and advisory board
member of www.Mentoru.com/Putnam, the world's first online
mentoring service, providing business expertise live via
the Internet.
Howard Putnam will get your organization and you "Up
To Speed." He offers keynote presentations, half
day and full day seminars and facilitation. He provides
consulting and advisory assignments on a retainer basis
as well as private seminars. .
Program Topics and Titles Include:
- Leadership: Successful Strategies Through Turbulence
- Innovation: Creating a Culture and Process for Ideas
to Hatch
- Change: Transforming Organizations Successfully &
Profitably
- People and Culture: Hiring Attitudes & Developing
Their Skills
- Ethics: The Ultimate Challenge in Ethics; Are You
Really the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are?
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