So, we got a letter from the new owner of Frontier, Bryan Bedford, CEO of Republic Airways. This was the second letter we recieved from him and in his first he mentioned some of his beliefs and I guess he heard commentary on that and so this was his response. For those that are religious if you had any doubt why to fly Frontier here is one more positive reason!!
"Good afternoon, I hope this note finds you and your families well.
I’m pleased to welcome our Frontier coworkers to my weekly letter. By no means is this mandatory reading and you should be forewarned I do not limit my writings to purely company business matters; far from it. I believe it is important that people who work at Republic should understand how I tend to think about issues whether they are political, commercial or philosophical. The more you know and understand me and our management team’s approach to life, the better you can understand and appreciate how we are trying to run the business. One thing I’m sure is already getting a fair bit of debate is our vision statement and our reference to God as our creator. Gasp … he talks about God in public and to his employees.
Let’s be clear, believe what you want to believe; there is no “belief” litmus test to work at Republic. Work hard, be responsible and take great care of guests and coworkers and you can believe in the tooth fairy. Buddhist: no problem; Christian: no problem; atheist: no problem; Democrat or Republican: no problem; undependable worker … problem.
If you don’t like what I have to say in my letters you have a choice: don’t read them. You won’t miss anything terribly important. There are plenty of other company-specific news channels that broadcast important company information such that you don’t need to read my weekly missives to stay in the loop. However, if you want to get my unique (some might say crazy) view of the world, then by all means tune in and take a read.
Some will ask “why does he share his religious views with us?” First thing you have to know is I’m not trying to evangelize or convert anyone. About nine years ago I had an epiphany; I discovered I could not be an effective leader and continue to compartmentalize my life in to separate business, political and religious silos. I realized in order to be most effective in my role as CEO; I needed to be a whole person in all facets of my life each day. So nine years ago I brought God to work with me and we’ve been building a business together ever since.
I could give you dozens of examples of how I think we are a stronger and more successful company specifically because we acknowledge the glory of God as our creator in our everyday work. I could tell you how I’ve felt His presence in overcoming significant challenges in our airline over the past nine years. Some of these experiences are nothing sort of extraordinary. I could tell you how prayer has been a powerful influence in our continued success. For those of you who pray, I will ask for your prayers for our coworkers, their families, our airline and for our management team to find wisdom to make good decisions for our collective wellbeing and security. And I will pray for you and your families’ health and safety. For those who are freaking out about this I simply ask you to relax and keep an open mind; the worst thing that can happen is you will get to know me in ways no other CEO would dare allow their employees to see. You can judge whether you want such insight or not. In the end it is your choice."
I love someone who doesn't care about political correctness. I wish we all could go about our daily lives at work, school, and in the community and take our beliefs openly with us. If you don't belive in God and profess that openly in school that seems to be ok....but if you do and profess that then you are in real trouble. I am thankful for a leader unashamed of his beliefs and willing to share them openly with his employees. Good for him...I can't agree more that hiding our beliefs for fear of being politically incorrect is a diffcult way to go through life. It is much easier and we live more honestly with others and ourselves if we are the same at work, at home, and at church.
