This card from Captain Brian was sitting on my seat when I plopped down on yet another Atlanta >>> Indianapolis flight. Looking around, every seat in the first five rows had a card.
Once we were seated, he appeared. Out of the flight deck came a wizened veteran. Gray and white hair poking
out from his cap. A bit portly. A Captain Kangaroo vibe, but with more authority.
He introduced the first officer, and recited his entire resume, including military service, and held up an iPad to show a photo of his Navy plane.
He introduced himself, and talked about his 33 years as a Delta captain. Even showed a funny photo of a Wright Brothers aircraft, talking about his early days as a pilot.
Then used the iPad to show us the precise flight plan, and the weather forecast along the route.
Took a moment - with great sincerity - to thank the 75,000 Delta teammates we wouldn't see that day.
Before heading back to fly the actual plane, he acknowledged a couple people near me: "Mrs. Jones, nice to see you." "Mr. Franklin, thank you for being with us this evening."
I thought, "wow, these folks fly this route so often - even more than me - that the pilot recognizes them!"
Uneventful flight.
As we disembarked, he stood near the doorway and thanked EVERY first class passenger, BY NAME. No notes.
Wow! Captain Brian is evidently both a customer experience ace, and an amateur mentalist.
This is the Coveted Customer Experience I often talk about on stages: when you deliver an experience so beyond expectation that it buys your organization the benefit of the doubt.
Usually in business we assume that delivering knockout customer experiences requires a systemic approach: processes, training, software, metrics.
When in fact, it usually requires none of that, but instead ONE person who cares enough to go beyond the boundaries.
Captain Brian is that person.
Who is it in your organization?
And if you don't have someone who wakes up every day excited about blowing your customers' minds with an experience that far surpasses expectations, isn't it time you find that person?
In my very first book, The NOW Revolution, I wrote that the key to creating a winning culture is to hire for passion, and train for skills. It's maybe even more true today.
Certainly, I'm glad he actually knows how to fly a plane. But there are lots of pilots. There is only one Captain Brian Wortham.
And so, I remain in the sometimes unkind embrace of Delta, my cheating eyes closed for now.
