There are currently only two major airlines in the US that actually turn a profit: Southwest which has been around since 1973 and newcomer jetBlue which has been flying since 1999. They are both low-cost carriers, but that is probably not the root cause of their success – after all plenty of low-cost carriers have failed miserably. The likely cause of their ability to make money is the fact that they treat their people (employees and customers alike) well.

Southwest’s approach is famosuly described in the book Nuts! by Jackie and Kevin Freiberg, and now journalist Barbara Peterson has written an account of jetBlue called Blue Streak, Inside jetBlue, the Upstart That Rocked an Industry. The book focuses partly on David Neeleman, who may not sound like your typical CEO figure, being mormon, a father of 9 children and suffering from attention deficit disorder. But while he may be unable to sit still for very long, he has a deep understanding of the airline business and a faith in and commitment to treating employees and customers with dignity and respect.

The book’s other main focus is the decisions and people that have shaped jetBlue as it exists today. Neeleman assembled a dream-team of people from industry pace-setters like Virgin and Soutwhwest and sat down to design an airline that would “bring humanity back to air travel”. The book conveys a feeling of being present behind the scenes at the best and the worst of times. From opening routes to new cities to handling crises.

jetBlues main tool: Treating people well. Yes, they have nice planes. Yes, they have efficient online booking and low prices. Yes, they have TV’s at every seat with live TV. But any airline can do that. What they also have, is courteous, friendly service on board the planes. It sounds simple but few airlines manage to deliver that experience. And those who do triumph.

Neeleman often flies on his own planes serving snacks and talking to customers. In this way he stays in touch with his customers AND his employees. He even has his own apron with his name and “snack-boy”. Brilliant!

The book is well written and very interesting. It gives you a real feel for the people involved, and there is no doubt that the author knows both jetBlue and the airline business inside out.

BTW: Inc.com has a nice mini-portrait of Neeleman here.

Solange de Santis is a journalist who’d never held a blue collar job in her life. She wondered what it would be like, so she took such a job. For a year and a half! Now that’s commitment.

But it’s also something more. What drove her was partly curiosity about a different work environment and the desire to show that she could overcome a completely new set of challenges – but her book Life on the line which describes her experience also shows that there is more to it. The blue collar life has an attraction that shines through almost every page of the book. It may be rough, dirty, physically demanding and underpaid. But it is also challenging, giving and lets you meet many fascinating people.

Solange got a job at a GM van factory that was slated to close 18 months in the future, and this added to the intensity and relevance of the experience. What happened to the 2700 people working at the GM Scarborough is happening again and again in companies all over the world.

And if there is one lesson, that I take from the book, it is that the stereotypical view of factory workers is dead wrong. Many if the people she meets are dedicated, hard working, highly skilled and creative. But the way they work offers them no opportunity to use those sides of themselves. They’re locked in a tight battle between management and unions that actually has them cheering when production stops, giving them an unexpected break. This is not what they’re naturally like – it’s a reaction instilled in them by an inhuman system.

Solange made it through some very tough times (especially at the beginning) and I have the deepest admiration for her, for having stuck with it. The resulting book is fascinating – I almost couldn’t put it down, I constantly had to know what would happen next. It’s also a fascinating glimpse of a different work environment that most white collar workers will never see for themselves. Managers would gain immensely from reading the book to get a view of management seen “from below”.

The book is especially relevant for our work in the Happy At Work Project, because most of our customers so far have been white collar companies. This begs the question: Will the same methods work for blue collar workers? And after having read Solange’s book I remain convinced that they will. The difference between the white and blue collar people is much smaller than we think. And in the end we all have the same ambition for work: That it will make us happy!