Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Incredible -- Bethune's Story is Exceptional
Review: This book is absolutely invaluable for any manager or leader in an organization, regardless of size. The techniques are fundamental and scale to any size, whenever appropriate. I've already recommended this book to many friends and associates and I continue to purchase countless copies as gifts or (effectively) as an "investment" in companies that I'm involved with. As someone with a pre-Gordon "Member Since" date on my Continental Elite card, Bethune's description of Continental in the 80s and 90s brings back some all-too-familiar bad memories of what it was like to travel on the world's worst airline when failure was imminent. Although he accurately depicts the bad times with great detail, those people that experienced the disaster will probably best appreciate and understand Gordon's incredible undertaking and the drastic changes that were the result. Additionally, it's noteworthy (and consistent with Gordon's nature) that all proceeds from this book will be donated to a non-profit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need. Best of all, you get inquisitive looks and smiles from flight attendants when reading this book on a Continental flight. It's a shame that every company can't be as lucky as Continental to have a Chief Executive like Gordon Bethune.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Incredible -- Bethune's Story is Exceptional
Review: This book is absolutely invaluable for any manager or leader in an organization, regardless of size. The techniques are fundamental and scale to any size, whenever appropriate. I've already recommended this book to many friends and associates and I continue to purchase countless copies as gifts or (effectively) as an "investment" in companies that I'm involved with. As someone with a pre-Gordon "Member Since" date on my Continental Elite card, Bethune's description of Continental in the 80s and 90s brings back some all-too-familiar bad memories of what it was like to travel on the world's worst airline when failure was imminent. Although he accurately depicts the bad times with great detail, those people that experienced the disaster will probably best appreciate and understand Gordon's incredible undertaking and the drastic changes that were the result. Additionally, it's noteworthy (and consistent with Gordon's nature) that all proceeds from this book will be donated to a non-profit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need. Best of all, you get inquisitive looks and smiles from flight attendants when reading this book on a Continental flight. It's a shame that every company can't be as lucky as Continental to have a Chief Executive like Gordon Bethune.
Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable story about the survival of Continental
Review: This book outlines the steps Continental CEO Gordon Bethune took to help the company survived its third bankruptcy. Well written, but can be boring if you are not into business strategy.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth seeing book with simple but important knowledge
Review: This book told the story of the great comeback of Continental Airline in an interesting and straight-forward way. We can understand clearly how Continental could do that within 2 years after Gordon Bethune became the Chief Executive Officer. Continental Airline used to be a low-cost, employee-hated, huge leverage company with terrible service and financial situation. The new CEO Gordon Bethune used a ¡¥Go Forward Plan¡¦ which emphasize the product, employees, suppliers and creditor relationship to turnaround this huge but ¡¥horrible¡¦ airline giant. Gordon Bethune put the emphasis on the product itself, making employees as business partners through communication, admitting and apologize for the mistakes, controlling financial situation. This shows that transformation requires a lot more than controlling cost. The structure of the book is clear with key points always showing on the topic. Gordon Bethune used numerous examples and stories to illustrate the strategies he applied and what are the rationales behind. Despite the repetition of some contents, it is full of knowledge!
Rating: 
Summary: This could have been a great book!
Review: This book was way to Repetitive, Repetitive, Repetitive. Because of the anoyance of reading the same thing over and over again I had to quit the book at page 150. We know Continental was bad and the customers hated the airline, but the reader does not need to be reminded of this 3-4 times in each chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Read
Review: This is a great book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Bethune's engaging and simple writing style made it easy to read and understand. Outlining his four-fold plan for turning around Continental airlines, Bethune offers advice to all business professionals. He uses numerous examples from his previous affiliations with the airline industry, as well as stories and anecdotes, to make his simple, yet profound points. At the end of the book, I felt like I could run an airline, too! As a frequent flyer who flew on Continental for many years, I was fascinated by the behind-the-scenes account of what was really happening. At times, I did find myself thinking he might have painted the past so bleak as to make his leadership look even better, but I'll allow him that. Bethune understands that the customer is not always right, but the customer is everything to a business. I would highly recommend this business strategy book to anyone looking to change an unhealthy organization into one more healthy and profitable.
Rating:
Summary: Want to know how to turn around a company?
Review: This is an excellent book, its full of examples, easy to understand, easy to read, great for everyone who is interested in the basics of management, not only of an airline, but any company. I am new to the airline industry, and this book has let me understand a lot about it. Really easy to read, it is written in an easy language. Contiental was the worst airline to fly, the worst airline to work for, and in 1994-1995 when Mr. Bethune rode the cockpit of it, in a year he made it to have its first profit in 10 years. How did he do it? Read this book. This book was written previous to the September 11th 2001, so it has nothing about the recent economic crisis affecting all airlines worldwide, but it explains the plan (the Go Forward Plan) that has kept CO working these last years and how CO is, among major US carriers, one of the ones with less looses and debt in the industry. Definitely a must read!
Rating:
Summary: A refreshingly down to earth gritty tale of a turnaround
Review: This is probably the best and most useful management book I have ever read. It is full of real world techniques and strategies that most of us can relate to, written in an amusing yet direct style. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone in service industry operations management.
Rating:
Summary: He did nothing that any competent CEO would do.
Review: Though the book is written in plain english with his blunt demeanor and self grandiose, he does not lay down the foundation of how he accomplished the turnaround. The Go Forward Plan that was the foundation to the turn-around was somewhat uninspiring. Today's CEOs know that you have to look internally to understand your companies situation. This is nothing new. Anyone can rally the troops.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting IF you want to build up a company
Review: When I bought this book I was looking for a story about Continental Airlines. But this book is much more about economy and financial problems and how to solve them. However, there are some funny and interesting stories about the mis-management of Continental. The first part of the book is worth reading. When reading the second part you always ask yourself: Do I really need to know that? Hey, I just want an insight look into the Airline business! However, the book gives you great general advice to put up a business (doesn't matter if it is selling pizzas or cars).
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