Three little words. Who hears them?

On the evening of August 10, 2018 Richard Russell, a 29 year-old ground-service agent for Horizon Airlines, towed a Dash-8 Q400 airplane from a maintenance area at SeaTac airport, jumped into the cockpit, and took off. He flew around Puget Sound for about an hour, talking with the ground controller about how a lot of people that cared about him were going to be disappointed to hear that he had stolen a plane, and apologized to them before ultimately diving into the tiny, mostly uninhabited Ketron Island. He did not survive.

His long-time friends were shocked and saddened when they learned of his escapade. They described Richard as a normally happy person, a jokester, and the class clown. He loved to read, was always friendly and played football and ran track in high school. They were at a loss as to why he would do such a thing, but some of his coworkers keyed in on a line from the cockpit recording; "Minimum wage, we'll chalk it up to that" he said. "Maybe this will grease some gears a little bit with the higher-ups."

They went on to describe Horizon Air as an often unpleasant place to work, where employees were pushed hard and underappreciated. Ground crews were paid less than the $15 per hour minimum wage that is mandated by the city of SeaTac for work that is grueling and subject to unpleasant weather, gas fumes and heavy lifting. They described the workplace culture with two words; "dysfunctional and toxic."

By all accounts the people on the ground who service airplanes have a tough, grueling job, but if it is not done correctly your bag doesn't get to your destination, the plane doesn't get to the gate on time, and you miss your connecting flight. These are important tasks and if you were in a key management position you might want to occasionally don a hard hat and parka and venture out to visit with these people. Shake their hand and tell them how much you appreciate what they do and how important they are to the successful operation of the entire airline. We will never know why Richard stole that plane and flew it into the ground, but it is possible that talking directly to a "higher-up" and knowing he was appreciated might have dissuaded him from doing so.

Three little words; "We appreciate you." Who hears them? When was the last time you said them? Think about the powerful impact these words have on people, and maybe decide that this time of year is the perfect time to say them. Make a pledge to spread a little good cheer into your employee's lives.

And please accept my best wishes for a happy holiday season and a joyous and prosperous New Year!