Juan T. Trippe Leadership
City University London
Air Safety Management, MSc
Bruno Herencic
Coursework A
Choose a leader from industry – preferably an airline, airport authority, ATC service or air force leader – and discuss:
Industry leader chosen for this work is Juan T. Trippe.
Question 1 - What leadership styles account for their success?
Introduction
Juan Trippe was the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Pan American Airways (Pan Am).
Before describing Trippe’s leadership styles, we shall define what leadership style is. Northouse (2012 ,p52) defines leadership style as “the behaviours of leaders, focusing on what leaders do and how they act”. According Gardner (1990), leadership style is the way in which a group of people is persuaded to work towards a common goal.
Styles commonly found in literature include authoritative, autocratic, coaching, coercive, democratic, laissez-faire, managerial, transactional and transformational.
Leaders use one style, called the dominating style, more often than other styles. (Northouse 2012).
Critique
First evidence of Juan Trippe’s management style is found in his leadership role as the editor of the Yale Graphic. He was demanding and put great attention to detail. According Carpenter (2011), he exhibited a micromanaging style that was “loathed” by his subordinates at Pan Am later on.
At Pan Am, Juan Trippe often acted without informing the board of directors or discussing his ideas. Often he would call a meeting of the board just to approve actions already takeni.
He pushed people to work hard late into the night and gave very few rewards. He showed no interest in building relationships with employees. According Alef (2011) “He was respected, if not well liked. He did not know his employees by name and could care less.”
In 1939 when C.V. Whitney was nominated as the CEO of Pan Am, Trippe started intimidating employees who were ‘friendly’ with Whitney. Less than a year later when Trippe was again appointed as
Air Safety Management, MSc
Bruno Herencic
Coursework A
Choose a leader from industry – preferably an airline, airport authority, ATC service or air force leader – and discuss:
Industry leader chosen for this work is Juan T. Trippe.
Question 1 - What leadership styles account for their success?
Introduction
Juan Trippe was the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Pan American Airways (Pan Am).
Before describing Trippe’s leadership styles, we shall define what leadership style is. Northouse (2012 ,p52) defines leadership style as “the behaviours of leaders, focusing on what leaders do and how they act”. According Gardner (1990), leadership style is the way in which a group of people is persuaded to work towards a common goal.
Styles commonly found in literature include authoritative, autocratic, coaching, coercive, democratic, laissez-faire, managerial, transactional and transformational.
Leaders use one style, called the dominating style, more often than other styles. (Northouse 2012).
Critique
First evidence of Juan Trippe’s management style is found in his leadership role as the editor of the Yale Graphic. He was demanding and put great attention to detail. According Carpenter (2011), he exhibited a micromanaging style that was “loathed” by his subordinates at Pan Am later on.
At Pan Am, Juan Trippe often acted without informing the board of directors or discussing his ideas. Often he would call a meeting of the board just to approve actions already takeni.
He pushed people to work hard late into the night and gave very few rewards. He showed no interest in building relationships with employees. According Alef (2011) “He was respected, if not well liked. He did not know his employees by name and could care less.”
In 1939 when C.V. Whitney was nominated as the CEO of Pan Am, Trippe started intimidating employees who were ‘friendly’ with Whitney. Less than a year later when Trippe was again appointed as
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