Growing Up in Aviation
July 18, 2019
On July 21, I hit a milestone birthday. I turn 30. I’ve been taking some good-natured ribbing about that. It’s also caused me to stop and reflect on just what it means. Where I’ve come from. Who I am. Where I’m going.
Aviation Does More than Transport You
I took on the presidency of King Aerospace at 27. Young for the industry – very young. When I’m asked how long I’ve been in aviation, I think to myself, “You know, I’ve never known anything but aviation.”
I was born into it.
My father, Jerry King, founded King Aerospace in 1992. I was 3. He was so busy building the company, jetting all around the world, meeting with movers and shakers. I remember how I would miss him and how happy I’d be when he burst through our front door.
I spent the last three decades learning lessons from my father, understanding our business and falling in love with this industry and the people in it. To honor those lessons he taught me, I want to share some of them with you.
Lessons from More than One Lifetime
A Servant Leadership Culture
My father founded King Aerospace with a vision of a company that gives more than it takes, builds value in all that it does and makes a difference in the lives of the people it employs and serves. He often says, “We just happen to work on airplanes.”
I hold this lesson closest to my heart because our culture isn’t just an afterthought or a window dressing. It’s what drives us. King Kulture teaches people to lead with service first. Each and every person we encounter – whether another employee or a customer – we do our best to serve with love.
Live Up to Your Mentors
My father’s longtime friend and mentor, the late Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines, played a large role in inspiring our corporate culture. Dad pushed himself and his business to live up to his mentors – always striving to create opportunities to implement the lessons he learned from them.
Dad is, of course, one of my big-time mentors. Ron Soret of Aeria Luxury Interiors and Jeff Barstow of The Boeing Company are, too. All have opened their doors to me, offering to teach me, lead me and help me grow. Like my father, I am determined to live up to my mentors.
Find Your Why
King Aerospace works with team members around the world to help them uncover the significant purpose that answers their individual “Why?” It’s not simply understanding their role within the company. We ask, “Why are you here?”
This deep, soul-searching thinking is never easy – but it is important. Not everyone fits in with the company’s “why.” It is clearly laid out in our mission and supported by our cornerstone principles.
- Mutual respect
- Honesty and trust
- Nonpolitical environment
- Team-oriented
- Demonstrated performance
- Proactive, problem-solving attitudes
- Quality in everything we do (no excuses)
- Earn a fair profit
Without purpose, we’re just another aviation company. With these guiding principles, we’re a dynamic, mission-driven enterprise that’s bigger than the sum of its parts. The Bible says three things will last forever: faith, hope and love. And that the greatest of these is love. We believe that.
Taking the Torch
In Texas, hats are more than something you wear on your head. Hats are personal, symbolic, a torch to pass on for the next generation to carry into the future.
Dad waited for years for the right time to take me to Paris Hatters in San Antonio to get my Stetson cowboy hat. He wanted to make sure I was ready to carry the torch. I asked the hatter to add elements of my father’s hat to my own. Small, subtle stylings that remind me of him, of where I came from, and the responsibility I carry on my (fortunately broad) shoulders.
Being a next generation leader could be viewed as an onerous weight. It isn’t. I consider it a blessing and an honor. Together, as a team, I know we can take King Aerospace farther and higher. We will continue to build off of the successes of those who came before us.
The Story of the Compromise
This reads like a fairy tale and happens to be true.
Once upon a time, Jerry King, the owner of King Aerospace, needed to refurbish his own aircraft. He had been so busy with other people’s airplanes that he had made no time to work on his own plane, let alone design what he wanted to do.
So one day, he asked his young children to help him. Jarid, age 4, wanted a G.I. Joe theme. Jacqueline, age 6, wanted a Barbie doll theme. And all Dad wanted was one of his custom leather interiors fabricated for his own airplane. And so came the name of the aircraft — The Compromise, along with new paint and interior.
It just proves that not only are two heads better than one, but King Aerospace can refurbish anything a person or several people desire.
The End.