King Aerospace President Graduates from SMU’s Cox Executive MBA Program
June 17, 2024
A commitment to leading through purpose and service is not just about serving King Aerospace and our customers. That commitment also includes service to ourselves by striving to take on new challenges, to learn new things and to grow as leaders in the aviation industry.
One way that King Aerospace President Jarid King accepted this challenge is by going through the Executive MBA program at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. Following almost two years of coursework, he celebrated his graduation from the program on May 10.
“I took on this challenge to add tools to my toolbox,” says Jarid. “I wanted a better understanding of what it takes to move to a more entrepreneurial mindset and how to empower team members to make and execute necessary decisions.”
The Cox Executive MBA program is tailored to professionals already working across any industry, bringing them together in cohorts to learn new skills from seasoned leaders and each other. Jarid says the program introduced him to fresh approaches to many aspects of King Aerospace’s operations.
“That means looking at our budgeting, our bidding processes and how to identify what our customers value most about our service,” he notes. “I really appreciate gaining new viewpoints and knowledge to approach these and other thought-provoking questions from a slightly different angle.”
While every project King Aerospace performs brings unique challenges and opportunities, “They all involve actions and inspections that are fairly standardized,” Jarid adds. “We can apply data to find where breakdowns happen – why one project comes in on time and on budget, while another might be way over – and identify benchmarks and share them with the [maintenance] floor to gauge our performance and shrink deviations from the norm.”
That also applies to utilizing leading edge technologies like artificial intelligence, or AI. Jarid points to a presentation by Tom Siebel, CEO of C3 AI, in which he discussed how several large organizations, including the U.S. Air Force, have already applied AI to areas such as preventative maintenance.
“I’m kind of a late adopter to AI,” Jarid admits. “I’m still wrapping my head around it, but I can see where there are a lot of benefits. The key is identifying how to adopt AI securely in a closed environment like ours; from there, it could help King Aerospace streamline our supply chains and even in our responses to government RFIs [requests for information.]”
Finding Balance and Gaining Perspective
When we last checked in with Jarid during the first half of the program, he and his wife, Haley, had also just become proud new parents to their daughter, Cora James King. Jarid is quick to acknowledge that balancing his obligations to his family, his company and his coursework proved challenging at times.
“I’m not a big fan of multitasking,” Jarid says. “I really prefer to lock into a task for an allocated time period, then moving onto something else that needs to get done. That’s not how life works, though. Learning new skills to manage several different commitments like company meetings, personal relationships and class assignments has been extremely beneficial.”
Jarid has also passed along those tips with others, including his fellow team members at the company. For example, while some may depend on their “old school” paper notebooks to taking notes, he organized his class notes and files on his iPad.
“That allows me to quickly find and track documents I may need or notes from a recent discussion,” he explains. “Utilizing these tools can help improve performance in ways we don’t realize until we’re using them.
As noted earlier, collaboration among peers is a key aspect of the Cox Executive MBA program. Group assignments comprised a significant part of the course load, providing students the chance to collaborate with their peers to develop new products.
“For example, we had to build a company from scratch and put together the financials, research the environment and then develop a marketing plan and investor pitch,” he explains. “We introduced a credit card that people living in apartments could use to pay their rent.
“On-time payments would help build the residents’ credit scores, while also driving retention for the apartment complex through rewards like appliance upgrades and premium amenities,” Jarid says. “It’s a neat approach that benefits both the tenants and the apartment complex.”
These lessons, even from industries outside aviation and aerospace, provided Jarid with new perspectives and appreciation for how others approach leadership and innovation. Those experiences, he continues, will inform his approach to his role at King Aerospace going forward.
“So, would I do it again? I would if I hadn’t done it the first time,” Jarid laughs. “That said, I’m very happy with the results and I’m excited to start applying the lessons I’ve learned to make an impact and take King Aerospace even further.”