The Women Of
Swiss WorldCargo

     As Swiss International Air Lines ramps up for their Beijing launch today, Swiss WorldCargo welcomed Lisa Doo (left) to head the Beijing Cargo operation joining a group of important women leaders at Swiss WorldCargo (left to right)—Maria Campanella, Senior Marketing Communication Executive; Silvia Cappelli, Senior PR & Online Communication Executive; Annette Kreuziger, Senior Manager, Head of Marketing; Julia Dellinger, Manager Business Intelligence; Christine Barden, Senior Manager, Head of Transportation Processes and Lalin Sabuncuoglu-Janssen, Managing Director, Head of Market Europe.
     Watch these pages for more coverage of this group of outstanding cargo executives.

     So much for that St. Louis Aerotropolis.
     The quote of the month (so far) comes from Mike Jones, (right) Chairman of the Midwest China Hub Commission. While talking to CBS affiliate KMOX Radio St. Louis, it was revealed that not a single air cargo flight from China had arrived in St. Louis in five weeks.
     “I’m not a marketing person. I’m not a carnival huckster.”
     “So I’m not going to sell you some snake oil and say if you take this now, in the morning you’ll feel better.
     “Now, if you start down this road, in ten or fifteen years, if you get it right, and if you catch a break, this can be a different place.”
     “It’s not a boondoggle by any stretch of the imagination.
     “The question is: is it the success that we want?”
     Lambert has seen only two flights from China and no flights for the past five weeks despite promoters of the Lambert Aerotropolis promising one flight per week.
     Lambert St. Louis Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told KMOX that a recent global slowdown in Chinese exports is also part of the problem.
     Undaunted by all of this, Rhonda now says she will try marketing St. Louis as a cargo destination for Latin America.
     Kansas City-based cargo consultant Michael Webber opposed efforts by the Commission to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the China Hub effort and is no more optimistic about Lambert's chances with Latin American operators.
     "Big hubs like Atlanta, Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth have been trying for decades to take market share from Miami with only marginal returns.
     St. Louis has nothing to compare with the resources of those gateways, so I see no reason for Lambert to fare even as well, let alone better."
     Webber isn't surprised by ongoing efforts and anticipates that the Commission will continue draining public funds to supplement the $3.5 million that KMOX reports has already been wasted on travel, studies and marketing efforts.
     "I worked in airport management at Kansas City, so I have a combination of respect and sympathy for Lambert's staff and the tough challenges they're facing."
     That regard does not extend to developers, consultants and political cronies beyond the airport's fences.
     Retired Republican Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond's Federal earmark provided seed funding for the effort, which was conveniently led by one of his former staffers.
     Recently, Bond and his staffers announced formation of a consulting firm that will continue such efforts.
Webber isn't surprised.
     "They exemplify the political cronyism that riles both Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party."
Link for Christopher “Kit” Bond's outfit:
Geoffrey

Proper Way To Quit Job

     It’s part of the human condition—everyone daydreams about quitting his or her job. Unless you’re working for yourself (or, in working for yourself, happen to have multiple personality disorder), you’ve probably thought about it, too. Hell, I work for my father, but even I am subject to a good ol’ “in your face, DAD!” daydream (Just kidding! Love you!).
     While no one may claim immunity to this high-power fantasy, we can and should keep the ‘fantasy’ part of it in perspective—especially with the paucity of jobs available as of late. But if you must quit your job, there is a right way to do it. And while many people have a healthy understanding of how to leave a job, it seems there is a growing under-30 sect that does not.
     Take Joey DeFrancesco, a 23-year-old who quit his job at the Providence Hotel in August. He didn’t just take a meeting with the manager—he sneaked in an entire brass band to play a Serbian folk song as he turned in his resignation letter. Don’t believe me? He filmed it, and you can watch it here (you’ll pardon his language).
     And everyone in the aviation business should remember JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who grabbed a beer from the jet’s galley before exiting down an emergency chute last summer.
     Of course, there’s something to be said for a grand exit. Maybe the underdog in all of us silently cheers on these people, but only with a mixture of revulsion—at least, if you’re over 30. According to Anne Kreamer, author of It’s Always Personal: Emotion in the New Workplace, “People today have grown up in a 24/7 completely transparent, socially connected life. They all are very comfortable with sharing and revealing things that an older generation may have thought was too private or provocative.”
     We can’t just blame it on age, however. The problem of unemployment has also become the problem of the overworked. The work is still there—there are just fewer people doing it.
     “Many people are doing twice the work with half the resources,” says Kreamer. “They feel overwhelmed and undervalued.”
     According to a CareerBuilder survey cited in USA Today, 4 out of 10 employees say their work stress level has increased in the last six months, and 2 in 10 feel burned out. USAToday also cited Workplace Options, an employee support services provider, which said that more than half of workers say their responsibilities have increased since the start of the 2007 recession, with 70 percent going without a pay increase despite the added work.
     So it’s easy to understand why people want to quit; what’s more difficult to stomach is how they’re going about doing it.
     Joe Sale, former employee of LivingSocial, a daily deal coupon company, sent back his business cards, marketing materials and promotional items to LivingSocial headquarters in a white trash bag with a note attached: “Treat your sales force like trash and see how bad your company starts to ‘stink.’”
     Do you have that feeling of revulsion in the pit of your stomach? I do. You may feel for the guy, but it’s hard to reconcile how he, as an adult, handled the situation.
     There’s quitting, and there’s smart quitting. If you have to quit, be the smart quitter.
     As a 30-year-old who happens to straddle the line between adult and young adult, I understand the urge to vomit your dissatisfaction on Facebook or Twitter so that everyone can know how terrible your work experience was. I really do.

      Just a month and a half ago, I was working part time in the oldest yarn store in New York City, writing creative content, photographing knitwear, making videos on how to knit (want to learn? You can watch me here, writing patterns, researching up-and-coming trends in the fiber community and helping people with their projects. Knitting is a recent, part time hobby of mine—a love affair with creating things by hand, and I admit that while working at this store, I took various abuses. I consistently worked over time, gave up my creative content without being paid, and worked under someone who, without a doubt, has a severe personality disorder. I, along with one of my coworkers, left the organization just a little over a month ago, and I was filled with such rage, or more pointedly, such hurt, at being taken advantage of for so long, I wanted to write an epic poem, four miles long, to sing from the hilltops how awful this person was. Because beyond being angry, I was terribly upset at losing my place in the knitting community, a community I had lovingly cherished and served without compensation and without a need for compensation—that’s how much I enjoyed it.
     So I get it. Completely. We all want an audience for our triumphs and our woes, and for those of us under the age of 30, we’re used to being paid attention. We wake up everyday and inform Twitter that we’ve just had the best cup of coffee at Starbucks on 81st and Broadway, and we tell Facebook about how tragically slow the subway is running, and everyone we know chimes in, responds, gives us the thumbs-up approval we so longingly want, and we feel better about our lives.
     Just recently, the Huffington Post reported that Bill Lawrence, upon finding out that his show, “Cougar Town,” was getting a reduction in episodes, took his case of the bitch-and-moans to Twitter, stating, "Will vent later. Must go edit episode that will be on in… sometime. Enjoy Celebrity Wife Swap on ABC. Your kids should watch," launching a direct attack on the network’s reality programming. It may not sound like he went overboard, but it gets worse: "All fans - thanks. Truly. My timeline is destroyed. Maybe I'll slide some episodes out early and we can see what you all think... uh-oh."
And the next tweet? "That last tweet will get me a nice call from a Disney attorney." Huffington Post reports: “after retweeting some harsh notes from fans, he hit out at one of ABC's other shows that did make the schedule.”
     Now, does that sound like the actions of an adult man, or a fitful teenager?
     The problem is, the proverbial finger you want to give your boss via Facebook and Twitter? It lasts forever. Outrage is no longer just a flash in the pan – you’re leaving a permanent virtual paper trail for prospective employers to follow like so many breadcrumbs back to your personal tragedy. And you really don’t want them looking at that. You’re also painting a picture of yourself as someone who can’t handle rejection, unhappiness or anger in an adult manner, and again—that picture lasts forever. You’ll get older and older and your Dorian Gray-picture of immature ugliness will just get dourer and dourer in the Internet attic. It’s not just about leaving yourself references—it’s about making sure that the future job you want isn’t tainted by your past immature actions. No employer is going to want to hire someone who has the tendency to hire a brass band to announce when they are quitting; that’s not good exposure at all. Just look at Charlie Sheen—he’s certainly not “winning” anymore.
     So if you need to quit, do what I did. Write a nice, conservative letter citing why you can no longer work under current conditions, thank your boss for the opportunity, and move on with your life. Then, when you get home, you can write the letter you really wanted to write, sign it in blood, and burn it in a metal basket along with that handknit effigy of your boss. If you need me to make one for you, just let me know . . .
Flossie Arend

FT120211