Doug Parker is not unlike any other chief executive officer of a major company.
The American Airlines head, who announced Tuesday he is retiring on March 31, 2022, has been criticized, and he's even been vilified at times.
He's made some strategic errors, and he's made errors of omission.
It's part and parcel of being a CEO that runs a company of 30,000 or so employees. You're not going to please everybody. In fact, former legendary National Basketball Association coach Frank Layden once had a great philosophy about being in charge.
"There's 15 players on a roster. Five of them love you, five of them hate you and five of them are on the fence," Layden once said. "The trick to coaching is to keep the five that are on the fence away from the five that hate you."
For the most part, Parker was able to do that.
What makes Parker unique, however, is that his enormous successes far outweigh his shortcomings. He didn't just build American Airlines into a powerhouse; he helped change the industry as we know it today.
It's not a stretch to say that Parker was one of the most influential airline executives in at least a generation - if not two generations.
He has had a storied career in aviation, including the last 20 as the CEO of American, and during that time he reshaped all airlines. As CEO of America West, he acquired a bankrupt US Airways in 2006 and kept the larger brand name while becoming CEO and returning the carrier to profitability.
It started a chain of events within the industry. In 2008, Delta acquired Northwest; in 2010, United bought Continental. And in 2013, Parker did it again with US Airways, acquiring a bankrupt American Airlines and merging all of US Airways under the American banner.
The mergers cut the number of so-called 'major' U.S. airlines from 10 in 2001 to the four biggies today - American, United, Delta and Southwest, something that needed to happen to help the industry survive the financial ramifications of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Some 19 years later, Parker played a big role in helping to convince the Trump Administration and Congress to provide government grants and loans to airlines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic devastation.
"Doug Parker played an outsized role in shaping the airline industry in a post-9/11 world, only ever taking airlines out of bankruptcy rather than into them. Learning from that crisis and the unions he bargained with, Parker led the industry to a negotiated solution for COVID Relief," Sara Nelson, the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in an emailed statement.
The Paycheck Protection Program was a big Parker initiative during that time, using the philosophy that the airlines could be saved if their workers were saved first.
"No other CEO worked as hard, spent as much time with Congress or the administration, or felt the urgency of keeping people connected to our jobs - not once, but three times," Nelson said. "The industry is standing today and able to lift us out of the biggest crisis in aviation history. It was an honor to work with Doug on this seminal achievement."
Again, the man was not without flaws and, again, what CEO isn't?
But Doug Parker loved American Airlines, and there's something to be said for that.
And Doug Parker also loved the industry, and while he worked to protect his employees and shareholders, he also was tireless in his efforts for the greater good, making sure aviation soared to new heights.
He was a generational CEO, and it might take another generation before we see another one.
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