“Mattering.”
Yesterday, February 11th, I saw a post on social media about JetBlue Airways celebrating their 25th birthday. It reminded me of a personal milestone, and pleasant surprise.
Back in 2010, I was just a bit over a year into building — more like experimenting — the early phases of my business, The Art of Lax™. Since I never went to business school I would read publications like Entrepreneur Magazine and watch the t.v. show, Biography to learn from entrepreneurs, founders and owners of all sorts. One article in a random publication pertaining to business founders was of David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue. That article also had his email address.
With nothing to lose, I decided to cold email him asking for his advice in building a company, creating a brand, but most of all asking for his personal definition of success. And to my surprise he wrote back saying:
“Success is about mattering. The more people you matter to, the more successful you will be.”
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That social media post celebrating JetBlue’s 25 years was from Mr. Neeleman himself. Even though he has moved on from JetBlue by founding two more airlines (Azul and Breeze), he still looks back at that personal accomplishment — a milestone.
I was also reminded of a quick sketch I did two years ago, staying at the TWA Hotel located at JFK International Airport. My room had a view of JetBlue’s terminal with their planes ready for their destinations. While doing the drawing, I couldn’t help but be constantly reminded of Mr. Neeleman’s email response, but also be motivated in seeing those planes — his product — still mattering to countless people 25 years later.
