Turnaround Time

Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies

By: Oscar Munoz, Brian DeSplinter - contributor

Narrated by: Oscar Munoz, Christopher Salazar

Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Go behind the scenes with the CEO who led United Airlines’ remarkable turnaround.

Around the world and around the clock, the people of United Airlines are locked in a struggle against time to ensure your aircraft lands and takes off for another flight safely and efficiently. This “turnaround time” is the heartbeat of an industry in which the margin for error is nil and success is measured by fractions of a second.

Turning around an aircraft and turning around an airline are very different challenges in most respects, except one: it takes a united team to perform it well.

In 2015, when Oscar Munoz took the helm of this iconic brand, its culture was anything but united and its reputation was in free fall. A merger with its onetime rival Continental had stalled, operational and financial performance was badly trailing those of its competitors, and the bonds of trust with shareholders, customers, and employees had reached a breaking point.

Setting out an ambitious plan to rejuvenate the company, Oscar learned that there was nothing wrong at United that couldn’t be fixed by championing what was right—the employees themselves.

Meanwhile, only a month into the job, Oscar suffered a near-fatal heart attack that set in motion a race against the clock to find a heart transplant to save his life, even as he fought to salvage his vision for United’s revival. The health emergency might have been the end of the story—until employees and union leaders rallied around Oscar, inspiring him to pull through, something he did within weeks following a successful procedure.

Oscar and the people he led, both with new leases on life, would go on to weather more turbulence, overcoming battles with investors and navigating several PR crises—including a global pandemic—to deliver top-tier operational performance, strong returns to shareholders, and ascending levels of customer satisfaction. By the end of his tenure, the people of United were finally flying together as one team, defying pessimism from industry insiders and rekindling optimism from employees and the customers they served.

With candor, humor, and heartfelt wisdom, Oscar reveals how he rose from humble immigrant origins to lead United Airlines through one of modern business’s greatest corporate turnarounds. He offers soulful, much-needed leadership lessons for today’s world: listening with empathy, standing up for employees, building durable cultures that are profitable because they’re principled, and advancing a vision for a genuinely inclusive economy for the future.

©2023 Oscar Munoz (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Good listen.

Amazing story of the turnaround, that you can definitely see has happened to United over the past few years. but also the personal story of Oscar while he was the head of United and all of his challenges such as his heath.

A good and worthwhile listen

The reader certainly isn't an av-geek and the author shows some revisionist history, but it's entertaining and educational

Excellent book!

This is a story of two survivals: United Airlines and it’s CEO. Both fascinating and full of inspirational moments, my favorite part is how both were empowered by Oscar’s incredible culture and values. His family, al the people that raised him, and the millennial traditions he was part of allowed him to see the possibilities others would not have seen.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly!

Turnaround Opinion

Eager to learn about leadership, commercial aviation and a life at the helm of a powerful company, I set out listening to the book. Early in the reading I listened to the part of Mr. Munoz being considered for the head position at United. With prejudice, I assumed his promotion to the top spot had mostly to do with leftist ideals and a example of affirmative action. Did he think his readers wouldn’t see such a clear political agenda. The more I listened, however, I learned that the author didn’t shy away from his Latino origin and the context of his hiring in a time fraught with division. He bravely discussed his Latino background. He delivered examples of how his diverse background provided him a special ability to effectively lead. His authenticity disarmed my prejudice. His story tells about his fighting spirit, his force for change, and his values. The flow of the book worked well to hold my attention. He equips the reader with multiple leadership lessons, heart warming stories and a special perspective of aviation industry in present history. I’m proud of him as a fellow American. I’m sorry for my racist response. I will root out my prejudice and racist thoughts. I would be honored to achieve a small portion of the good he’s achieved for mankind and for America. Only 4 reviews?! Come on, get with the program and check this one out!

Excellent book!!

I read paper copy and also parts on runs on audible so left a longer review on there but it is one of my favorite books of all time. Incredible story - inspirational with a lot of leadership lessons as well! Highly recommended!!

Such a aspirational story

It was a great listen considering the fact that I work for the company. Will totally recommend this book to co workers, family, and friends.

Very good book about his Journey

I really enjoyed this book. I am in the aviation industry and my wife recently had a heart transplant. I enjoyed how these 2 things were woven together in his story as CEO of United. Very enjoyable for those who like business biographies although this really just focuses on his time at United and not his other career endeavors.

Highly recommend

What an incredible story of a first generation immigrant who led with his heart and transformed the United and the aviation industry

It’s a good book and…

I would love to have heard more about the actual plan he implemented to save the airline. The bulk of the book talked about his heart attack and how that changed everything for him personally—and that’s a significant event in any person’s life. And, I don’t want to diminish the significance.

That said, I’ve listened to other books my former CEO’s and they talked about the strategy and how it was implemented to save or grow the company. He did talk about that, but I would like it to have been more in-depth.

The humidity of his personal trials and guiding principles.

Any dislike in this conversation fade to nothing when compared to what I learned about life and strive to implement