Open letter to the Board of LIAT

Dear LIAT board

members,

Here is my humble suggestion, as it relates to LIAT:

Recruit three to five of the Caribbean’s brightest business managers in the critical areas related to Liat on a project. Bring them in as a management team working without interference, but instead with measurable targets, established by you, the board. Such targets could be 1) top line growth; 2) cash flow; 3) operations efficiency; 4) some customer service related KPI; 5) employee morale. You choose them; those are surface suggestions.{{more}}

It should cost about US$150,000 for about six months. Second them from the businesses that are performing exceptionally well in the region and people known for RESULTS. Ensure they have a proven track record, not mouth champions; we have too many of those in the region. Please ensure the process of selection is fair and transparent and not your brother’s cousin or your aunt’s niece. They are not there to stay. They are there to implement best practices in business, not politics.

Let these bright minds go in and do a total reshuffling of Liat’s business in the areas of: 1) logistics and operations 2) commercial and 3) human resources. Allow them to do their jobs and sustain the suggestions they make for the long term. The millions you are about to pump into the business now, let them tell you how to use it. Let these business people get LIAT to operate like a business and not a community bus. Let’s try something different, because clearly the same method we’ve been using for years is insanity.

Yours sincerely

Frequent LIAT flyer Shafia