Pardon me while I take a minute to moralize.

Not really. As regular readers know, Keep the Joint Running isn’t a forum for moral advocacy, for two reasons.

The first is credentials. I have no basis, other than my upbringing and personal biases, for promoting one moral code or system of ethics over any other. Any ethical position I might take would have all the public credibility of the political positions taken by actors and musicians.

The second reason is irrelevancy. Business, according to the official voices of business (organizations such as the Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce) is intrinsically amoral.

This is a tale of three departures and their lessons for IT leaders.

Departure #1 is Steven Slater. In case you’ve been living in a cave, Slater, a JetBlue flight attendant, experienced an intense customer relationship opportunity with a passenger who retrieved her luggage before the plane reached the gate.

That’s when Slater achieved greatness: