Out of the Ashes: Tools for Recovering Corporate Health

"Jean-Frèdèric Mognetti has insightfully unlocked the forces driving a successful turnaround in 'Out of the Ashes'. He candidly unveils the need for inclusive leadership, which is unleashed when staying focused on doing the right things and achieving goals step by step with dedicated teams. With unsparing openness, Mognetti demonstrates the importance of radical measures in a crisis situation and how important trust and alignment were to transform these into a sustainable business model with SN Brussels Airlines - knowing that success ins not an entitlement. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of a specific corporate moment of truth during 40 months of hands-on management."- Jürgen Dormann
 
Take a management journey to the heart of the restructuring of SN Brussels Airlines, sharing the dos and don'ts of Jean-Frèdèrick Mognetti's three years of hands-on experience as restructuring catalyst to the company. In 2002 SN rose out of the ashes of Belgian airline SABNA, witnessing a remarkable turnaround and returning to continuing profits as early as the second year of operations, even going on to acquire Virgin Express in 2005. This was achieved with a modest equity investment of 150 million, 12 times less than the cash that Swiss International Airlines, SN's former sister company, burned through in the same conditions.
 
As well as describing the actions of both the architects and the doers of this starting achievement, Mognetti broadens the management scope of each step of his corporate transformation proposal with the help of a panel of seven CEOs and chairmen. Together, as if in a virtual board meeting, they outline which management lessons to bear in mind to remain on a healthy growth track and avoid a turnaround being no more than a remission.