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14 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE JUNE/JULY 2016 COVER STORY Team Development Much of what makes Bluth successful in Austin is his comfort level with large scale event traffc. During his tenure in South Bend, Indiana, Bluth was deep inside the moneyed world of college football. Not just any college football: Notre Dame college football. Each autumn brought at least six major traffc events and full hangars. The years of experience with Notre Dame football traffc prepared Bluth for the air- port authority involvement and general aviation traffc that comes with Austin's laundry list of major events. Texas Long- horn football, Formula One races and the rapidly growing, jet-attracting South by Southwest festival. These event manage- ment opportunities, according to Allen, are where Bluth's "years of experience and enthusiasm have helped create the great group of employees" that Bluth and Allen speak of so pridefully. "He's got a pretty magnetic personality, and people just gravitate toward him as it is," Allen says. "Then, to know that he's got all that knowledge that they can sponge off of him." As you might expect from a devoted foot- ball fan, Bluth's management style relies on the "next man up" theory. "When one goes down, the next one's going to step in and we're going to see the same results," Bluth says. But to successfully implement that strat- egy, teams need proper training, coaching and resources to succeed and learn the job of the person above them – a job they may have to fll during outages, vacations or departures. "We try to develop everyone equally," Bluth says. "On top of that, it makes it a little bit easier for these guys out here from the safety aspect that the supervisor can trust someone else." Bluth started taking to teaching as a site trainer. As a supervisor, Bluth says, he learned to lead a group and as a line manager he learned to lead a full team. Now, as operations manager, it's time to put it all together. "You have to be able to develop the next leader underneath you to become a leader," Allen says. "Jonathan [Bluth] has been very successful at being able to develop the next leader underneath him." Learning on the ramp isn't just done by technicians. Success in anything comes from lifelong learning. Bluth says every time he's on the ramp he fnds "something new to face or something new to learn, some- one new to meet." And that happens more frequently now that he spends more of his time in his offce overlooking the ramp than he does on the tarmac itself. "Even though I don't always get the oppor- tunity to go out and play on the ramp, I can look out and see the talent that's developed," Great GSE Backed by Great Service 614.443.7492 sales@columbusjack.com www.columbusjack.com There's a reason our customers feel ColumbusJACK/Regent is the premier supplier of aircraft jacks and ground support equipment: " ColumbusJACK/Regent is not only reliable, but very eficient in their service, I love being able to speak to someone and get answers right away " " Readily available spare parts, staf is easy to deal with, and good customer service " " Great customer service and availability of spare parts " Experience it for yourself, contact us today! " Hands on service, readily available " AviationPros.com/10134078