Michael Nagel—Reaching new heights in the aviation sector

Flying an aircraft with a whole bunch of people on board was very much like a dream. It was exciting and a very important part of not only my growing up, but also my career development in business. I just wanted to get to that next step in more of a management role rather than a flying role. It does have a limitation; it’s exciting but you may not want to be away from home that often, and it also has a degree of risk to it.

I went back to school at the end of my flying career, and thereafter joined the airlines in management. I went to Capilano College, which is now Capilano University, in Vancouver, and took business administration courses. I wanted to step up my business acumen and figure out my next steps.

I ended up at Canadian Airlines. I had a fantastic career at there in sales management—a sizeable portfolio of about $250 million. I managed all of Southeast Asia and China. Then Canadian Airlines ended up in some financial turmoil. Around that time, I had that mental wanderlust again to take it to the next step and I developed a vision that I wanted to get an MBA. I loved the airline industry, but I couldn’t see myself continuing in it. After researching, I picked AU.

The really important thing was the flexibility, the online capability to work 24/7. I was traveling quite a bit so I found myself in hotel rooms, doing work at night, in different cities. That whole online model at the time, around 1998-99, was still an innovative application. That suited me really, really well. And there was also enough of a mix; we were attending school in cities all over the world for a week or 2 to do face-to-face studies and workshops. That was another box to tick off: the diversification of the people, the broadness of the industries, and the type of managers that were in the cohort. I stay in touch with a few of them.

I really wanted to step up the academia. I had a vision that I would end up with a much better career that paid more money, gave me more accountability, and more responsibility. That was definitely fulfilled. The other thing was to get out of my box of aviation.

As I recount this, it all sounds so strategic and mapped out. But that’s not quite the case. A lot of it just fell into place. I had a direction, and in some cases, a very strong vision. It worked out for me very well. I have an awful lot to be thankful for that I made the decision to go to AU.

Operations management is one that definitely sticks out—that scientific thinking on operations, on logistics management. By coincidence, the professor that was teaching it, Anshuman Khare, is still a friend of mine whom I stay in touch with and try to visit when I’m dropping through Edmonton. He was quite influential. 

The one thing that comes up is just being really good at multitasking. That in effect is something you have to deal with as a manager; you have to work smart and be a good leader of people, and not be intimidated by deadlines. I’m very comfortable at senior levels dealing with a multitude of challenges and problems and opportunities. These were new skills that I developed at AU.