There’s few things worse to do on live television than swearing. Unless you’re a CEO that is. After being accused of treating foreign workers, especially female cabin crew, with disdain in an article published in the Washington Post (the article is entitled ‘The surprising ways in which some flight attendants are still made to live in the 1960s’), Akbar al-Baker did the media rounds to defend his airline’s position and dismiss the claims. Watch the video and the offending comment for yourselves.
To say Akbar al-Baker is gaffe-prone would be an understatement. He has led the airline since 1997 through a period of unparalleled growth. However, when does a leader become a liability? Is Akbar al-Baker, of which much has been said by former staff, a liability to the airline and to Qatar?
Alex of Arabia's Blog 
Thanks for sharing, i think the BS moment was a strategic way to attract the attention of the audience, especially when you see all the rudeness used in the media to catch 1s of attention.
#AttentionisRare
Thanks Amel for your thoughts. While it does catch the attention doesn’t swearing become a reputational issue? Is this how we should expect our CEOs to behave? And would AlBakr have used the equivalent in Arabic? I highly doubt it.
Of course, i am not cautioning his inappropriate language but generally speaking we notice many cases like this especially in the media, i think crises management is a mandatory skill for managers, CEO’s ..etc,
He is a “ceo ” and he should not behave this way, it is bad for the image, reputation and it shows a bad example of crises management especially in MENA region, i am wondering if he had to manage crises like Asia Airlines how will he react.