Herb Kelleher is the co-founder of South West Airlines. From its inception and first flight in 1971 Herb has put his personal stamp and values on the company to make it one of the most respected airlines in the world. Here are five lessons that we can learn from the example that Herb has set.
1. People first – “The business of business is people.”
By focusing on getting the right employees in the right positions, Herb Kelleher has succeeded in making South West Airlines the number one airline in the US when it comes to customer service. It is in most people’s nature to want to be helpful and when employees feel valued and empowered a natural outcome is that they take care of their customers.
When South West was still struggling in its infancy it faced the choice of selling one of its four planes or letting some employees go. The decided to keep the employees and sold the plane. This earned them their employees’ loyalty and led to the improved efficiency of the 15-minute turn around.
2. Be humble
When Herb was consulted during the construction of the South West offices, he asked for an interior office without a window. This ensured that he doesn’t cause envy and bureaucratic office maneuvering (for an office with a window) as he believes it is much more important what happens in your head space than your office space.
And be humble enough to listen to people and engage them in conversation. He said that if you need a suggestions box for employees to write suggestions for your company, then you aren’t talking to your employees enough. So start talking to your employees and really listen as they often know much more about what is going on in the business and might have some great ideas for improving it.
3. Work harder than anyone else and keep at it
In 1967 Herb Kelleher and Texas business man Rollin W. King started South West airlines. But competitor kept their planes grounded through litigation for three and a half years. It was only through hard work and persistence that South West finally took to the skies in 1971. The easy way out might have been to look at the lawsuits and say its not worth it, but they believed in their business and persevered through the rough times just to get their business of the ground.
If you are willing to work hard not only at your own job, but are also willing to do others work, it sets a great example for your employees and your customers. Always be willing to serve harder and longer than you’d expect from anyone else.
4. Goodwill is sometimes worth more than winning
South West was once running an ad campaign with the slogan ‘Just Plane Smart.’ which was also used by Stevens Aviation at the time. To resolve the issue, Herb Kelleher challenged Kurt Herwald of Stevens Aviation to a arm-wrestling contest. A lot of good-natured hype was built around this ‘Malice in Dallas’ in aid of local charity. In the end, Herb lost the arm-wrestling contest, but Kurt allowed South West to continue using the tag line.
Herb and South West could have sued or pursued a number of other serious options, but instead chose to view this as an opportunity. They succeeded in creating goodwill and raising the profile of both companies and aided local charities in the process.
5. Continued learning
Tying in with the lesson about humility is to know that you don’t know everything and to be willing to learn more. There will never be a point where you know everything or where you can’t learn something new. Keep learning from your mistakes. Keep reading books on a wide variety of topics and you will keep growing as a person and be inspired with ideas from all sorts of people for all sorts of concerns. In 2008 Herb Kelleher stepped down as Chairman of South West but in true subservient leader style, continues on as an employee and adviser for at least 5 more years.
About The Author:
Leon van der Walt is an author that has studied many famous entrepreneurs and continues learning from inspirational leaders and entrepreneurs like Herb Kelleher.
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