Heard and Overheard from Southwest Airlines' Leaders
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Family, love, and Golden Rule behavior. No one would be surprised to hear these words at a marriage workshop or during a church service. But Southwest Airlines President Colleen Barrett turned heads—about 400 of them—during a recent address to the Texas Society of Association Executives’ annual conference when she used the warm, fuzzy words to explain the airline’s success.
She told executives, who attended the event at the Gaylord Texan, that “leadership by example” is a tenet among the airline’s executives.
“Our entire focus is culture based – a focus on the family,” Barrett said. “It’s a popular theme these days, but when we were young and energetic, we made the decision in the late 60s—we had no area of expertise—to concentrate on what we knew we did well, and that was treat people with respect and use Golden Rule behavior. We knew if we did that, did it well, and held people accountable, we would be successful.”
Her corporate banter also included the word love. “Another Southwest value that we use frequently is love,” she said. “How can you say they are your family and not love them? The word could be respect, as well as love -- caring about what happens in your Employees’ lives. We try to recognize every event in an Employee’s life. We try to celebrate the good and feel the pain when it’s bad.”
But, Barrett cautioned executives that a familial environment can’t be created overnight and can’t be canned. “Caring can’t be a program or an agenda,” she said. “It has to be an every day thing – so much a part of you that you don’t even think about it. You have to know when someone is bothered, when a great performer is suddenly not. We run our organization that way.”
All work and no play makes life dull. At least that is what Barrett told executives attending the conference. “There is nothing wrong with enjoying what you do every day. We make our own fun,” she said.
A key to a highly productive workforce is hiring the right people. Barrett said Southwest spends a lot of time making sure they make the right hiring decisions.
“We hire leaders for every position,” she said. “Leadership has nothing to do with title.
We will hire someone and teach someone the technicalities if they are willing to learn. What we will not tolerate is a bad attitude. People know immediately if they are not a good fit at Southwest. There is such peer pressure to maintain the culture. If you can’t laugh at yourself and you're not touchy feely, then Southwest is probably not a good fit for you."
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