Tweet

Flying High: How Kelleher Took Southwest to the Top

Article Overview: “I took an aptitude test in college, and it said there were three things I’d be fairly decent at,” says Kelleher, “being a journalist, an editor, or a lawyer.” Nobody – not the other airlines, not the financial community, not even his own aptitude test – believed Kelleher had what it took to start a successful company. So how did this man who was so destined to be a lawyer defy fate and become one of the most successful CEOs of his time?

Flying High: How Kelleher Took Southwest to the Top

“I took an aptitude test in college, and it said there were three things I’d be fairly decent at,” says Kelleher, “being a journalist, an editor, or a lawyer.” Nobody – not the other airlines, not the financial community, not even his own aptitude test – believed Kelleher had what it took to start a successful company. So how did this man who was so destined to be a lawyer defy fate and become one of the most successful CEOs of his time?

People: “Down in San Antonio, when one of our customers was railing at one of our customers services agents and said: Don’t you know I’m a shareholder of Southwest Airlines?” says Kelleher. “And the customer-service agent looked at her and said: Lady, we all are.” At Southwest, Kelleher made people his priority. From generous profit-sharing plans to personalized attention, Kelleher wanted his company to be a place where people actually enjoyed coming to work each day.

Service: “Here's the kind of letter that we got: Herb, I went through El Paso the other day, and I was sold a ticket by a customer-service agent who just isn't like Southwest Airlines. There is something wrong with this agent,” says Kelleher. “You see the distinction? Not that Southwest Airlines is a bad apple, but this person is a bad apple, and I don't understand how you can allow that person to continue to work for you.” By focusing on supreme customer service, Kelleher made sure that his company was number one in the eyes of those who fly.

Personality: “One of the managers in our People Department once said, ‘The important thing is to take the bricklayer and make him understand that he’s building a home, not just laying bricks,’” says Kelleher. “So we take the building a home approach: This is what you’re doing not only for yourself but for society: giving people who’d otherwise not be able to travel the opportunity to do so.” Kelleher inspired his team towards a greater good, adding a unique level of personality to the company that would attract customers to come.

Practice: Kelleher was not a businessman by any stretch of the imagination when he first began. His life had been played out in the courtroom as he devoted himself to his legal career. But when he finally made the decision to become an entrepreneur, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly. He used courage, ambition and lots of on-the-job learning to make up for his professional shortcomings.

Persistence: “For me, the cancer was never an issue,” says Kelleher of his battle with prostate cancer. “It was just something I had to get through, and I tried to keep my sense of humour about it.” From legal battles to the battle for his life, Kelleher refused to ever give up. He insisted on seeing his goals through to the very end.

Between 1966 and 1982, Kelleher served as the founder and lawyer for Southwest Airlines. From 1982 to 2001, he stepped up as the company’s president, CEO, and chairman. During all that time, he took a small regional upstart and grew it into one of the nation’s largest airlines. 30 consecutive years of profitability are evidence enough of his success. Now, looking back, Kelleher says, “When I start to have more time, I have thought that I might write a few things…I might write about Southwest: It would be a fascinating story; I wouldn't change a thing.”

Related Articles
  Lesson #5: You Have to Fight to Keep on Flying
  Reaching New Horizons: Southwest Airlines Takes Off
  Lesson #1: Employees are the Engine of Your Company
  Lesson #3: Personality is Power
  Lesson #2: Customer Satisfaction is Your Secret Weapon

Article Tags: aptitude test, bad apple, bricklayer, building a home, ceos, customer service agent, customers services, distinction, el paso, fate, journalist, laying bricks, place where people, profit sharing plans, railing, shareholder, southwest airlines, successful company, supreme customer service, topi



Related Forum Posts
Re: Flying Saucers: Good invention or not? Buy one in 2009 - Flying Saucers wow, I never thought I'd see the day! That is very fictional, but completely tempting, well if i had the money it definitely wouldn't hurt to own one in your...garage?
Re: How many nationalities are on the forum? - Hi there, It is amazing the languages have come into the posts. Now Jude was asked, how many languages she speaks. Please, come and tell us. I speak English, German and French. German is my mother tongue. Some thirty years ago I spoke fluently French. Now English has taken that place and I can better understand French than speaking it. English is now my daily used language. German in second place. However, I never grasped the German grammar very much. Why? The Swiss German Dialect is nothing to be compared with High German. At that time hardly anybody wrote the Dialect. Today it is the 'in thing' to write the dialect. (Letters, stories etc) But we have to be able to read High German, because every book, newspaper etc is in High German. Finally, I guess there are a few more who can vote for their nationality.
Re: Can someone explain Search engine optimization to me? - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) could be compared to a big popularity contest: A High School Computer Geek and a High School Football Captain who are trying to promote a party. The computer geek tells everyone in school & even hands out 100's of flyers about his party Friday night...what happens? his friends end up showing up and a few new people...even the new people leave right away because it is not what they are looking for. The High School Football Captain ends up just telling a few good buddies, and within hours the entire school not only knows about it, but everyone wants to come, and everyone does come & stay. One defenition of "optimize is "To make as perfect or effective as possibe." How effective are your article marketing campaigns? Could you be distributing content (that is what search engines index) more effectively? In a perfect world, who would you want promoting your website, web pages, and web content? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is determining this perfect & effective way to do this. Jeff
Re: FILL IN THE BLANK: One thing I did to grow my business today - Congrats guys! High five from the jungle cat!
Re: Are Economic Recessions Good for Franchising? - well, I can't give you any verified stats at the moment. But, it's a fact that as more and more people face layoffs they look in the direction of franchising. These are folks that need the security of a proven business model and have resources to jump into a franchise. It's a clear trend that has been witnessed in past recessions. My concern is that we are not in a simple recession... If you look at a recession as a big storm that will create some havoc and disrupt lives, then the events we're facing in the near future could be a supersized hurricane. We're heading into uncharted waters. High fuel costs, which will probably fluctuate for a while then jump again High debt loads... now in the trillions Sinking housing market... how low will it go? The US war machine is in full swing... with eyes on IRAN All of these factors are clashing to create the Perfect Storm and I don't like it one bit. I tell ya, there's a bunch of madmen at the helm. So how does this bode for franchising? jeez... I don't know... I'm gonna get myself a double scotch on the rocks. Cheers.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Join Conversations Politely, Part 1

Work at Home Moms and Their Bad Rap?

10 Reasons Your SBA Loan May Be Declined

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.