do the right thing: how dedicated employees create loyal
TRANSCRIPT
DOTHE
RIGHTTHING
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DOTHE
RIGHTTHING
How Dedicated Employees Create Loyal
Customers and Large Profits
JAMES F. PARKER
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parker, James F. (James Francis), 1947-
Do the right thing : how dedicated employees create loyal customers and large profits /James F. Parker.
p. cm.ISBN-13: 978-0-13-234334-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Southwest Airlines Co.—
Management. 2. Airlines—United States—Management 3. Customer relations—UnitedStates. 4. Customer services—United States. I. Title.
HE9803.S68P37 2008387.7068’3—dc22
2007018393
Editor: Yoram (Jerry) Wind
Publishing as Prentice Hall
Prentice Hall offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quanti-
To my mom, who taught me, “You’ll catch moreflies with honey than with vinegar.”
And to my dad, who sat outside on the steps withthe black soldiers who were not allowed to eatat the inside lunch counter during the long bus
ride home to Texas after World War II.
Thanks for teaching me todo the right thing.
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vii
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Stumbling into the Business World . . . 5
Chapter 2 9/11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 3 The Question Was Answered… . . . . . 17
Chapter 4 …But I Don’t Want to Be aCorporate Bureaucrat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 5 Getting Off the Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 6 The Ten-Minute Turnaround . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 7 The Great Texas Whiskey War . . . . . . 47
Chapter 8 I Just Couldn’t Resist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 9 Some of the Obvious ThingsI Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 10 We’re in What Kind of Business? . . . 65
Chapter 11 With a Little Help from OurCompetitors… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 12 Leaders Are Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 13 Great Organizations Have GreatLeaders at Every Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 14 In Case You Didn’t Get It… GreatOrganizations Have Great Leadersat Every Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 15 Great Leaders Make the PeopleAround Them Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Chapter 16 People Recognize a Phony . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter 17 People Follow a LeaderThey Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Chapter 18 Who Wants the “Best” People? . . . . 105
Chapter 19 Looking for the Right People . . . . . . 109
Chapter 20 Interview for Attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 21 Attitudes Also Matter at30,000 Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Chapter 22 Everybody Remembers TheirInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chapter 23 Every Job Affects Others . . . . . . . . . . 131
Chapter 24 People Need to Understand TheirMission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 25 Shared Goals, Shared Knowledge,and Mutual Respect = A SharedMission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Chapter 26 Do People Think Like Employeesor Owners? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 27 Making Employees Owners . . . . . . . 155
Chapter 28 A Sense of Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 29 Make Work Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
viii Do the Right Thing
Chapter 30 Build a Customer ServiceCulture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Chapter 31 Everything He Did Was So I CouldCome to Work… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 32 Fun Can Have a Purpose . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 33 Celebrate Success andAchievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter 34 Creating Entrepreneurs . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter 35 Encourage UnconventionalThinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Chapter 36 Suggestion Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 37 Many Roads Lead to thePromised Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 38 Define the Right Goals and GivePeople Room to Succeed . . . . . . . . . . 215
Chapter 39 The Two-Minute Drill . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Chapter 40 Give People Something to BelieveIn—Define a Grand Mission . . . . . . . 225
Chapter 41 Create a Culture in Which PeopleWant to Do the Right Things . . . . . . 229
Chapter 42 It’s a Family Affair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Chapter 43 The Tactics of Success May Vary,but the Principles Are Constant . . . . 239
Chapter 44 Be Yourself and Have Some Fun . . . 247
Chapter 45 It’s a Round World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
ixContents
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Acknowledgments
When people ask me what I am doing thesedays, since I retired as CEO of SouthwestAirlines, I like to tell them that I am trying to
avoid work, and it is a full-time job. I guess writing abook should qualify as work, but thanks to the out-standing publishing team at Pearson Education, it wasa labor of joy.
I want to express my sincere appreciation to SeniorEditor Jennifer Simon for her role in shepherding thisfirst time author through the labyrinthine process ofturning thoughts and stories into a book, toDevelopment Editor Russ Hall for helping me find myown voice as an author, to Associate Publisher AmyNeidlinger for her insightful suggestions, and to AnneGoebel and Krista Hansing for their prompt and bene-ficial refinements of the manuscript. Special thanks goto Publisher Tim Moore, for believing that I had some-thing worthwhile to say, and to author BarryRosenberg, who initially suggested that I might have abook in me.
The book would not have been possible without theassistance of my longtime executive assistant, MarilynStrickland, who understands the marvels of moderntechnology better than I ever will. Thanks for the week-ends and evenings you spent on this project, Marilyn.Thanks also to the two good friends who reviewed themanuscript and shared their insights and comments.
Of course, I must also thank the people of SouthwestAirlines, who started with a dream and turned it into anairline that changed the world. Thanks for being myinspiration, and for allowing me to be part of your teamfor 25 wonderful years.
My greatest debt of gratitude goes to my wife andfriend, Pat. Thank you for your patience, love, andstrength—and for our two wonderful children, Jamesand Jennifer.
About the Author
James Parker is a lawyer by trade, having receivedboth his undergraduate and law degrees from TheUniversity of Texas. After serving as law clerk to a
federal judge and as an assistant attorney general ofTexas, Jim joined the San Antonio law firm ofOppenheimer, Rosenberg, Kelleher, and Wheatley. Asluck would have it, one of the cofounders of that lawfirm, Herb Kelleher, also cofounded a small Texas air-line called Southwest, and Jim soon stumbled into theairline industry. After serving as outside counsel forSouthwest for 7 years, Jim became General Counsel for15 years and ultimately served as Southwest Airlines’CEO for 3 years, including the period of the 9/11 terror-ist attack and its aftermath.
During Jim’s tenure as CEO, Southwest was theonly major airline to remain profitable after 9/11. Italso became the largest domestic airline in the UnitedStates in terms of passenger enplanements, and its mar-ket capitalization (the value of its outstanding stock)exceeded that of all other U.S. airlines combined.Southwest was named as the most admired airline andone of the three most admired companies in America byFortune magazine, Airline of the Year by Air TransportWorld magazine, and one of the World’s Most SociallyResponsible Companies by Global Finance magazine.Jim was also named co-CEO of the Year in 2001 by
Morningstar.com and was named to InstitutionalInvestor’s list of Best CEOs in America in 2004.
Jim’s proudest accomplishment, however, comesfrom the fact that Southwest Airlines was able to pro-tect the jobs of all of its employees, with no furloughsor pay cuts in the aftermath of 9/11, while also remain-ing profitable every year and, in fact, every quarter dur-ing his tenure as CEO. Jim is presently retired from theairline industry and serves on the board of directors ofthe successful Texas Roadhouse restaurant company.He also serves on the Advisory Council for the MITLeadership Center. This is his first book.
Most people have a passion for success and cre-ative self expression somewhere deep insidethem. They want to be part of something
meaningful, to make a contribution, and to find fulfill-ment in what they do. Sadly, these yearnings are oftenmanaged out of people in the unrelenting quest for pre-dictable mediocrity that most organizations pursue.People are seldom encouraged to be themselves, havefun, or seek fulfillment in their jobs. Instead, they arepushed to just do their jobs, meet their quotas, and notmake waves. Think outside the box? Proceed at yourown peril.
A lot of companies say their employees are theirmost important asset, but they don’t really mean it. Thetruth is, they treat employees as depreciable assets, to beused up and then discarded. This is the root cause of theculture of conflict that infects many major corporationstoday.
You can see the results in any customer service busi-ness. When you ask for help at the drug store or hard-ware store, does the person you ask groan because you
1
Introduction
interrupted his other duties, or does he cheerfully walkyou over to the proper aisle and start telling you aboutthe products you could choose? When the cable guyshows up at your house, does he really care about yourbusiness, or does he spend most of his time telling youhow lousy the cable company is and that you ought toget satellite?
The truth is that employees who love their jobs willcause customers to love their company. Employees whohate their jobs will make customers hate the company.Quite simply, people who enjoy their work do a betterjob than people who don’t. And it doesn’t necessarilyrelate to how much they are paid. From the shop floorto the executive suite, it can fairly be said that the mosthighly paid people in their professions often do theworst jobs.
The ultimate success of any organization requiresconsistently excellent performance at every level.Vibrant and successful organizations are not built on afeeling of detachment by employees. Rather, they arebuilt on a culture of engagement, in which employeesbelieve in the mission they are trying to accomplish andknow that they are contributing to its success. Peoplewho are given the room to succeed usually will.
For 25 years, I had the opportunity to be associatedwith such a vibrant and successful organization, as out-side counsel, then as General Counsel, and finally forthree years as CEO of Southwest Airlines. To be sure, Iwas always thrilled to accept the many honors that werebestowed on our company—Airline of the Year, one ofthe three most admired companies in America, co-CEOof the year, one of the world’s most socially responsible
2 Do the Right Thing
companies, and so forth. But I never deluded myselfinto thinking that I had much to do with it. I knew thehonors really belonged to our people, who showed theirdedication and spirit every day. In fact, in our writtencommunications at Southwest Airlines, we always capi-talized the E in Employees, the C in Customers, and theS in Shareholders, to help us remember why we were inbusiness. As the guardian of our corporate culture,President Colleen Barrett was certain to correct any-body who did not show the proper respect for any ofthese three constituencies in their writing or otherwise.
To those who are looking for a definitive history ofSouthwest Airlines; or a critical commentary on the bril-liant leadership of the company’s legendary cofounder,Herb Kelleher; or what the airline’s business strategyshould be from here, this is not your book. Of course,no book that touches on Southwest Airlines can avoidsome of the rich stories from its colorful past, or somemention of Herb, but this book is not really aboutSouthwest Airlines. Rather, it is about some of the les-sons I learned from working with the people ofSouthwest Airlines for more than 25 years—mostlyfrontline workers and employees, whose deeds trulydefined the culture for which Southwest Airlinesbecame famous.
The overriding lesson I learned doesn’t involve a lotof management guru buzzwords and acronyms. It is thesimplest of principles, which we learned from child-hood: When in doubt, just do the right thing. It is still apretty good rule for doing business, dealing with peo-ple, and building successful organizations.
3Introduction
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Shortly after the public announcement that I wouldbecome Southwest Airlines’ new CEO in June of2001, I was on one of our planes, flying from San
Antonio to Dallas. Once we were in the air and theflight attendants had finished serving their first round ofrefreshments (yes, you can expect more than one roundon Southwest, even on a 55-minute flight), each of theflight attendants stopped by my seat to chat for amoment and wish me well.
The fellow next to me, who looked like a West Texascowboy, took note of the flight attendants’ comments.After the flight attendants resumed serving and bondingwith other customers, the cowboy looked up from hisnewspaper and asked why the flight attendants allseemed to know me so well.
“Oh, I work at Southwest,” I said. “We’re just kindof like family.”
“I figured that out,” he said. “What do you dothere?”
5
Chapter 1
Stumbling into theBusiness World
“Well, I’ve been the General Counsel for 15 years,but I just got a promotion.”
Now the cowboy curiously looked me over. “You’rethat guy whose picture was in the paper.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid it was in so many papers that myson and daughter want to know if they’ll ever be able topick up a newspaper without seeing a story about theirfather in it.”
As I chatted with the cowboy, he filled me in onsome of his experiences flying Southwest Airlines. Itturned out that he was actually a lawyer from Amarillowho had been flying Southwest for all of the years it hadbeen serving that city. He told me how Southwest hadrevolutionized his law practice. Suddenly, Amarillo wasno longer just an isolated energy and farming town inthe Texas Panhandle. He could practice law anywherein Texas now. He could appear in court in Dallas in themorning, meet a client for lunch in Houston, and attenda State Bar function in Austin in the afternoon—andstill get home to sleep in his own bed that night. Besides,he said, flying Southwest was fun. The flights were usu-ally on time, the service was great, the planes wereclean, and, best of all, the employees always seemedhappy and cheerful. He hated it when he had to flysomeplace Southwest didn’t go.
Needless to say, this was all music to my ears, and Itook in every word of it. The flight seemed all too shortas we made a typical Southwest landing (touch theground, hit the brakes, push up the thrust reverser, andget to the gate early). As the passengers stepped into theaisle and began to gather their belongings, the cowboy
6 Do the Right Thing
reached into the overhead bin and pulled out hisStetson. He turned to me with a look reflecting an inten-tion to give me some serious advice, and he did.
“You’ve got a hell of a good airline here,” he said.“Don’t screw it up.”
It was a fair comment. As Southwest won customersatisfaction awards time after time, while making con-sistent profits, researchers and competitors wonderedhow we did it. People had fun working at Southwest yetworked as hard and efficiently as any group of employ-ees anywhere. Customers loved the airline, and share-holders appreciated the consistent profits. It’s like thecompany had some “secret sauce” that no other com-pany possessed.
Perhaps there is a grain of truth there. While it maybe no secret, there are elements of corporate culture Ibelieve in that are less than obvious. There is no hardformula or mystic process, but there is an honest, no-nonsense way of encouraging leadership up and downthe ranks, of respecting each other and sharing humaninterests, and of hiring and nurturing that leads to akind of corporate DNA many businesses would like topossess. There is no single pat (or secret) answer, but I’llbe glad to share some of the aspects with you.
As a matter of fact, I’ll try to tell you the whole darnstory, so you might as well grab your favorite refresh-ment and settle in. As you will see, refreshments do playa role in the history of Southwest Airlines. In fact, leg-end has it that the idea for Southwest was hatched on acocktail napkin. Our story will show that there is oftensome serendipity and good fortune to the way certain
7Stumbling into the Business World
people handle a crisis or adversity, and some folks man-age to do it with a smile. While there is no single for-mula for success, the goal of this book is to share a fewexperiences that might be useful, or at least interesting,for people at all levels of any organization.
So here goes. Everything I’m about to tell you ispretty much true.
8 Do the Right Thing
255
I n d e x
ATA Airlines, 204attitude, importance of,
109-114. See alsocorporate culture
in hiring process for pilots(Southwest Airlines),121-126
in interviewing job candidates, 115-119
awards programs, 187-188, 230
BBarrett, Colleen, 3, 12, 18,
30, 252benefits package. See
compensationBethune, Gordon, 67Boeing 737, 56brand value, 71-72Braniff
bankruptcy of, 52competition with Southwest
Airlines, 39, 47origins of Southwest
Airlines and, 35-38price wars with Southwest
Airlines, 47-52
AAckerman, Debby, 177Air California, 201Airline Deregulation Act
of 1978, 30, 53airline industry
as commodity business, 65-69
deregulation, 30, 53economic impact of
September 11 terroristattacks, 17-28
history of, 9-11Southwest Airlines, origins
of, 33-38ticketless travel, history of,
199-205Ambrose, Stephen, 103America West, 26American Airlines, 200
corporate culture, 139-140,144-145
interrelationships of jobfunctions, 135-141
Ancona, Deborah, 89appreciation of good work,
187-188
256 Index
Bullington, J. D., 252bureaucracy, 29-30, 189-190Bush, George H. W., 76Bush, George W., 76business ethics. See ethicsbusiness model for Southwest
Airlines, 65-69
CCEOs, public perception of,
73-79Civil Aeronautics Board,
33, 36coaching analogy (leadership),
219-223commodity business, airline
industry as, 65-69compensation
role in hiring, 111-114stock options, 155-162
competitive advantage ofSouthwest Airlines,71-72
Continental Airlines, 67, 200Continental Lite, 200corporate culture. See also
attitude; missionstatements
customer service culture,building, 173-175
ethics in, 229-232inclusion of employees’
families in, 233-238Southwest Airlines versus
American Airlines, 139-140, 144-145
corporate missioncommitment to, 143-149
American Airlines example, 135-141
employee ownership of,151-154
leadership and, 79-81creative thinking,
encouraging, 197-208culture. See corporate culturecustomer satisfaction
as measure of success, 211in Southwest Airlines, 5, 8
customer serviceappreciation for good work,
187-188Dell example, 215-218principles versus tactics,
239-245Round World Theory,
251-254customer service business,
Southwest Airlines as,65-69
customer service culture,building, 173-175
customers (of SouthwestAirlines), responseafter September 11terrorist attacks, 23-25
DD-Day leadership analogy,
83-88debt level of Southwest
Airlines, 61-62
257Index
decisions, as exercise of judgement, 209-214
dedication. See pride ofemployees
Dell example, measuring success, 215-218
Dell, Michael, 215-218Delta, 200Denison, John, 185, 203deregulation, 30, 53distributed leadership, 89-91Dubinsky, Rick, 160
Eeconomic impact of
September 11 terrorist attacks, 17-28
efficiency of SouthwestAirlines, 39-46, 57
Eisenhower, Dwight, 84-85,101-103
employee recognition programs, 187-188
employees. See also employees(of SouthwestAirlines); employees(of United Airlines)
customer service culture,building, 173-175
encouraging creative thinking, 197-208
enjoyment of work, 169-172
exercising judgement of,209-214
families of, inclusion incompany culture, 233-238
Round World Theory, 251-254
sense of ownership in company, 163-168
employees (of SouthwestAirlines)
enjoyment of work, purposebehind, 181-185
hiring practices, 106, 109-114
for pilots, 121-126importance of, 3interrelationships of job
functions, 131-133lawyer hiring example,
177-180ownership of company,
155-157pride in their work,
151-154recognition for work,
187-188response after September 11
terrorist attacks, 25-28teamwork and efficiency of,
40-46thinking like entrepreneurs,
189-195employees (of United
Airlines), ownershipof company, 157-162
enjoyment of work, 169-172attaining leadership,
247-249purpose behind, 181-185
258 Index
Enron Corporation, 75-78entrepreneurs, thinking like,
189-195ethics, in corporate culture,
229-232expectations, conveying
during job interview,127-130
experience, role in hiring,110-111
Ffamilies of employees,
inclusion in companyculture, 233-238
fare structure changes atSouthwest Airlines,47-52
Fastow, Andrew, 77Financial Accounting
Standards Board, 229flight, history of, 9-11Franklin, Bill, 40-42front line leadership,
importance of, 80-81,89-91
Frontier Airlines, 201fun. See enjoyment of work
G–HGates, Bill, 74Gittell, Jody Hoffer, 138,
143, 149goals. See measuring successGolden Rule, 251-254Golden, Mike, 202-205Goodwin, Jim, 162
Halloween celebrations atSouthwest Airlines,183-185
Hart, G. J., 243Health South, 78hiring practices, 105-107
interviewing job candidates,115-119
expectations conveyedduring, 127-130
lawyer hiring example, 177-180
at Southwest Airlines, 109-114
for pilots, 121-126history
of airline industry, 9-11of Southwest Airlines,
33-38of ticketless travel, 199-205
Hitler, Adolph, 84, 87-88Howdy’s, 181, 183hub-and-spoke route system,
58-60Huntsman, Jon, 232
I–Jinterrelationships of job
functions, 131-133,143-149
American Airlines example,135-141
interviewing job candidates,115-119
expectations conveyed during, 127-130
JetBlue Airlines, 203
259Index
job functions, interrelation-ships of, 131-133,143-149
American Airlines example,135-141
job interviews. See interview-ing job candidates
jobs, missions versus, 225judgment, exercising, 209-214
K–LKelleher, Herb, 3, 22, 27,
30-35, 54, 74, 204King, Martin Luther, 180King, Rollin, 34-35Knight, Bobby, 220Kozlowski, Dennis, 78Kraft, Bob, 167Krzyzewski, Mike, 220
Lasorda, Tommy, 93lawyer hiring example,
177-180Lay, Ken, 76-77leadership
attaining, 247-249avoiding phoniness in,
97-99coaching analogy, 219-223definition of, 222distributed leadership,
89-91Eisenhower example,
101-103importance of, 73-81qualities of, 93-96World War II analogy,
83-88
litigation, in origins ofSouthwest Airlines,35-38
MMalone, Tom, 213McCartney, Scott, 143, 145measuring success, 209-214
Dell example, 215-218Midway Airlines, 19, 201Miller, Wilbur K., 38mission statements, 225-227.
See also corporatemission
missions, jobs versus, 225Montgomery, Bob, 195Morris Air, 203Muse, Lamar, 37, 51
N–ONeel, Debbie, 177Neeleman, David, 203New England Patriots, 167Normandy invasion leader-
ship analogy, 83-88Northwest Airlines, 200
on time performance, asmeasure of success, 211
operational excellence of Southwest Airlines, 62
Oppenheimer, David, 177Oppenheimer, Rosenberg,
Kelleher & Wheatleylaw firm, 31, 177
organizational culture. Seecorporate culture
260 Index
origins. See historyOrtiz, Steve, 234-235, 243ownership
of corporate mission, 151-154
by employeesSouthwest Airlines,
155-157United Airlines, 157-162
employees’ sense of, 163-168
Ozark Airlines, 201, 253
Pparties at work, purpose of,
181-185past conduct, questions
about during jobinterviews, 116
people. See also employeesenjoyment of work,
169-172purpose behind, 181-185
hiring practices, 105-107at Southwest Airlines,
109-114interviewing job
candidates, 115-119,127-130
pride in their work, 151-154
performance, interrelation-ships of job functions, 131-133,143-149
American Airlines example,135-141
phoniness in leadership,avoiding, 97-99
Piedmont Airlines, 201pilots, hiring process at
Southwest Airlines,121-126
point-to-point route system,58-60
price, as part of value, 71-72price wars, Southwest Airlines
versus Braniff, 47-52pride of employees, 151-154principles, tactics versus, 233,
239-245profit-sharing plans, 155-156profitability, as measure of
success, 210PSA (California intrastate
airline), 34, 201
Q–Rqualities of leadership, 93-96quality, as part of value,
71-72
Ramirez, Pete, 32recognition for good work,
187-188relational coordination, 139,
143, 149respect, in leadership, 95-99Ricks, Ron, 182, 185Rommel, Erwin, 88Roosevelt, Franklin D., 84Roosevelt, Theodore Jr., 86Round World Theory,
251-254
261Index
route systems, hub-and-spokeversus point-to-point,58-60
rules, ethics and, 229-230Rundstedt, Karl R. G. von, 88Ruppel, Jim, 18, 187
Ssafety record, as measure of
success, 211salary. See compensationSarbanes-Oxley Act, 229September 11 terrorist
attacks, 9-15economic impact of, 17-28
shareholders (of SouthwestAirlines), responseafter September 11terrorist attacks, 25
silo mentality, 209simplicity of Southwest
Airlines, 60-61Skilling, Jeff, 77Southwest Airlines. See also
employees (ofSouthwest Airlines)
Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, effect of, 30
awards of, 230brand value, 71-72business model, 65-69corporate culture, American
Airlines culture versus,139-140, 144-145
customer satisfaction, 5, 8debt level of, 61-62
economic impact ofSeptember 11 terroristattacks, 17-28
efficiency and teamwork of,39-46, 57
employee ownership, 155-157
employees’ sense of ownership, 166-168
encouraging creative thinking, 199-205
enjoyment of work, purposebehind, 181-185
ethics of, 229exercising judgment,
212-214fare structure changes,
47-52hiring practices, 109-114
lawyer hiring example,177-180
for pilots, 121-126honors for, 2inclusion of employees’
families in companyculture, 236-238
keys to success, 55-63mission statement, 225-227operational excellence
of, 62origins of, 33-38people, importance of, 3point-to-point route system,
58-60principles versus tactics,
244-245Round World Theory,
251-254
262 Index
during September 11 terrorist attacks, 11-15
simplicity of, 60-61The Southwest Airlines Way
(Gittell), 138Spears, Dave, 191-195sports analogy (leadership),
219-223stability in business, 29-30stock options, 155-162success
measuring, 209-214Dell example, 215-218
of Southwest Airlines, keysto, 55-63
suggestion boxes, 207-208Summitt, Pat, 220
Ttactics, principles versus, 233,
239-245Taylor, Kent, 233, 242-243teamwork
importance of, 143-149sense of ownership and,
163-168of Southwest Airlines,
39-46, 57terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001,9-15
economic impact of, 17-28Texas Aeronautics
Commission, 35Texas International Airlines
competition with SouthwestAirlines, 39, 47
conviction for antitrust violations, 52
origins of SouthwestAirlines and, 33-38
Texas Roadhouse, 233-236principles versus tactics,
239-244The Three Amigos (film), 185ticketless travel, history of,
199-205Ticketmaster, 180trust, in leadership, 95-103TWA, 200two-minute drill analogy
(leadership), 219-223Tyco, 78
U–Vunconventional thinking,
encouraging, 197-208United Airlines, 200
employee ownership, 157-162
United Shuttle, 200US Airways, 161, 200
value, as price and qualitycombination, 71-72
The Victors—Eisenhower andHis Boys: The Men ofWorld War II(Ambrose), 103
von Luck, Hans, 88
W–ZWalton, Sam, 75Welch, Jack, 74Western Airlines, 201
263Index
whistleblowerprotections, 229
Williams, Ted, 93Wilson, Charles E., 30wind tunnels, invention of, 10Winners Never Cheat
(Huntsman), 232Woodruff, Paul, 230, 232work
enjoyment of, 169-172attaining leadership,
247-249purpose behind, 181-185
recognition for, 187-188World War II leadership
analogy, 83-88Worldcom, 78Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 9