I’m re-reading “Nuts!” – the story of Southwest Airlines that came out long ago. I’m inspired and thrilled….all over again, to read of their painful beginnings and fantastic success. Along the way they forged some ideas that still seem barely noticed by many large organizations:
1) The customer isn’t “King” or #1 or Most Important: the employees are. Everything flows from the employees.
2) Love works better than fear. Having worked in both types of companies, I can attest to this. If you have my best interests at heart, and I know it, you have my devotion 6 days a week.
3) If what we’re working toward is best for the employees AND our customers, then, in the long run, we’re all gonna make money – maybe a lot of it. Here we get into profit-sharing and equity.
4) The language of “employee” & “management” is never appropriate – and simply confirms the wage-slave mentality of most organizations. That we even use these words shows how far we have to go.
5) FUN must be part of the business. Which reminds me of Bob Townsend’s line, “If you’re not here for fun & profit, what the hell are you doing here?”.
6) At the best companies they seem to work hard & play hard…the two seem to go together – have you noticed that?
7) EVERY business is in the “customer service” business – period. Southwest understood this from day one.
Any start-up, or sizable organization, could gain a lot from this tale. This is about a small band of people who took on some of the world’s biggest companies (& the Supreme Court several times) – and won. Might be the best $12.21 you ever spent at Amazon. (The guy on the Harley is Herb, their Chariman)
Servant Leadership 