"Twenty-five years ago, Herb Kelleher reinvented air travel when he founded Southwest Airlines, where the planes are painted like killer whales, a typical company maxim is "Hire people with a sense of humor," and in-flight meals are never served - just sixty million bags of peanuts a year. By sidestepping "reengineering," "total quality management," and other management philosophies and employing its own brand of business success, Kelleher's airline has turned a profit for twenty-four consecutive years and seen its stock soar 300 percent since 1990.
Today, Southwest is the safest airline in the world and ranks number one in the industry for service, on-time performance, and lowest employee turnover rate; and Fortune magazine has twice ranked Southwest one of the ten best companies to work for in America. How do they do it?
With unlimited access to the people and inside documents of Southwest Airlines, authors Kevin and Jackie Freiberg share the secretss behind the greatests success story in commercial aviation. Read it and discover how to transfer Southwest inspiration to your own business and personal life."
I purchased this book awhile back because I was interested in their business model. While it was written in 1996 and it claimed Southwest to be the most successful airline in America, I do this it's still true, but I imagine much more could've been said about the airline industry since 9/11. I'd be interested to know what a more recent addition of this book would look like.
I did like this book, which was compiled based on many, many interviews, publications and stories written about Southwest. They do truly have an awesome business model, one that rocks, especially by today's standards. (Is it just me or is customer service seriously lacking these days?)
I dog-eared I don't know how many pages with quotes and business ideas that I liked and wanted to remember. I'll share a few of those with you - maybe some of you book bloggers out there are also interested in business reading :)
p. 27 "The warrior mentality, the very fight to survive, is truly what created our culture." (I couldn't have picked a better time to read this quote, what with the economy and all.)
p.34 "...Most of us had no idea that we couldn't do this, so we just did it." Reinventing the wheel. You do what you have to in order to survive.
p. 61 "...history shows that those who forget their purpose and step outside their niche have a tendency to fail."
p. 63 "Success in a nutshell: 1. Live within your budget. 2. Manage in good times for bad times. 3. Deline your own targets. Don't settle for conventional standards; create your own. 4. Keep things simple. Streamline your systems and your life. 5. Bigger isn't always better. Don't confuse market share with profitability. 6. At the peak of success, look for things you can do even better. 7. Be humbe: success is hardly ever at your own doing and rarely irreversible." (I believe in all these things! Sometimes I don't abide by these rules but when I'm reading and they hit me smack upside the head, it's just because I need to be reminded.)
p. 111 "Success in a nutshell: 1. Think like an owner - about your job and your life. Owners focus on results regardless of who's watching. 2. Don't act like a victim. Believe you can make a difference in everything you do. 3. Put your turst in others. It tells them they are trustworthy and they will act accordingly. 4. Show your people what you think they're worth. 5. Negotiate with an abundance mentality. 6. Make your organizational and personal mission, vision, and values clear - then hold the reins loosely. 7. Practice the Golden Rule. Do what you expect and want others to do."
p. 113 "People who are curious listen more attentively, ask more questions, and display a genuine interest in what others know. They suspend judgment until they have a firm grasp on the issues they are trying to understand. They listen to gain information, not to validate or confirm their own ideas."
p. 141 "Ask yourself how you can do it before you ask others how it's been done." (I try to do this at work all the time. Most of the entire office has been at my employer for more than 10 years, and they all have their own ways of accomplishing tasks. Since I know none of these ways, I'm constantly trying to figure out my own ways before I have to ask.)
p. 164 " Leaders create cultures, but cultures, in turn, create their next generations of leaders." (I love this quote; probably because I am surrounded by leadership through work, and partly because I'm always observing the cultures of other workplaces.)
p. 177 "To deny our need to celebrate is to deny a part of what it means to be human."
There is so much of this book that is genuinely good, and can be applied to personal life and not just business life. I think if we all take a little bit of advice in our personal lives, our business lives will grow.
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