What it takes to make money in the airline business is the consistent long-term creative conveyance of the founder\u2019s vision passion and goals. \u201cThe stock market value of fun-loving Southwest Airlines exceeds the stock market value of every other U.S. airline put together\u201d (Taylor & Labarre, 2006, p. 55). \u201cEvery CEO of Southwest Airlines has known that their first responsibility is to their people. Serve them well and they will serve the customer\u201d (Sinek, 2017, p. 285) Southwest is successful largely because of its evidential support of all of its employees. \u201cStories of Southwest airlines employee empowerment with regards to customers are the stuff of legend\u201d (Kofman, 2018, p. 147).<\/p>\n
Herb Keller, a former CEO of Southwest excels at relating. He said \u201cwe are not afraid to talk to people with emotion. We are not afraid to tell them, \u2018we love you.\u2019 Because we do\u201d (Ancona & Bresman, 2007, p. 179). \u201cIt is clear that the organization\u2019s purpose emerged from the founder, However, less apparent are the sacrifices, self-examination, and hundreds-often thousands of \u201chard rights\u201d it took to sustain the alignment between the founder\u2019s individual purpose and that of the organization\u201d (Craig, 2018, p. 229). Southwest\u2019s employees \u201cvalues are a \u2018warrior spirit\u2019 (which the airline describes as fearlessness in giving workers everything they need to support customers); a \u2018servant\u2019s heart\u2019 (treating others with respect, following the Golden Rule); and a \u2018fun-loving attitude\u201d (Kofman, 2018, p. 331).<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthwest was not built to be an airline. It was built to champion a cause. They just happened to use an airline to do it\u201d (Sinek, 2009, p. 70). Southwest clearly established the \u201cwhy, how and what\u201d of their organization. \u201cYou have to know \u2018why\u2019 you do \u2018what\u2019 you do.\u00a0 If people don\u2019t buy \u2018what\u2019 you do, they buy \u2018why\u2019 you do it, do if follows that if you don\u2019t know \u2018why\u2019 you do \u2018what\u2019 you do, how will anyone else?\u201d (Sinek, 2009, p. 65-66). When the \u2018why\u2019, is defined, the question is \u2018how\u2019 will you do it. \u201cHow are your values or principles that guide \u2018how\u2019 to bring your cause to life\u201d (Sinek, 2009, p. 66). \u201cA \u2018why\u2019 is just a belief . . . \u2018hows\u2019 are the actions you take to realize that belief. And \u2018whats\u2019 are the results of those actions\u201d (Sinek, 2009, p. 67). In the employee selection strategy the found said \u201cattitude is very important and has to weighed against experience and skills. Someone with a high IQ, who is a backbiter, is a disaster for your organization. Someone who is outgoing and altruistic and can work convivially will be a huge asset\u201d (Gallo, 2013, p. 13).<\/p>\n
The main ingredient that makes money for Southwest is that it \u201cinstituted an \u2018others first\u2019 organizational philosophy in the management of the company, which starts with how it treats its employees\u201d (Northouse, 2019, p. 238). This is by far the biggest single reason for its success.<\/p>\n
One of its \u2018competencies,\u2019 might be taken from the fact that \u201ctheir guiding principles and values stemmed directly from their why<\/em><\/span> and were more common sense than anything else\u201d (Sinek, 2009, p. 71). I emphasize, \u201cwere more common sense\u201d, as highly important. Their numerous decisions such as no in-flight meals, only two-tier pricing, no transfer flights and only one kind of airplane make common sense.<\/p>\n One of their strategies is consistency<\/em><\/span>. They do not \u2018follow the other guys.\u2019 Southwest Airlines sticks with what works. They are not \u2018into the newest thing.\u2019 To execute their strategy Southwest Airlines must clearly, consistently and repeatedly articulate their strategy to all involved or those effected<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n I believe Southwest Airline\u2019s strategies are sustainable, but if they don\u2019t change them and diligently enforce them. On the question of whether or not their strategy is imitable, my answer is sort of a ye<\/em><\/span>s <\/em>and a no<\/em><\/span>. I\u2019ll rephrase my answer. The strategy can be replicated, but it won\u2019t be. I preface my reasoning by saying I am a capitalist, I support the stock market and share pricing. The stock market won\u2019t allow a CEO to implement the very long term and expensive changes needed to \u2018copy\u2019 the strategy of Southwest. \u201cInvestors-who were passive when today\u2019s senior leaders started their careers-have turned unforgiving. (Bossidy & Charan, 2002, p. 15). In short, if earnings fall short of expectations there is serious trouble. For decades the tenure time of CEOs has been shortening.\u00a0 I believe it would take years and a great deal of money to replicate Southwest\u2019s strategy, therefore I do not believe it will ever happen.<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Ancona, D. & Bresman, H. (2007). X-Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, And Succeed<\/em>. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review.<\/p>\n Bossidy, L. & Charan, R. (2002). Execution<\/em><\/span>. New York, NY: Crown Business.<\/p>\n Craig, N. (2018). Leading <\/em><\/span>from Purpose<\/span><\/em>. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.<\/p>\n Kofman, F. (2018). The Meaning Revolution<\/em><\/span>. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.<\/p>\n Northouse, P. G. (2019).\u00a0Leadership: Theory and practice<\/em>. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<\/p>\n Sinek, S. (2009). Start <\/em><\/span>with Why<\/em><\/span>. New York, NY: Penguin.<\/p>\n Sinek, S. (2017). Leaders<\/em><\/span> Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don\u2019t<\/em>. New York, NY: Penguin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What it takes to make money in the airline business is the consistent long-term creative conveyance of the founder\u2019s vision passion and goals. \u201cThe stock market value of fun-loving Southwest Airlines exceeds the stock market value of every other U.S. airline put together\u201d (Taylor & Labarre, 2006, p. 55). \u201cEvery CEO of Southwest Airlines has … <\/p>\n