hi I’m Evan Carmichael and welcome to
another edition of modeling the masters
I believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
some model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re gonna look at how a
young lawyer who seemingly had it all
left his high paying job to venture into
the unknown and start his own business
he had to fight over 30 lawsuits to get
his company off the ground but he made
it through and eventually became one of
the most respected CEOs in America this
is a story of Southwest Airlines founder
Herb Kelleher and the top three lessons
that you can learn from his success Herb
Kelleher is a co-founder and former CEO
of Southwest Airlines after graduating
from Law School he did what every new
lawyer dreamed of he clerked for the
Supreme Court justice joined the law
firm and became a partner at a firm in
his wife’s home state of Texas he should
have been on top of the world but he was
instead 18 for a new career as an
entrepreneur one evening Kelleher was
having drinks with a client Roland King
and that night the two used a cocktail
napkin to hatch a new business Southwest
Airlines using Kelleher’s legal
experience in King’s business background
Southwest Airlines was able to run only
in Texas to avoid having to follow
federal price regulations he had found a
legal loophole and his competition
didn’t appreciate it
Keller had to fight off over 30 lawsuits
before Southwest Airlines was even able
to get a plane in the air but they
prevailed and boots dropped away from a
company with only four planes being one
of the most admired companies in America
Southwest is consistently named one of
the top five most admired corporations
in America by Fortune magazine which
also called Kelleher perhaps the best
CEO in America it’s never experienced an
in-flight fatality and continues to
enjoy growing success Southwest is also
the only airline to have over thirty
consecutive years of profit despite the
terrorist attacks of September 11 2001
which threatened the rest of the
industry in 2001 Kelleher resigned as
CEO and president of Southwest due to a
personal battle with prostate cancer
Herb Kelleher was frustrated with his
job and was brave enough to leave it all
for the unknown to start his own
business and eventually became one of
the most respected CEOs in America to
help you grow your business
here are three action items that you can
learn from Herb Kelleher action item
number one put your people first any
successful entrepreneur will tell you
how important it is to have a good team
running your business employees who are
skilled at what they do and love their
work will take you places you might only
dream about right now treat them as
people give them opportunities show them
how they’re adding value and give them
something to believe in and your
business growth will explode Kelleher
believed in the power of having
employees who loved working for his
company he paid attention to their needs
and made them feel important he also
made everyone have a share in their
businesses success Southwest implemented
the first profit sharing plan in the
airline industry in 1974 employees owned
thirteen percent of the company’s common
stock all of Southwest employees from
the genders to the pilots receive stock
options according to Kelleher I always
felt that our people came first some of
the business schools regarded that as a
conundrum they would say which comes
first your people your customers or your
shareholders and I would say it’s not a
conundrum your people come first and if
you treat them right they’ll treat the
customers right and the customers will
come back and that’ll make the
shareholders happy we’ve always tried to
be sensitive to the needs of our people
and recognize the things that are
important to them in their personal
lives at Southwest you can’t have a baby
without being recognized gaining
communications from the general office
you can’t have a death in your family
without hearing from us if you’re out
with a serious illness we’re in touch
with you once every two weeks to see how
you’re doing
we have people who’ve been retired for
ten years and we keep in touch with them
we want them to know that we value them
as individuals not just as workers so
that’s part of the esprit de corps if
you come here you’ll be happy
action item number two focus everyone on
customer service customer service is
increasingly becoming one of the most
important differentiating factors for
companies for a lot of businesses there
really isn’t all that much that is
different in the products or services
that they’re offering compared to their
competition how do you stand out while
your customers with service make them
love doing business with you so they
come back and tell their friends have
everyone on your team be as supportive
as they can towards your customers and
your marketing strategy will take care
of itself at Southwest people are
encouraged to go the extra mile and then
some to help their customers there’s the
man who had a heart attack at the
airport was in a company by Southwest
employee to the hospital the employees
stayed with the man all night and called
his wife to update her on the status
then there was a passenger who left the
airport only to find a flat tire in his
car moments later a Southwest employee
was changing it for him despite the fact
that the man informed him he’d never
flown with Southwest according to
Kelleher we have the best customer
satisfaction record based on
Transportation Department statistics of
any airline in America the fewest
complaints filed per 100 passengers
carried so you’re not just getting low
fares you’re also getting wonderful
customer service we have a people
department that’s what it deals with so
don’t call it Human Resources that
sounds like something from a Stalin
five-year plan
you know how much coal you can mine we
say everybody is a leader no matter what
your job is we want you to focus on
customer service and not just the
outside world customer service to the
inside world if employees pollute our
other people internally and they in turn
savaged people who are doing the work
outside the whole company has just
rotted action item number three hire the
right people if you’re going to have a
company that puts its people first and
gross through repeat customers and
referrals
you’re going to have to do a fantastic
job and hiring the right people know
what type of personality you need in new
hires and don’t settle until you found
the best person for the job
once you say you’re going to settle for
less than the best that’s
happens to your entire business in the
hiring process of Southwest many
applicants are made to take personality
tests in one example the vice president
of Southwest people Department was
having difficulty finding a new ramp
agent frustrated she went to kill her to
ask for advice she said she was
embarrassed as she had already
interviewed 34 candidates for the
position Kelleher told her to interview
134 people if that’s what it would take
to find the person with the right
attitude for the job according to
Kelleher we have a good many MBAs but we
look at them for attitude as well we
will hire someone with less experience
less education unless expertise than
someone who has more of those things and
has a rotten attitude because we can
train people we can teach people how to
lead we can teach people how to provide
customer service but we can’t change
their DNA when they Kelleher received a
letter from one of Southwest ramped
agent in Oklahoma they read herb I’m on
to what you’re doing you’re making work
fun and home work
so remember put your people first focus
everyone on customer service and hire
the right people to finish up this video
I wanted to share one of my favorite
true stories about Herb Kelleher and
some of his best quotes in the beginning
Southwest had just four planes and 70
employees all of the legal battles had
left the company on the verge of closing
down and forced Kelleher to make a
difficult decision he had to either sell
one of the planes or layoff some of his
employees he chose to sell the plane in
return Kelleher asked his employees to
cut gate turnaround times from 55 to
just 15 minutes they pulled it off and
Kelleher had clearly set the culture for
his business
thank you for joining me for another
edition of modeling the masters if you
liked the video and want to see more
please give it a thumbs up I’d also love
to hear your thoughts and feedback if
you want to leave a comment under the
video and stay tuned for the next
episode
you
another edition of modeling the masters
I believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
some model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re gonna look at how a
young lawyer who seemingly had it all
left his high paying job to venture into
the unknown and start his own business
he had to fight over 30 lawsuits to get
his company off the ground but he made
it through and eventually became one of
the most respected CEOs in America this
is a story of Southwest Airlines founder
Herb Kelleher and the top three lessons
that you can learn from his success Herb
Kelleher is a co-founder and former CEO
of Southwest Airlines after graduating
from Law School he did what every new
lawyer dreamed of he clerked for the
Supreme Court justice joined the law
firm and became a partner at a firm in
his wife’s home state of Texas he should
have been on top of the world but he was
instead 18 for a new career as an
entrepreneur one evening Kelleher was
having drinks with a client Roland King
and that night the two used a cocktail
napkin to hatch a new business Southwest
Airlines using Kelleher’s legal
experience in King’s business background
Southwest Airlines was able to run only
in Texas to avoid having to follow
federal price regulations he had found a
legal loophole and his competition
didn’t appreciate it
Keller had to fight off over 30 lawsuits
before Southwest Airlines was even able
to get a plane in the air but they
prevailed and boots dropped away from a
company with only four planes being one
of the most admired companies in America
Southwest is consistently named one of
the top five most admired corporations
in America by Fortune magazine which
also called Kelleher perhaps the best
CEO in America it’s never experienced an
in-flight fatality and continues to
enjoy growing success Southwest is also
the only airline to have over thirty
consecutive years of profit despite the
terrorist attacks of September 11 2001
which threatened the rest of the
industry in 2001 Kelleher resigned as
CEO and president of Southwest due to a
personal battle with prostate cancer
Herb Kelleher was frustrated with his
job and was brave enough to leave it all
for the unknown to start his own
business and eventually became one of
the most respected CEOs in America to
help you grow your business
here are three action items that you can
learn from Herb Kelleher action item
number one put your people first any
successful entrepreneur will tell you
how important it is to have a good team
running your business employees who are
skilled at what they do and love their
work will take you places you might only
dream about right now treat them as
people give them opportunities show them
how they’re adding value and give them
something to believe in and your
business growth will explode Kelleher
believed in the power of having
employees who loved working for his
company he paid attention to their needs
and made them feel important he also
made everyone have a share in their
businesses success Southwest implemented
the first profit sharing plan in the
airline industry in 1974 employees owned
thirteen percent of the company’s common
stock all of Southwest employees from
the genders to the pilots receive stock
options according to Kelleher I always
felt that our people came first some of
the business schools regarded that as a
conundrum they would say which comes
first your people your customers or your
shareholders and I would say it’s not a
conundrum your people come first and if
you treat them right they’ll treat the
customers right and the customers will
come back and that’ll make the
shareholders happy we’ve always tried to
be sensitive to the needs of our people
and recognize the things that are
important to them in their personal
lives at Southwest you can’t have a baby
without being recognized gaining
communications from the general office
you can’t have a death in your family
without hearing from us if you’re out
with a serious illness we’re in touch
with you once every two weeks to see how
you’re doing
we have people who’ve been retired for
ten years and we keep in touch with them
we want them to know that we value them
as individuals not just as workers so
that’s part of the esprit de corps if
you come here you’ll be happy
action item number two focus everyone on
customer service customer service is
increasingly becoming one of the most
important differentiating factors for
companies for a lot of businesses there
really isn’t all that much that is
different in the products or services
that they’re offering compared to their
competition how do you stand out while
your customers with service make them
love doing business with you so they
come back and tell their friends have
everyone on your team be as supportive
as they can towards your customers and
your marketing strategy will take care
of itself at Southwest people are
encouraged to go the extra mile and then
some to help their customers there’s the
man who had a heart attack at the
airport was in a company by Southwest
employee to the hospital the employees
stayed with the man all night and called
his wife to update her on the status
then there was a passenger who left the
airport only to find a flat tire in his
car moments later a Southwest employee
was changing it for him despite the fact
that the man informed him he’d never
flown with Southwest according to
Kelleher we have the best customer
satisfaction record based on
Transportation Department statistics of
any airline in America the fewest
complaints filed per 100 passengers
carried so you’re not just getting low
fares you’re also getting wonderful
customer service we have a people
department that’s what it deals with so
don’t call it Human Resources that
sounds like something from a Stalin
five-year plan
you know how much coal you can mine we
say everybody is a leader no matter what
your job is we want you to focus on
customer service and not just the
outside world customer service to the
inside world if employees pollute our
other people internally and they in turn
savaged people who are doing the work
outside the whole company has just
rotted action item number three hire the
right people if you’re going to have a
company that puts its people first and
gross through repeat customers and
referrals
you’re going to have to do a fantastic
job and hiring the right people know
what type of personality you need in new
hires and don’t settle until you found
the best person for the job
once you say you’re going to settle for
less than the best that’s
happens to your entire business in the
hiring process of Southwest many
applicants are made to take personality
tests in one example the vice president
of Southwest people Department was
having difficulty finding a new ramp
agent frustrated she went to kill her to
ask for advice she said she was
embarrassed as she had already
interviewed 34 candidates for the
position Kelleher told her to interview
134 people if that’s what it would take
to find the person with the right
attitude for the job according to
Kelleher we have a good many MBAs but we
look at them for attitude as well we
will hire someone with less experience
less education unless expertise than
someone who has more of those things and
has a rotten attitude because we can
train people we can teach people how to
lead we can teach people how to provide
customer service but we can’t change
their DNA when they Kelleher received a
letter from one of Southwest ramped
agent in Oklahoma they read herb I’m on
to what you’re doing you’re making work
fun and home work
so remember put your people first focus
everyone on customer service and hire
the right people to finish up this video
I wanted to share one of my favorite
true stories about Herb Kelleher and
some of his best quotes in the beginning
Southwest had just four planes and 70
employees all of the legal battles had
left the company on the verge of closing
down and forced Kelleher to make a
difficult decision he had to either sell
one of the planes or layoff some of his
employees he chose to sell the plane in
return Kelleher asked his employees to
cut gate turnaround times from 55 to
just 15 minutes they pulled it off and
Kelleher had clearly set the culture for
his business
thank you for joining me for another
edition of modeling the masters if you
liked the video and want to see more
please give it a thumbs up I’d also love
to hear your thoughts and feedback if
you want to leave a comment under the
video and stay tuned for the next
episode
you
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