How Southwest Airlines built its culture | Herb Kelleher | WOBI

>> [MUSIC] Turning to a
few specific thoughts with

respect to creating
a people empowered,

energetic, and fun loving
business environment.

Visibly display your
humanistic philosophy and

your focus on people
all over your company.

If it's public, you have
to dedicate yourself to

it or be known as a
felony and a hypocrite.

Orient your mission
statement in terms of how

you want to treat your internal
and external customers.

That makes it both
meaningful and eternal.

I laughed when a consultancy
came to us and said,

that we will help you draw
up your mission statement.

I said well, my God,

if we can't draw up our
own mission statement,

I think we ought to fold
this and go out of business.

[LAUGHTER] You think we don't
know what our mission is?

Never approached
by several people

from outside that said,

you've had your
mission statement for

a long time and it will
help you refresh it.

We said, well, that's
like saying that

Deuteronomy in Ecclesiastes
have been around

for a long time and

will refresh them and
bring them up to date

[LAUGHTER] because if you
focus on your people,

your mission
statement is eternal.

Describe what you're
looking for in new hires.

It's amazing how many
people don't do that.

They're just filling slots
as they come open and

frequently refresh
your recruiters and

your interviewers as
to those criteria.

For instance, at
Southwest Airlines,

only by way of exemplar,

we're seeking new hires with

a warrior spirit of
servant's heart,

and a fun-loving attitude.

Hire for attitude,

train for skills and look for

leadership capability in
every potential employee.

Bad attitudes
metastasize throughout

your organization no matter
where they're located.

We will take a person with

a positive attitude and
lesser education, experience,

and expertise over someone

who has all those attributes
but has a very bad attitude.

Use model employees in
the hiring process.

Who knows better, whom to
hire than your best people.

Give your personnel department

veto power over all new hires

in every department based on
its appraisal of attitude.

As an acquaintance of mine,

puts it succinctly,

and I really mean this on
the walls of this company,

no assholes need apply.

[LAUGHTER] I'm not kidding you.

He was interviewed on CNBC,

I think it was and
they had to blur out

all the signs around

this office seat because
it says no assholes.

[LAUGHTER] That's why
I've never been allowed

to visit his officers.

[LAUGHTER] When hiring in

substantial numbers for
a given department,

start with group,

not individual interviews to

determine how people react
to and with other people.

That's the point. We asked
people, for instance,

how did you use humor to

extricate yourself from an
embarrassing situation?

You hear some of the dampest
stories you've ever heard.

[LAUGHTER] What
people don't realize

is when they're in that process,

that we're not paying

total attention to the person

that's answering the question.

We're looking at the other
people in the group,

seeing how they respond
to the presenter.

Because we want to see whether

they're absorbed in
their own navels,

no matter how pretty and
lint free they might be,

[LAUGHTER] or whether they
are really supporting

the person that's up
there under fire.

Have some top officers
address all new hire classes.

That shows how important
the new hires are.

Also intensively and
personally review

new higher attitude and

performance during the
probationary period.

In our opinion, the
dominant themes of

all training should
be leadership.

Everyone is a leader by example,

leadership and customer service.

Everyone including

the finance and legal
departments has customers,

internal, and/or external.

The general office is basically

only the supply core for
the troops in the field.

They're servant,
not their master.

Provide guidelines
only, not rules.

The golden rule is the
fundamental guideline and

give your employees
the flexibility to

make decisions on the spot.

I got a letter from a

probationary employee
as an example,

in Baltimore and because
of winter weather,

we couldn't fly from
Baltimore to isolate

the MacArthur Airport
on Long Island.

Now you understand she'd
only been there four months.

She went out and rented
five buses on her

own and bused the passengers

from Baltimore to Long Island.

Then she wrote me and she said,

I hope you really
believe what you say.

[LAUGHTER] So we gave her

an award for

her initiative and her
bravery. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC]