Flying to DEMO in Palm Desert with a client. Instead of thinking about the conference and what I will see and who I will meet – I’m wondering, “why doesn’t Southwest fly Philly to Palm Springs?” Really. Because it makes a difference to me. Hmmmm…
Have you ever wondered why Southwest is such a leader in its field?
Perhaps it’s because it offers superior airplanes or it could be because of their hiring process which selects only the very top of the class from the top universities? Or maybe their pilots are better trained or it might be that they use better airport facilities?
Clearly for anyone who has flown Southwest, it is none of the above and in fact it sometimes can be hard to pinpoint what it is about Southwest that makes frequent flyers into raving fans.
Could it be more subtle things like the smile at check out? Is it the simple queuing process by which you line up to get on board? This is done in a very democratic “first come first serve basis”. Or could it be that they will let you pick your favorite seat? Because if I’m at least somewhere before B-50, I have a shot at getting a coveted aisle space. Is it the fact that occasionally, but not always, the flight attendants make sincere and effective stabs at humor?
From a business model point of view- as has been covered in many business journals – is it as simple as treating employees really well? Kindness motivates employees to treat customers well and maybe it is as simple as that. The overall sense from a value delivery point of view – or value creation from the customer’s point of view – is that taken together, all the little pieces make one big puzzle that fits together and works well.
United could not make ‘TED‘ work and Delta likewise could not make their ‘Song‘ work – even with superior resources at the time – because they were imitations or “shadows” of the real thing. They lacked the “heart” of the real thing and so therein lies the crux of the matter.
The heart of the organization – that which matters top to bottom to everyone in a company – is what will come out as an emergent property of its own. That is, a property that is hard to put your finger on, hard to describe, however, one that is palpable and real to customers. The lesson here for companies big and small is the absolute need to think through the subtleties and even the smallest things you do to enhance even the smallest interactions with customers.
This would be a step in the right direction.
The bigger point with Southwest and their competitors is that simply trying to copy the little things can leave you with but a shadow – as in United and Delta’s case – of the real thing. The real thing has got to be the heart thing – the heart thing means… do you really care about your customers in a way that they can understand? You see, by having that missional vision of what you want customers to take away from interacting with you -as first and foremost on your mind- you are able to look at all the moving parts of your service or your product and challenge it against that vision.
Southwest lives out of their “luv” 
always asking, “How do we love you? Let us count the ways…”. Corny? As a flyer who only flies Southwest if it is going where I need to go – it’s very real and very true.
How about your company? Are you transmitting what you think about your customers in ways, big and small?
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As Jose points out, ‘the Heart Thing’ at Southwest Airlines is part of the formula that generates loyal customers. But he points to a far more important distinction of this property when he mentions that ‘kindness motivates employees to treat customers well’.
In a related tale which has gone unnoticed by modern business leadership programs, ‘the Heart Thing’ at Southwest Airlines was preceded by a culture of ‘service and hospitality from the heart’ at Delta Air Lines for 60 years. Before Herb Kellaher founded Southwest Airlines and began spreading ‘LUV’ in the early 1970’s, C.E. Woolman founded Delta Air Service in 1929, and began spreading ‘service and hospitality from the heart’.
C.E. Woolman was the iconic air line executive of his day. As the founder of today’s Delta Air Lines, he led the air carrier from 1929 until his passing in 1966. Where Southwest’s Mr. Kellaher is known for his tenacious initiative, underdog spirit, and charisma, Mr. Woolman was known for his selfless sense of duty and stewardship toward his company and its employees. Just as Mr. Kellaher’s leadership style was woven into every thread of Southwest’s cultural fabric, so was Mr. Woolmans at Delta. Although Woolman passed away in 1966 while serving as Chairman and CEO, it is largely accepted among Delta employees that his legacy of selfless duty and stewardship lived on at the company until the early 1990’s.
The tale of how Delta lost ‘the Heart Thing’ – and has been fighting ever since to get it back – is a story of a corporate life-cycle which bears consideration by executive leaders across all service industries. Examining how it was lost will lead the inquirer on a path that begins with a culture of responsible stewardship and accountability by company founders, but degrades through a void of leadership by subsequent executive officers into a culture of divisive entitlement and mistrust among executives and employee groups. (A primer on the original Delta culture and a timeline of the events leading to its demise may be viewed at http://velocity1llc.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/dal-case-study.pdf .)
It is interesting to note that Southwest Airlines is now at a point in its corporate life-cycle where the original founders have largely vacated the day to day operations of the company to the second generation of chiefs. Herb Kellaher stepped down as chairman in mid-2008. Of particular note, former president Colleen Barrett, the individual who was Mr. Kellaher’s leading architect and operator for maintaining a culture of ‘servant leadership’ toward Southwest’s employees, also stepped down a few months later. Although Ms. Barrett will remain an employee of the company for a few more years, the unavoidable process of transformation at Southwest has begun.
Now comes the challenge which confronts all companies whose original success is largely tied to the personality traits and capabilities of its founders. The underdog spirit and employee-friendly culture at Southwest have been key elements in helping the air carrier spread ‘the Heart Thing’ – and create loyal customers. In the years ahead, the company’s challenge will be to successfully transfer these cultural traits from individual leaders, and inculcate them into corporate processes in order to prevent a sense of entitlement from dividing constituencies within the company.
Accordingly, it’s important to mention that Southwest Airlines is one of the most highly unionized air carriers in the nation. Although this has not caused any severe degradation in company vitality to date, readers may be interested in knowing that for several years, the company’s pilots have been the most highly compensated of any air carrier pilot group in the world. And in mid-2009, after three years of negotiations, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) voted down a new contract proposal from Southwest management. Five months later, after negotiating further increases in job scope protections, pay rates, company funded retirement contributions, as well as scheduling and quality of life improvements, the pilots ratified a new contract in early November, 2009.
After the ratification vote, SWAPA president Captain Carl Kuwitzky stated; “While SWAPA never considered this a “home run” contract, our members felt it contained enough positive gains in a short-term deal to constitute ratification. We are pleased this contract will strengthen our job protection language by eliminating the Company’s opportunities to hurt our pilot group in ways our peers have experienced. However, we look forward to returning to the table in 2011 to focus strongly on areas that will likely be a higher priority, such as compensation.”
And so the corporate life cycle continues.