Everyone knows the Airline Southwest and it is known for it’s cheap fairs and extremely happy employees. But many do not understand why this airline has such happy employees and booming profits while others have sky-high prices and sad looking employees. It’s all due to their CEO and leader Gary Kelly. Kelly has many of the traits that a good leader has. According to Northhouse (2013) leaders have traits such as intelligence, integrity, and sociability.
According to Northhouse (2013) you need to have intelligence to be a good leader but you shouldn’t be to much smarter than the people following you. Mr. Kelly hits that nail right on the head. He started at Southwest as their controller in 1986 then working his way up to Principle Accounting officer in 1989. Many people didn’t believe that someone like him could do it. Making Southwest one of the most profitable Airlines in the U.S. One of his best (and smartest) moves was buying large bulks of oil before prices sky rocketed. Many other airlines had to furlough and raise their ticket prices while Southwest flourished. Another smart move is only having one type of aircraft; the 737. Mechanics only have to learn one type of aircraft and only need to buy parts for one aircraft while many airlines (such as the one I work for) have to buy many parts and have extras in case something breaks.
Integrity is in having people follow you. Southwest employees trust Kelly. It’s as simple as this quote “You put your employees first and if you take care of them, then they will take good care of you,” Herb Kelleher, the airline’s chairman, said this (cbs.com, 2007). I think everyone can relate to this. Your employees need to have faith in you. If you have happy employees you will have happy customers which in turn you have less employee turnover and many repeat customers. What employer doesn’t want that?
Lastly you need sociability. All this means is that you get out from behind your desk and meet people! What a concept! I have personally never met my supervisor or spoken to her. Normally if you need to talk to her that means trouble so I am thankful for that but what if you could work for a company where you would actually want to meet your supervisor or CEO and thank them for being able to work at such a great company? What a wonderful job that would be! Every year Southwest has an employee appreciation party. I went to one in Las Vegas and let me tell you they know how to throw a party! By how extravagant that everything was you know that they really appreciate their employees and their employees families. Mr. Kelly was even there thanking everyone who came.
I’m not saying that to have a great CEO or work experience I need a pat on the back everytime that I go to work. But to feel appreciated while at work and being able to have fun while I am there now, that is a company that I would want to work for.
References:
B, N. (2012, June 18). Southwest Airlines: The secrets of Southwest’s continued success | The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2012/06/southwest-airlines
Gary Kelly: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=187856&ticker=LUV
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Pate, S. (2010). CEO of the Year (Again!): Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines – D Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-ceo/2010/december/dallas-ceo-of-the-year-2010-gary-kelly-of-southwest-airlines
Something Special About Southwest Airlines – CBS News. (2007, August 30). Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/something-special-about-southwest-airlines/