Texas Monthly's Evan Smith sat down with the legendary Herb Kelleher recently to talk about FAA Inspections, competition, fuel costs, and how Southwest has changed over the last 37 years.
Q: Tell me about the big lessons you’ve learned in the years you’ve been in this business.
A: You want to create an environment in which people can be themselves—to be effective in business you don’t have to look like a brick. You can make anything complex if you want to, and you can spend innumerable hours debating things that are of no consequence, so you have to prioritize. Fight hierarchy and bureaucracy as hard as you possibly can. Don’t ever let it become the master; always remember it’s the servant. And quickness is important, particularly in the airline business, because your principal capital assets travel at more than five hundred miles an hour. They’re not shoe factories. If a shoe factory closes in Seattle, you can’t move it to San Antonio and have it competing there within a couple of hours, but with airplanes you can. I’ve always said that I want us to strike with the speed and alacrity of a puma.
For the full text, visit: http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-06-01/talks.php
