It's not everyday you get to spend an hour and a half with the CEO of a major American company. Gary Kelly was enroute to Nashville from Orlando on a whirlwind tour to visit the Southwest Airlines' employees and made the mistake of leaving a plane seat next to him, open. Gracious and accessible, Gary allowed me to ply him with questions about Southwest. We discussed everything from business and family to politics (he's an ardent McCain supporter). Managing a small business with 7.7 million in sales and 25 employees, I know what keeps me awake at night; I was curious what keeps a guy like Gary awake at night. Southwest Airlines has over 33,000 employees with 3,300 airline departures every day. In our small business, logistics are critical (we ship packages of promotional products, apparel and printed materials all across the US and Canada); Gary's company "distributes" (if you will) over 90 million passengers to their respective destinations each year.
He has plenty to keep him awake. Some predict major shakeups in the airline industry this year. Gary contends with possible consolidations, acquisitions, rising fuel costs, a few PR disasters here and there and the ever-present tensions that exist in a heavily unionized company. But, I was curious, mostly, about the cultivation of Southwest's heritage of a fun, friendly service culture. I asked one question that I think is pertinent for all of us who are in business: is Southwest Airline's service superior because they are an exceptional company (as is often reported) or are they considered exceptional because the airline industry service levels are notoriously substandard? Southwest gets a lot of undue adulation for its quirkiness. After all, it's not difficult to be weird or humorous, it's not hard smiling and making customers feel good; Southwest does it everyday. It is difficult, however, getting over 90 million people to their destinations on time every year. Gary's answer to my question (no direct quote) might emit a yawn here. Southwest has remained profitable for 34 consecutive years because they get people to where they are going on-time. Period. It's really that simple ... and yet ... that difficult.
Consider the story of the small technical mishap after this year's Superbowl. A computer glitch leaves many Southwest customers waiting in 1-1/2 hour long lines, an error created, not by Southwest, but by a problem with the airport's equipment. This is a problem I can easily understand: a high profile event with thousands of customers at stake, you think you have adequately prepared for everything and a technical surprise reminds you that to err is human but to really foul things up you actually do need a computer. (My head aches from our own surprises). Southwest remains, however, to its core, one of the most reliable airlines in existence. They are certainly the most business-friendly airline, no further evidence needed than their offering of in-flight broadband in some markets.
Our small corporate fulfillment business processes thousands of transactions each year across eCommerce channels, customer service representatives and salespeople. We shipped nearly 50,000 packages in '07 with about a 1/2% error rate. Getting packages, no less people, to their intended destination is no small task; this, I understand. Southwest Airlines gets more press for being eccentric than they do for getting things right. Thus, the subtle secret of logistics operations: when you are operating at your very best, no one really recognizes it, everything is as it should be: on time and error free. The "recognition" of course, comes from customers who become clients with repeat business (the best kind of attention one could desire). Thanks again, Gary, for your time ... you were hoping to encourage your employees about the future growth of your airline; you probably had no idea you could inspire this in your own customers!
More links:
Recent New York Times article (Gary in drag?)
Southwest Airlines Fact Sheet
Southwest Airlines on Wikipedia
Nuts About Southwest (the SW Airlines blog)
