![]() ![]() Especially, as Lincoln reminds us, when the stakes are high and your response reveals your character. Your character, whether organizational or individual, is not what you say you are it’s how you behave all the time. It’s one thing to say you are committed to a particular belief or behavior it’s another thing to believe it and live it. We’ve all seen these impressive declarations that sound good but that are rarely lived out in the behavior of the people in the organization. Most mission statements are a dime a dozen. Working hard, having fun, and treating everyone with respect are what the airline calls “The Southwest Way.” These principles are codified in the mission of Southwest Airlines: “Dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and company spirit.” This mission is lived out every day by the 46,000 employees in the Southwest Airlines system, and it is part of what gives the airline its unique character. Herb was simply acting on Southwest Airlines’ principles that were galvanized in the early days of the company’s struggle against bigger competitors. His decision was entirely consistent with the airline’s character. Herb’s decision-while quick-was not made lightly. Herb read the accompanying note the customer service folks had attached to the complaint and in less than a minute made up his mind and wrote this response: Dear Mrs. In the past, Pen Pal’s letters would be answered by Southwest’s terrific customer service folks, but this latest letter stumped them, so they sent it to then-CEO Herb Kelleher. She fired off another letter to Southwest. To her, this crack about “drinks and towels” was another example of Southwest’s seemingly lax attitude. ![]() And she certainly didn’t like humor related to the serious business of flying. She didn’t like the absence of meals on flights. ![]() Pen Pal didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure, not to mention the lack of a first-class section. She had become known as the Pen Pal at Southwest Airlines’ headquarters because she wrote the company on a regular basis. One passenger on board was in the habit of finding fault with everything the airline and its personnel did. The response by passengers to the flight attendant’s funny reading of dry federal aviation regulations was predictable: everyone laughed, chuckled, or smiled. “In the unlikely event of a water evacuation,” the Southwest Airlines flight attendant announced to a plane filled with paying customers, “we’ll be handing out towels and drinks.” I previously wrote about Kelleher in my book Accountability: The Key to Driving a High-Performance Culture and the excerpt can be read below: He was an admirable innovator and an exceptional leader that I, and many others, looked up to. Herb Kelleher, the co-founder, CEO and Chairman Emeritus of Southwest Airlines passed away last Thursday at the age of 87. ![]()
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