About Herb Kelleher

About Herb Kelleher

Founder and Chairman of Southwest Airlines

City/country you call home: Dallas and San Antonio, Texas, USA

Birthday: March 12, 1931

Did you always know you were destined for this level of professional success? So many people cite the example of what you have achieved with Southwest when talking about both leadership and organizational success. Is that something you knew was coming years ago when you set out? Oh heavens, no. It was just a task to be performed to the best of my ability and with a collection of the best people that I could find to get it underway, and I never looked at success as being the objective. It was kind of survival from day to day as far as Southwest Airlines was concerned, and I kept telling our people, “Look, if you serve customers internally and externally well every day, success will come. Don’t worry about that as an objective. Just fulfill your daily responsibilities: like other people, serve other people, be nice to other people, and everything else will work out for you.” Size was never an objective. Excellence wasn’t [an] objective. When you say to like people, serve people, etc.: Are those things that you could teach people—to like and serve people? Or, did people have to come in to joining your organization with a certain propensity [for exhibiting those positive character traits]? Or, [did people need to arrive with] a certain value or belief system to be the sorts of people you could teach how to [execute] the specifics of liking and serving? I think it’s very important to choose people who have a predisposition to serve others, and it’s hard to be successful if you hire people that are totally self-centered and bent only on serving themselves, so I think the hiring process is very important in that respect. On the other hand, I have seen people come to Southwest Airlines from other organizations that kind of sniff the air a little suspiciously, wondering whether this is real, and then when they find out that it’s real, they love it. So in other words, their behavior that they have exhibited in other organizations that they’ve been with previously was really a behavior created by that organization and its mores, but it wasn’t their basic personality.

One of the quotations I’ve read from you is, “If you’re crazy enough to do what you love for a living then you’re bound to create a life that matters.” A couple of follow-up questions I have for that quote are these: Why have more people not figured this out? Have you always had that figured out, or was there ever a time when you were not doing what you love for a living? It was always pretty easy for me in this sense: that if you really feel that your job in life is to serve other people, then you tend to love what you’re doing. [That is] because you want the outcome to be good for them, whether it’s drawing a deed in a law office, trying a case, making soup on the floor of the Campbell’s Soup Company, or whatever it might be. It’s easy to love it if you keep your eye on the end objective, which is making it come out well for your clients, or those who are dependent upon you….You want to do it well for

somebody else out of an inner sense of excellence and a desire to serve…There are a lot of people that kind of shy away from doing the things that they love. It’s kind of like the longshoreman on the West coast that wrote poetry. He decided he loved poetry, he loved philosophy, and he became a noted philosopher, and I think encouraging people to follow their natural bent sometimes makes a great contribution to their lives. We’ve seen a lot of people at Southwest Airlines, for instance, who perhaps weren’t performing too well in a given position. Boy, you switch them over to another department--to another function--and they become superstars, which is why I think that people ought to give a certain amount of bent to what they really like doing, because generally speaking, they do that well. That doesn’t mean that you should always do things that you’re comfortable with. If you’re going to be a leader, you have to undertake the difficult things (the things that are arduous to do) because you want the organization and the people within it to be successful. Getting back again to the sort of service heart approach, I did practically everything for Southwest Airlines when we started. Nothing was ever beneath me or too miniscule or too difficult for me to undertake because somebody just had to do it to make the organization get off the ground and be successful. A follow-up question is this: it’s sometimes easier to serve people when they’re [likeable people or behave nicely]. Can you talk a little bit about how you go about serving somebody that [you do not particularly like or who may not be as easy to deal with]? I’m not saying that being nice excludes being firm, because I think in many cases you have to be firm with a given person that’s not performing up to snuff. I think the way you handle that is this: First of all, you’re very open in telling them what you consider to be their deficiencies. Number two, you set goals for them with respect to improvement. In many cases, that’s never happened to them before. It’s a first in their lives, and so setting expectations for them gives them an opportunity to fulfill them, and perhaps gives them a better definition of what they’re supposed to be doing in their job. Another thing is this: I think that the idea of being judicial in your approach, of being non-discriminatory, of being evenhanded, is very important. What I mean by that is that whether you like a person or dislike a person, they’re entitled to justice within an organization, and so you may not like somebody particularly, but you’re not running around looking for excuses to get rid of them either. When they commit an infraction, a violation of your rules, then they get an opportunity for a fair hearing like everybody else. You eliminate the personal in your approach to people. Focus on the issue is I guess what I am saying.

Another quote that I’ve heard from you is that you at Southwest say that everybody is a leader no matter what their job is. At what point did that philosophy develop from you, and how would you say that compares to the philosophies of other businesses in the U.S. today? It’s really impossible for me to answer how it compares to other businesses because there are hundreds of thousands of them. I haven’t visited them, so I don’t really have any firsthand knowledge of where they are coming from. But I will tell you this: I realized that everybody was a leader--had to be a leader--in order to have the most effective result very early in my life. A lot of that really stemmed from working on the factory floor at the Campbell’s Soup Company for six summers while I was going to school. I would watch people, and no matter what they were doing--whether they were unloading boxes from a truck, whether they were filling cans with soup, whether they were storing boxes of soup in the warehouse--there were some very good leaders that got everybody in their work crew to join [the work] in a really dedicated and enthusiastic fashion. Then I noticed there were

some people that were just trying to stay away from [the workers]. They were trying to avoid [the workers], and they were slowing down on the job because they didn’t like them.…I guess that’s when it came home to me how important leadership is in any position, no matter what it is, because I watched that and I learned from it, and said, “Hey, this is a good leader, this is a mediocre leader, and this is a bad leader.” None of those people had management positions.

Favorite quote/attributable to whom? Winston Churchill speaking of the British people: “They are the lions. I am the roar.” Why? First, [I have] admiration for Winston Churchill as a leader. [He was] a valiant, courageous, and inspiring leader. Secondly, with his tremendous reputation, tremendous accomplishments, and tremendous success, what he was saying was, “Hey, wait a second, I was just the front man: it was the people of England that really won the war.” That’s the way I feel about the people of Southwest Airlines: that I have been the roar, but it’s really their diligence, their good heartedness, their dedication, and their energy that has made Southwest Airlines successful. That’s why it’s my favorite quote, because it gives credit where credit is due.

Favorite book/why? I’ve read thousands of books from a multitude of genres. It really is impossible to select just one. I think novels, as an illustration, are frequently a good place to learn things and to expand the reach of your mind, and so I don’t have a recommended reading list as such, but I do tell people [this]: read about science, read fiction, read history, just read widely and try to synergize all these things in your own mind, so that they all come together in some meaningful pattern. One of my mentors was Arthur T. Vanderbilt, who was the chief justice of New Jersey in addition to doing many, many other things. He was probably the leading jurist in the United States during his time, and he used to go to Montego Bay in Jamaica every year for one month. And you know what he took with him? He took a trunk of nothing but novels. Fiction novels. He said that was the way he both experienced some recreational relief and also where he got many of his ideas. That’s why I say that I think that people should get over their tunnel vision with respect to reading, and read about physics, read about biology, read about history--all of those things are meaningful. Novels sometimes give you fantastic ideas: They enhance your emotional intelligence, and they add to your philosophy. That is in keeping with what I said about learning being a continuous process of observation and conversation. [Learning] doesn’t have to be classroom-type learning. You should be learning from all the people that you deal with: from watching them, talking to them, getting their ideas, and observing their behavior. When you mention that lifetime commitment to learning, I’m curious to know what your thoughts are; [again], I am kind of asking you to generalize here. How pervasive do you think that philosophy is to people in the United States (the notion of committing oneself to a lifetime of learning)? I really am not sure, again, because, you know, it demands inductive reasoning and I haven’t really surveyed the people in the United States, but I have the impression that perhaps there’s more of a feeling today that learning only occurs in connection with classroom instruction and reading textbooks. Perhaps there’s not as much learning from life as there used to be, and that may be attributable to the fact that more people in the American populous are exposed today to classroom learning and textbooks. There are more opportunities for education today, but I don’t think it should ever be that narrow. I really believe in the fact that when you graduate from law school and you’ve got your law degree, it’ll be about five years before you become a really good lawyer. That is

because you have to be out there dealing with clients, dealing with other lawyers, dealing with the courts, and getting a pragmatic feel for what’s going on before you really can render the very best advice. [That is how you] learn what’s important and what’s unimportant. Again, I am asking you to comment on something you haven’t researched, but could you draw any comparison between the U.S. and any other countries when you talk about this lifetime commitment to learning? I know when I was in China for a very short time a few years ago I was really struck by the hunger that the people I met had for really soaking things up and spending a lot of time with their commitment to learning. Can you talk a little bit about how any other places in the world might address your notion of their commitment to learning? I think I’ve noticed that in Asia, generally speaking, there’s a real devotion to learning, which I think at least in the case of China, probably goes back many thousands of years to the Chinese sages, in effect. It seems to me that the performance of Asians in the United States reflects that because you constantly read articles about them being tops in aptitude tests and leading their fields in various different areas, so I think, it seems to me, that they have an almost reverential respect for learning.

Books you recommend for aspiring leaders: Intellectual curiosity is important, so I would encourage leaders to read many books from many different fields.

Current personal passion: reading and airplanes

Your dream: Job security for Southwest’s People for at least another 36 years. Why 36 years? I saw your question in that respect, and I chuckled to myself because it does seem rather aberrational, doesn’t it, talking about 36 years? I was simply doubling [Southwest’s] present period of job security. As of 2007 we’ve had total job security for 36 years as of this year, and I was saying, well, I hope we can go on twice as long. That’s the reason I picked 36 years. I really want it to be 150 years or more. But that may be beyond my reach.

Place in the world you would most like to visit: China

What experiences have been vital to your development? All of them; learning from life should be continuous.

What have been the turning points in your life? college, law school, and moving to Texas

Your most admired leader (living or deceased) and why? Winston Churchill. He rallied Britain to victory against great odds, and he was a great writer and orator.

What would you consider to be some of the leadership highlights of your life? I was my high school student body president; I was the college student body president; and, I was the founder, CEO and executive chairman of Southwest Airlines.

Have the limits of your leadership been challenged or tested? Sure, they were tested hundreds of times. How do you respond? Work until you win.

Describe an important piece of advice that you have been given. Don’t ever give up. Do you remember who gave you that advice, or is there a story that illustrates when you had to put that

into action? I think it was Winston Churchill. I think Winston Churchill said, “Don’t ever ever ever ever ever give up.” And boy, he was in a situation where it was essential for Britain that they not give up, and they didn’t.

Colleen Barrett, the president of Southwest Airlines (and June 2006 Leader of the Month), shares her thoughts on Herb Kelleher: "Herb is the ultimate Servant Leader. He leads by example at all times. He is a mentor, a coach, a business partner, and a friend to all his Employees. He celebrates with his Southwest Family over our successes and he suffers with us over our failures. He encourages us to be the very best we can be, and he works right alongside of us to give help when needed. He 'lives the Southwest Way' (i.e., exhibits a Warrior Spirit, a Servant's Heart, and a Fun-LUVing Attitude) on a daily basis. He is truly 'the wind beneath our wings.'"

Herb Kelleher and LeadershipYour advice to aspiring leaders: Be humble; work harder than anyone else; serve your People. I had read an article regarding humility in which you had talked about your willingness to hire people with less expertise, education, or experience if they possessed a great attitude, and so I’m just wondering, is attitude the first and foremost thing you look for when you hire people at Southwest? Yes it is. It is their values, their integrity, and their dedication to serving others. That’s primarily what we are looking for. That’s not to denigrate education, experience, or expertise, because if someone has a good attitude with all the other things, that’s fantastic. But the distinction I was trying to make is that, if you hire a person simply because of experience, education, expertise, and ignore their attitude, you can be making a terrible mistake. It is like the one rotten apple that can spoil the whole barrel, which is why we’re so attentive to that. People have capabilities that far exceed in many, many cases their historic educational attainments, as an example. You take somebody with a good attitude, and they can become a real expert in technology. As a matter of fact, I was congratulated by another company that had met with our technology department some years ago, and they said, “Herb, your people are just wonderful,” and I said, “Well it might interest you to know that not one of them has a college degree.” Which of the three—humility, hard work, or service to your people—would you say is exhibited most frequently? [Which comes most] naturally to people, and [which of the three] are most people apt to bring [in with them] the first day [when] they walk in the door [to the organization]? Well I’ll tell you, I think this is sort of maybe a little oblique approach to your question, but I think humility is the most important because if you don’t have humility then the other two--working hard than anyone else and serving your people--probably won’t happen. I think you have to be humble and not carried away with your own title or position in order to accomplish the other two. So we look for humility in that respect as maybe the progenitor of everything that we’re after. I think humility is also important to learning. If you’re not humble about what you don’t know, you’re very unlikely to learn anything because you think you know it all. You’re very unlikely to work harder than anybody else because you think, “Hey, I’m here, and it’s title and position that are important,” and you probably think more about serving yourself and your personal ends than you do serving the people that are dependent on you. …Humility is many times manifested by a sense of humor and self-deprecation: when people are willing to joke about themselves and their foibles and their mistakes, that’s a pretty good indicator that they’re the kind of folks we want. When you say people come into your culture and kind of sniff the air, [I assume] that when they see the type of

example and leadership that people like yourself have established…[it makes them] more apt to let their guard down. That’s absolutely true. That’s a hundred percent right. Now I will tell you the other side of it. We basically promote from within, and have for a good many years, but when we were starting out and expanding there were certain disciplines we just did not have at Southwest Airlines, and so we had to go outside to get them. What happened in many cases is exactly what I described. You said loosen up, and that’s exactly it. There were other people, however, that felt rather insecure with the fluidity of Southwest Airlines. They were used to a much more command and control type of structure, and they felt uneasy about not having that, and basically the way I would put it is that they would fire themselves. They would just be so uneasy that they would want to leave because they required the security of an immense amount of structure. That’s not to criticize that. Some people are that way, and some people are the other way. Our culture is so strong that it forces self-selection on people in effect.

What are the traits you consider most important in a leader? A savant’s head and a servant’s heart. Is a leader born with the two, or are they learned? I think it’s probably a combination of the two: You have to be born with at least a latent capability and desire to be a leader, but sometimes [there are] people who have never thought about [leadership], and they’re exposed to it, and they say, “Hey, I like this: I like the responsibility of it, I like the sense of accomplishment of it.” You can also hone and refine the capabilities of being a leader. There are probably some people--if they’re entirely negative about everything--that probably ought to be bill collectors or something, but I don’t think they could be tremendous leaders. If you start off where you’re negative about life, I don’t think you can be an effective, positive leader. I think that if you have an urge to lead, you can be taught how to do it better, and we spend a lot of time on doing that with our people at all different levels of leadership education. When you do that leadership education, what are some of the things that you teach? Is it that you have people in your company that are leaders that are teaching others, or mentoring them, or is it through having them read books? Can you talk a little bit about some of the things you do to train leaders? We have classes at various different levels for leadership and for leaders at different stages of development (people who are about to become a supervisor for the first time and people who are about to assume some higher position within the organization). The classes are tailored to what they’re going to encounter in their particular job and at their particular level of responsibility, and we have some basic training classes—managers in training—where you start out with people who perhaps aren’t managers, but they have a desire to be a manager, and so we offer courses on how to be a manager and how to be a leader. We’re really focused on leadership. They do all sorts of things in those classes including acting out, instruction, and recommending books for people to read. As a matter of fact a lot of our senior officers speak to those classes on a regular basis. We have a director who is a tremendous educator, and he comes in and talks to our classes. Bill Cunningham used to be the chancellor at the University of Texas. Bill comes in and talks, and they love it. They love it. Isn’t that a great thing for a director to do? Our directors are very good…When we have any kind of company affair in directors’ cities, they always attend….Directors’ personal participation in that respect is a great exemplar for all of our people.

What can organizations do to encourage or stifle leaders? To encourage them you must give them entrepreneurial latitude. To stifle them, have bureaucratic exaltation of form over

substance. How do you view encouraging or stifling in the current culture and climate of business in the U.S.? It sounds like Southwest has just continued to encourage rather than stifle leaders. I guess I would say that in a lot of respects I think Southwest is rare in that respect. Can you talk a little bit about that? Well there again it’s really hard for me to answer because I haven’t spent that much time with other businesses. I’ve been spending all my time on Southwest Airlines. From reading that I’ve done, I think that in some cases some businesses perhaps have gotten a little too hierarchical and bureaucratic for their own well-being. I think there was a tendency towards that after the Second World War when we were economically dominant, didn’t have a lot of global competition, and [were more] focus[ed] on the inside and organizational issues [rather] than on the outside. [The reason] is the lack of competition [that existed at the time]. I think American business has responded very well to the competition that’s materialized around the globe; I think you will find that part of that is [U.S. companies] becoming less bureaucratic and less hierarchical and flatter and faster in their response time. To kind of sum it up, I have said that I always want Southwest Airlines to have the alacrity of a puma.

What and where are the best training programs that exist for leaders? Entrepreneurial centers. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? I know you have the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas-Austin. Would that be the sort of place that you would recommend leaders attend in terms of getting good training? Yes it would, and I don’t want to single that out, as being alone, because there are a number of such centers throughout the United States. My motivation in setting up that center was to hopefully accomplish enough of the things that we have been talking about: to teach people to color outside the lines, to think freely and creatively, to not be afraid to undertake things, and to be unconventional in their thinking. I think the center provides a nice flavor in that respect.

How do you define effective leadership? In other words, what does effective leadership look like? Causing people to willingly and happily coalesce in pursuit of a common and uplifting goal. How does a leader cause that to take place? Well I think first of all you do it by talking. A lot of it has to do with the kind of presentations that you make to your folks (whether they’re inspiring, which is good, or rather mundane and pedestrian, which is perhaps not so good), and also the example you set for them in your own devotion to the cause. Leadership by example: “He’s willing to do anything I do and more.” [Also], I think associating with your people on a regular basis is very helpful indeed. We have said that if you have to have a suggestion box, it indicates that you’re failing as a leader, because you should be talking to your people often enough that they don’t have to put written suggestions in a box. I think that’s very important indeed. You just [need to] respect the worth of everyone in the organization because everyone is superb, can be a superb contributor, and that there’s no person that is beneath you. There’s no person who’s less important than you are. [It is important that you] create that sense in them that they are important in what they are doing every day. [You must establish that] no matter what their job is, if they don’t do it well, they’re kind of letting everybody else down. “A Symbol of Freedom,” Southwest Airlines’ signature line, was chosen with a focus on the inside world as much as on the outside world. What do I mean by that? Southwest Airlines has brought the freedom to fly to the American public, and we wanted to enable what our people were

doing. In other words, when you’re fixing an airplane--putting a bag in the belly bin, greeting passengers at the door, taking reservations at the reservation center--you’re doing something for the good of human kind, the good of society.

[What else can you explain about] leadership? The best leadership is humanistic in nature. Could you elaborate a little bit on that concept? The humanistic aspect of it, I think, traces back to my feeling, and I’ve joked about this [before] when I’ve said that somebody said, “The business of business is business.” I’m not sure whether it was Calvin Coolidge or Bianca Jagger, because they’re both kind of skinny, but in reality I think the business of business is people, and that’s basically what I’m saying by taking a humanistic approach. You want to treat people right. You want to treat people respectfully. You want to honor them. You want to give them credit. If you do that, and they trust you, they will respond with a prodigious effort for the well-being of the whole. And that’s really what I meant by humanistic approach: an emphasis on people while using procedures as an example.

Herb Kelleher's StoryAsked to share a story that encapsulates what he is all about, Herb Kelleher offers the following: I was the captain of my high school basketball team. We were well ahead in the last minutes of the game, and I just needed to make one more basket to break the league individual scoring record. I refused to shoot in order to demonstrate that team victory was more important than individual self-aggrandizement. I did break the record AFTER the coach called for a timeout and he and the rest of the team assured me that THEY wanted me to break the individual scoring record.

The follow-up question to his story: I’m wondering if you can talk about your views on the impact of participation on sports teams for our next generation of leaders in America. In other words, is participation in organized sports a good thing, and why do you feel that it is or isn’t? First of all, I don’t say it’s absolutely necessary because I do know lots of great people who have not participated in team sports. So I’m not saying that’s a sine qua non, but what I am saying is that if you have participated in teams sports, the word “team” kind of gives away what the value of it is. [The reason is that] you have to learn to function as an entity, whether it’s an eleven-man football team, a five-man basketball team, or a six-man hockey team. You have to work with everybody else on the team if you’re going to prevail, and that’s what I think is good about team sports. I’ve seen a number of people in team sports who frankly were only concerned about their own performance, so I’m not saying that’s universal by any means, but I do think it gives you the opportunity--particularly if you haven’t had it before in some area or another--to learn how to blend in to a team, to make the group (the team) successful.

Executive Summary

Herb Kelleher, co-founder, CEO, President and Chairman of Southwest Airlines is cited in this article as an ideal example of charismatic leadership at its best. A discussion of charismatic leadership focuses on traits and behaviors of charismatic leaders. This model is then used to examine Kelleher's traits and behaviors at Southwest Airlines, named in 1998 as the best place to

work in America by Fortune Magazine. Kelleher's vision and style are seen as the driving forces of this maverick airline which has consistently posted a profit for 26 consecutive years and does things differently than any other company in the industry. The key to Southwest's success is largely thought to be the warmth and determination of its employees who mirror those same qualities in their leader. The article includes Kelleher's thoughts on leadership and concludes that there is reason to question whether the strong, personality-driven Southwest culture can survive after Kelleher retires from the helm.

"Energizer bunny of the skies" (Jones, 1994), "America's funniest flyboy" (Beddington & Loftus, 1998), "Captain Marvel" (Welles, 1992), these are just some of the terms used to describe the CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher. Since his involvement in the founding of Southwest Airlines in 1967, Herb Kelleher has almost assumed cult status with his much publicized shenanigans like dressing up as Elvis or arm-wrestling a competitor for rights to the slogan, "Just Plane Smart." (Hassell & Walsh, 1999.) This article examines what is known about Kelleher and specifically his leadership style. It posits that Kelleher is an ideal example of a charismatic leader who has avoided the controversial and ethical dilemmas of charisma (see Gibson, Hannon, & Blackwell, (1998) and focused his energy and enthusiasm instead on the growth of a highly successful airline. Even more, Kelleher has dedicated himself to building a culture that puts employees, not customers first. Kelleher's logic is simple:

Years ago, business gurus used to apply the business school conundrum to me: "Who comes first? Your shareholders, your employees, or your customers?" I said, "Well, that's easy," but my response was heresy at that time. I said employees come first and if employees are treated right, they treat the outside world right, the outside world uses the company's product again, and that makes the shareholders happy. That really is the way that it works and it's not a conundrum at all. (Kelleher, 1998, 76).

Recently, Kelleher has been in the news because of his just-diagnosed prostate cancer. Announcing that he would be flying from corporate headquarters in Dallas to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for daily radiation treatment, Kelleher assured the public that work would continue as usual and that his medical problem was just a temporary setback. With a survival rate on early diagnoses of over 80%, Andrew von Eschenbach, head of MD Anderson's prostate cancer unit, had this to say about Kelleher's future.

We are taking the appropriate and medically indicated steps in the expectation that Herb will continue to lead a fully active and productive life, just as if he never had prostate cancer. (Woodyard, 1999)

The paper begins with a look back at the early life of Herb Kelleher.

Who Is Herb Kelleher?

Who is this person named 1999 Chief Executive of the Year by Chief Executive Magazine?

(Anonymous, 1999) Herb Kelleher was born on March 12, 1931 near Camden, New Jersey. Graduating from Haddon Heights High School where he distinguished himself as an athlete and student body president, Kelleher's first job was at Campbell Soup Company where he worked for six summers, joining his dad who was General Manager. (Labich, 1994) While at Campbell, Kelleher was a soup chef, warehouse foreman, and part-time financial analyst. (Adair, 1995).

Kelleher attended Wesleyan University where he earned a BA in English literature before deciding to go to NYU law school. There he made Law Review and lived in Greenwich Village until he completed his LL.B. Always one for a good time, Kelleher says of his time in the Village:

I had a little apartment on Washington Square and you could just open your door and entertaining people would walk in and you would have an instant party. (Labich, 1994)

Kelleher began his law career clerking for a N. J. Supreme Court justice before joining a law firm in Newark, New Jersey. Having married a girl from Texas whom he had met in school, Kelleher soon decided that the opportunities in San Antonio were too good to be missed, so he moved to Texas in the mid 60s. (Lee, 1995).

It was there that Southwest Airlines founder, Rollin King, hired Kelleher as outside counsel in 1966. What happened next is the beginning of the Southwest legend and gets right to the heart of a charismatic's vision formulation. Before continuing, however, a definition is provided of charisma as well as a discussion of the traits and behaviors of charismatic leaders. This will provide the model against which the Herb Kelleher story will be reflected.

The Charismatic Leader

In the last 20 years, there have been a plethora of books and articles written about charismatic leadership. Some of the representative book titles include Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism That Leads to Success (Alessandra & Alessandra, 1998), Charisma and Leadership in Organizations (Bryman, 1992), Charismatic Leadership in Organizations (Conger & Kanungo, 1998), Personal Magnetism: Discover Your Own Charisma and Learn to Charm, Inspire and Influence Others (Dubrin, 1997), Charisma: How to Get That Special Magic (Grad, 1986), Going Public: A Practical Guide to Developing Personal Charisma (Meton, 1995), and The Charisma Quotient (Riggio, 1987). Articles by Bass (1996), Behling & McFillen (1996), Conger, Kanungo, Menon, & Mathur (1997), House, (1977, 1992), House & Howell (1992), Howell & Aviolo (1992), and Popper & Zakkai (1994) typify the periodical literature on the subject.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines charisma as "a rare, personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm" and stresses that charisma implies a power to win the devotion of large numbers of people. The term charisma was used by the early Christian church and may be traced back to an ancient Greek word meaning "gift." As used by the church, charisma meant "gifts from God that allowed receivers to carry out extraordinary feats such as healing or prophecy." (Conger, Kanungo, Menon & Mathur, 1997, p. 291).

Max Weber was an early contributor to the study of charisma when he described three types of authority: rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic, the latter being a type of authority based on the force of one's personality. (Wren, 1994, p. 195) It was not until the 1970s and 1980s, however, that the forces of global competition forced attention on the role of leaders in causing needed change.

As it turned out, the disciplines of organizational behavior and organizational psychology played a pivotal role in this transformation process. By zeroing in on leaders as change agents these disciplines found that corporate leaders with high levels of motivation, vision, and innovativeness were particularly effective facilitators of organizational change." (Gibson, Hannon, & Blackwell, 1998, p. 18)

The importance of charismatic leadership is very much understood today. Sometimes called transformational or visionary leadership, charismatic leadership is based on House's 1977 definition of charisma as leaders who have a profound emotional effect on their followers. Charismatics are usually quite easy to find--they stand out in a crowd.

Traits of Charismatic Leaders

There has been much written about the personality traits of charismatic leaders. Bryman (1992) found that charismatic leaders had the following attributes: a "presence," a presence of mind, quality of the eyes, physical beauty, use of voice, energy, confidence, and endurance, image of unusual mental attainments, and the power to elicit an almost pathological response from their followers. House and Howell (1992) examined six field studies and concluded that charismatic leaders have the following traits: high levels of energy, endurance, work involvement, enthusiasm, cognitive achievement, strong tendencies to be creative, intelligent, visionary, inspirational, and self-confident.

Figure 1 shows the traits of charismatic leaders, which will be used in this study.

Figure 1

Traits of Charismatic Leaders

* A vision of how to make things or do things better

* Self-confidence in their own abilities

* Extraordinary communication skills; ability to articulate the vision

* High level of personal energy and enthusiasm; willingness to work very hard

* High level of commitment and conviction about the correctness of their ideas

* Act as role models to their followers

Source: Adapted from Nahavandi, A. (1997). The Art and Science of Leadership, Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Prentice Hall, p. 185 by Gibson, J; Hannon, J. & Blackwell, C. (1998) Charismatic leadership: The hidden controversy. The Journal of Leadership Studies 5 (4), p. 14.

Perhaps the most obvious trait of a charismatic is his or her sense of vision. Never satisfied with the status quo, the charismatic leader wants to make things better and will not settle for incremental improvement. His or her vision is usually significantly different from the status quo and has the goal of moving the organization ahead in significant ways. In order to be successful in implementing the vision, the charismatic leader is very self-confident. Charismatics not only have confidence in their own competence and abilities but inspire others to have confidence as well.

Charismatics have excellent communication skills, and they use these skills to articulate and advance their vision by getting others not only informed of but excited about the vision and their own role in its implementation. They also have a high level of personal energy and enthusiasm and they are willing to work long and hard hours. Charismatics lead by example, thus employees who work with them feel comfortable, even obligated, to work long and hard hours themselves. This is far different from the type of leader who demands high performance and then heads for the golf course.

Charismatic leaders display a high level of commitment and conviction about the correctness of their ideas. They are passionate about their dedication to the vision and absolutely sure that this is the way to go. This conviction, because of the force and energy of the way it is communicated, assures others who may have doubts to firmly line up in support of the vision.

Finally, charismatics act as role models for their followers. They are often seen on the lines with rolled-up sleeves, doing their share of the work. They do not remain aloof from the workers or the people whom they hope to influence. Instead, the charismatic becomes a very visible, driving force behind the vision.

The traits of the charismatic leaders are closely linked to the behaviors one can expect them to exhibit.

Behaviors of Charismatic Leaders

Behling and McFillen (1996) synthesized much of the previous research on charismatic leadership into six common leader behaviors as shown in Figure 2. The first behavior, articulating and dramatizing the vision and encouraging follower commitment has been discussed above. Charismatics also demonstrate empathy and sensitivity to followers' needs. They make followers feel valued and important and they anticipate concerns the employee may have about pending changes connected with the new vision. By being empathetic, much of the common resistance to change associated with organizational change programs can be avoided or minimized.

Figure 2

Common Behaviors of Charismatic Leaders

* Articulate and dramatize the vision, encouraging follower commitment

* Demonstrate empathy and sensitivity to followers' needs

* Project self-assurance; treats followers with respect and attention

* Project competence and success thereby enhancing their own image

* Empower followers and assure them of their competency

* Provide followers with the opportunities and support to experience success

Source: Adapted from Behling, O. & McFillen, J.M. (June 1996) A syncretical model of charismatic/transformational leadership. Group & Organization Management 21 (2), 165-191 by Gibson, J; Hannon, J. & Blackwell, C. (1998) Charismatic leadership: The hidden controversy. The Journal of Leadership Studies 5 (4), 14.

The charismatic leader also projects self-assurance and treats followers with dignity. They are not a threat to the charismatic leaders; in fact, they are the troops which will carry forth the new vision and without whom nothing can be accomplished. Charismatic leaders, therefore, empower their followers and take opportunities to assure them of their own value and competency. They provide followers with opportunities for growth and development and look for ways to help followers achieve success.

Research has also been done on how followers behave when in the presence of a charismatic leader. The follower behaviors associated with charismatic leadership are awe, inspiration, and empowerment. Awe is perhaps the one which distinguishes charismatic followers most distinctly from other followers. Behling and McFillen (1996) define awe as "an unreasoning faith in the abilities of the leader that is often, though not always, accompanied by affection for him or her."

With this model of leadership traits and behaviors as our base, let's look at the evidence which suggests that Herb Kelleher is a textbook example of charismatic leadership at its best.

Kelleher and Southwest Airlines--The Early Days

Southwest Airlines was a hard birth. When Rollins King came to Kelleher in 1966, he owned a small charter airline and he wanted Kelleher to do some work for him. By 1967, King came back with a much bigger idea. He and his banker, John Parker, had come up with the idea of beginning a small, intrastate airline designed to serve business commuters. Over cocktails at a nearby bar, Kelleher and King sketched out a plan-the airline would serve three cities: Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Convinced almost immediately that the idea had merit, Kelleher became a fundraiser to create the initial capital to get the new business underway. He figured

correctly that the other airlines servicing these cities would try to prevent another carrier from entering the market. He had no way of knowing, however, that this resistance would lead from a local court to the state supreme court and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court which refused to hear the case. During this time, Kelleher demonstrated the bulldog determination that nobody was going to beat this underdog. He represented Southwest, often-foregoing legal fees, and refused to give up, convincing the board to give him one more chance in 1969.(Frieberg & Frieberg, 1997, 15-18). Says Kelleher, "You know, anger can be a great motivator. For me, this became a cause. I was a crusader freeing Jerusalem from the Saracens." (Welles, 1992, 44). In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal filed by Braniff, Texas International, and Continental and Southwest was ready to take to the skies.

Contrary to popular belief, Kelleher was not the first President of Southwest. He was instrumental in the hiring of Lamar Muse, recently retired from Universal Airlines. Muse has been described as "aggressive, self-confident, and restless--not one to shy away from a good fight." (Frieberg & Frieberg, 1997, 18) And fight he and Kelleher did! As late as June, 1971, Braniff and Texas International secured a restraining order keeping Southwest from initiating service and threatening the newly traded stock. Kelleher again proved his determination by flying to Austin and asking Judge Thomas Reavley to throw out the restraining order. Reavley gave him an early hearing the next day and Kelleher worked all night to mount an extraordinary appeal. When the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Southwest's favor, CEO Muse told Kelleher he was still concerned about the local sheriff trying to enforce the injunction. According to sources close to Southwest, Kelleher said, "I told Lamar, you roll right over the son of a bitch and leave our tire tracks on his uniform if you have to." It was the next day, June 18, 1971, when Southwest finally took to the skies. (Frieberg & Frieberg, 1997, 21). When Southwest started flying, it had 4 planes and fewer than 70 employees. Almost immediately, it had to sell off one of its planes to make payroll and avoid laying off people. (Anonymous, 1999, p. 33) A culture of caring about employees was begun.

The Southwest Culture

By design, Southwest decided to do things differently and in so doing has become a model of both efficiency and effectiveness. Today, Southwest boasts more than 2400 flights daily, has 27,000 employees and carries 52.6 million passengers annually. Currently, it has $4.2 billion in total operating revenue and $433.4 million in profits. Far removed from the days of 3 airplanes, Southwest now flies 284 Boeing 737s and operates in 54 cities in 28 states. It is known for its generous compensation and benefit plans and employees now own 13 percent of the common stock even though it is the most heavily unionized major airline. (Anonymous, 1999)

From the beginning, Southwest departed drastically from the way major airlines functioned. These major differences included using only one type of airplane, operating from secondary airports, minimizing the turn around time on the ground, concentrating on short flights, eliminating meals, and providing low-cost, frequent flights to the cities it serves.

By using one type of airplane, the Boeing 737, efficiency is achieved by common parts and maintenance procedures. The use of secondary airports often provides convenience and less traffic for commuters as well as lower costs to the airline that are then passed along to

passengers. The rapid turn around on the ground--by far the best in the business--allows the 737s to make more flights per day at a higher daily profit margin. Concentration on short flights and eliminating all but peanuts and drinks also adds to the low-cost strategy. Finally, frequency of service adapts to Kelleher's founding philosophy that this airline should not just fight for passengers from other lines but compete instead with buses, trains, and provide an alternative for people who would normally drive to their destination. In 1992, Southwest's Sales and Marketing Director was quoted as saying, "We want to pull people out of backyards and automobiles and get them off the bus." (Welles, 1992, 44+) Says Welles, "Wherever Southwest goes, three things quickly happen: fares come down, traffic usually triples, and the airline rouses a rapid following." (1992, 44+)

That rapid following is easy to understand when one reflects on the underdog, fight-for-survival tenacity of Kelleher, who became CEO, President, and Chairman in 1982, and the entire Southwest organization. To the flying public, Southwest is perhaps best known for friendly, often zany service. It is not unusual for flight attendants to sing instructions and crack jokes at the expense of the pilots. Southwest is also known, however, for innovation and convenience. Southwest was first in ticketless air travel--another move born out of adversity when major airlines excluded them from their reservation systems--and the awarding of frequent flyer tickets based on number of trips instead of miles flown. Southwest has won the Triple Crown award for Best On-Time Record, Best Baggage Handling, and Fewest Customer Complaints. ("Southwest Airlines--A Brief History") The fourth largest airline today in terms of originating passengers, Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to have earned a profit every year since 19715. (Melymuka, 1998).

The culture of Southwest can definitely be described as "work hard, play hard," a style first identified by Deal and Kennedy (1984). Southwest employees fly more hours, turn planes around quicker, and do it all with a good sense of humor. The latter is one of the key ingredients used in making selection decisions for Southwest. In 1998, Southwest reviewed 141,710 resumes but hired only 4,115 new people. Coleen Barrett, Herb's secretary in the old days and now Executive Vice President for Customers is the second highest-ranking person in the company, right after Kelleher. She says Southwest hires for attitude. "We look for a sense of humor, a sense of service, and we screen out bad attitude." (Anonymous, 1999, 36) But Southwest employees also know how to party. Celebrations are normal and when some third-shift employees could not make a company barbecue, Herb was barbecuing at the airport at 2 a.m. in the morning. Halloween has become something ora extravaganza at Southwest. In 1998, women employees in the communications department in Dallas dressed up as "Herb's Killer Tomatoes." (Anonymous, 1999, 35). Throughout it all, there is genuine respect and admiration for Herb Kelleher.

In business terms, Southwest has done almost the impossible. It has translated a culture that worked beautifully for a small start-up company into one that works equally well for a Fortune 500-success story.

In business school parlance, Southwest has negotiated the transition successfully from an aggressive, entrepreneurial, personality-driven start-up into an established Fortune 500 corporation without ever shedding its aggressive, entrepreneurial, personality-driven culture. (Anonymous, 1997, 43)

It is no accident that Southwest Airlines was named Number One in Fortune's 1998 list of 100 best companies to work for in America. (Southwest Airlines Recognitions, 1999)

Kelleher, the Charismatic Leader

Looking back to Figure 1, six traits of charismatic leaders were identified. Each of these traits can be applied to Herb Kelleher.

A Vision of How to Make Things or Do Things Better

In Kelleher's words, "Southwest has a market niche that's all our own. We are the only short-haul, low-cost, point-to-point, high frequency, non-interlining airline in the world." ("Kelleher on Leadership," 1999)

To the flyer, the cornerstone of the success of Southwest Airlines is customer service. They simply do it better than other airlines. Says Kelleher,

Southwest Airlines has been focused on customer service from the beginning. We've always tried to provide more service for less money rather than less service for less money. (Kelleher, February 1998, p. 74)

Part of the Southwest vision is going back to simple, common sense values. Kelleher thinks that business has gotten too complicated. He rejects management fads and gurus and believes that theory should give way to empirical observation.

People need to get out, look around, see things for themselves and experience them, and say, "Okay, I've seen 32 examples of this, and here's the principle I think is at work based on what I've experienced empirically. (Lee, 1995, 1+)

Self-Confidence in His Own Ability

To document Kelleher's self-confidence, one has only to go back to the early days of Southwest Airlines and the vicious legal battles which were fought to keep SWA from flying. When everyone else had given up, Kelleher asked for and received one more chance to get SWA in the air. His resolution and determination to accomplish his vision are well known and are the primary reasons Southwest exists today. It was probably these tough early days that also forced Kelleher into becoming the strong leader he is today. Says Kelleher,

You know, anger can be a great motivator. Forme, this became a cause. I was a crusader freeing Jerusalem from the Saracens. (Welles, 1992, 44)

Kelleher has the reputation of being a man "of extreme tenacity and depthless energy" who sleeps four hours a night and finds time to read several books a week. (Welles, 1992, 44).

Extraordinary Communication Skills and the Ability to Articulate the Vision

Kelleher is nothing if not an extraordinary and dramatic communicator. When a Northwest Airlines ad claimed that airline was number I in customer satisfaction, Kelleher's ad responded, "Liar, liar. Pants on fire." When he delivered his annual message in 1996, Kelleher appeared in front of employees dressed in a straitjacket to illustrate the current motto of "Still Nuts After All These Years." (Melymuka, 1998)

High Level of Personal Energy and Enthusiasm and a Willingness to Work Hard

Kelleher is a roll-up-your sleeves kind of guy who works harder than anyone. Had it not been for this tenacity and enthusiasm, Southwest would have perished before it ever got off the ground. Over the years, Herb has not slowed down. He believes in keeping in touch with the details. For example, Kelleher sees cost control as the key reason for Southwest's profitability and he still personally approves every expense over $1,000. This is not because Kelleher expects to find padded expenses but because he feels his personal attention to detail reinforces how important cost containment is to everyone. (Labich, 1994, 44+) Herb can also be found out at the airport slinging bags with the baggage handlers. In fact, he prides himself on spending one day a month "on the lines." His enthusiasm is also seen at the frequent, often spontaneous celebrations found at the Dallas headquarters.

Whatever the occasion--a holiday, some one's retirement, Friday--Kelleher can be found in the middle of a worshipful crowd, drink and cigarette in hand." (Labich, 1994, 44+)

High Level of Commitment and Conviction About the Correctness of His Ideas

To be sure that everyone supports his notion of excellent customer service, Kelleher requires that top management spend time in the field with employees. Each officer goes into the field and serves as reservation agent, loads baggage, or works with the dispatchers, etc. once a quarter and reports back to Herb as to what they learned. Through this direct intervention, they not only learn empathy for customers and employees, but they see where changes are needed in the system. Says Kelleher,

We really do believe, as Sam Walton said, that the best leaders have to be the best servants, and we try to make our company that way. (Kelleher, 1998, 76.)

When Southwest Airlines won Number 1 spot among best companies to work for in America according to Fortune Magazine, staff writer Ron Lieber wrote that Herb "spends his business life making sure his employees believe in him and in the operation he has muscled into the top tier of a savagely competitive industry. (Lieber, 1998, 72)

Behaves as Role Model to His Followers

Kelleher believes in leadership by example. As seen in the accompanying box, "Herb Kelleher Speaks on Leadership," Kelleher believes that the leader's job is to serve as role model for everyone else.

If every day you are an ambassador to all of the other people saying I am the leader, I am going to show you by example the type of company that we want. I'm going to make you proud of the job that we do; you can continue to do it. ("Kelleher on Leadership," 1999)

Kelleher lives and breathes the Southwest spirit. Says Charles Butler (1993, 39)

He's part John Belushi, part Norm Peterson, and part Huck Finn, who uses a fleet of 737s instead of a raft to navigate his adventuresome life, and steers with a management style that's informal, fatherly, and fun as hell. He wakes up each morning wanting two things: to smoke a cigarette (preferably many), and to make sure he, his 13,000 employees, and his customers are having a good time.

Referring back to Figure 2, six common behaviors of charismatic leaders were also identified.

Herb Kelleher Speaks on Leadership

As part of this article, the author asked Herb Kelleher several direct questions about his beliefs about leadership. He provided answers through Brian Lusk, his Supervisory Editor of Executive Office Communication and through a videotape of himself talking about leadership. Here's what was learned.

Question: Looking back, what 2 or 3 people had the most influence on your leadership style and why?

Surprisingly, the person who had the most influence on Herb's leadership style was his mother, Ruth, because she encouraged his independence.

Question: Which 2-3 leaders today do you particularly admire?

The two business leaders who Herb admires the most are Jack Welch, the Chairman of General Electric, and Sam Walton, the founder of WalMart.

Question: Who are your personal heros and why?

Herb's number one hero is Winston Churchill. He gives as the reason that Churchill stood strong when others were seeking appeasement with the enemy; Churchill's leadership rallied England at

a very critical time when the country's very existence was at stake; and Churchill possessed exceedingly good oratorical skills.

Question: How would you describe your leadership style?

While Herb never uses the term charismatic leadership, he has a lot to say on the subject of what constitutes effective leadership. Herb thinks that the Southwest approach to leadership (he is too modest to claim it is his approach primarily) is different and that this difference accounts for the warm, caring, hospitable personality of the company. Says Herb; "We have the most wonderful people in the industry." Herb disagrees with Milton Friedman's contention that "The business of business is business," and says instead that "The business of business is people, people, and people!!" He thinks that one of the most important aspects of good leadership is communication, not in the formal sense, but talking to people on a regular basis, asking them about the family, showing a genuine interest in them as people.

Herb feels that the best way to be a leader is to start by managing yourself. "If you're going to light the way for others," says Herb, "I think you first have to set fire to yourself." "Don't downgrade the people you work with; small things are extremely important to people." "People want to feel important; treat them that way." Reiterating the priority he puts on paying attention to people, Herb says, "Of course, you have to be interested in and like people; otherwise, why would they be interested in or like you or follow you?"

Herb's philosophy for people goes beyond the surface. "Tolerance, patience, and respect are very important to leadership," says Herb. "Don't just tell people no (when they bring a suggestion to you that you cannot adopt). Honor them and tell them why you can't do it."

And how does Herb maintain this commitment to people now that the company has become so large? "If every day you are an ambassador to all of the other people saying I am the leader, I am going to show you by example the type of company that we want. I'm going to make you proud of the job that we do; you can continue to do it."

Some other thoughts of Herb's on effective leadership -

* "Position and title don't necessarily signify anything. When people as me what I do, I say I work for Southwest Airlines."

* "It's OK to be strong, but it's not OK to be mean when you're a leader."

* "You should be a good follower in order to be a good leader. When you're wrong, you have to admit it. Don't let you ego stand in the way when you make a mistake."

* "No false promises, back-stabbing or lying."

* "Nitpicking is not leadership; it's the reverse of it."

* "Gratitude is tremendously important to leadership."

* "The goal of leadership? Your goal should be excellence and achievement."

* "The last quality that leaders need is patience and forbearance."

Question: Can you tell me a little bit about the leadership training that occurs at Southwest Airlines?

The formal leadership training program is an extension of the New-Hire Celebration that every new SWA employee attends. This is where they learn SWA's history and culture. As employees move into leadership positions in the company, they attend classes at Southwest's University for People which is run by the People Department (SWA's equivalent of the HR department in other companies). Courses include interpersonal development, leadership, and self-management.

Question: Quite a bit has been written about SWA culture and its ability to withstand your eventual retirement. What steps have been taken to ensure that new leadership at SWA would have no substantial impact on the corporate culture?

The Southwest culture is very deep and very strong. In addition to the University for People, the Culture Committee sponsors employees to visit and work with other people in the company. Currently, the Freedom Walk campaign encourages individuals to spend a day working in another department, to "walk" in someone else's shoes. Southwest intends and works at making the "Southwest Spirit" a part of every employee's psyche. According to Herb, there are several leaders in place who could step into his job tomorrow should the need arise.

According to Brian Lusk, "Southwest has made a conscious decision to ensure the survival of the Culture that Herb and out other Officers has encouraged. To me, the greatest Leadership skill is the ability to share knowledge and power, and Herb embodies that skill. I think every Southwest Employee would join me in saying that Herb is the SOUTHWEST SPIRIT. And he ensures that the SPIRIT is a part of each and every one of us."

To this author, it seems that Mr. Lusk is quite correct. On a recent Southwest flight, I asked the ticket agent how Herb was doing with his cancer treatment. She and her two co-workers visibly lit up at the chance to talk about Herb. They gave me their full attention and assured me he was doing great, in fact, that he was in the office and working harder than ever. Their affection and admiration for their leader was palpable.

Interestingly, in the video that Herb sent me about his thoughts on leadership, Herb noted that we all die. "We all have only one opportunity to make some mark on the world and on life." He notes that he would like to have written on his tombstone, "He tried like Hell." There is no doubt in this author's mind that Herb has not only tried but has succeeded in building a company which is not only the most profitable airline in the industry, but which has a unique focus on employees which spills over into an exceptional value and experience for customers.

Articulate and Dramatize the Vision and Encourage Follower Commitment

A leader's vision is only as good as the degree to which it is accepted by the followers. First you need to hire people with the potential to adopt the vision. The vision is an important part of the hiring process. At Southwest, the corporate vision is very much related to good customer service, both internally and externally and attitude is considered a more important qualification than education and experience.

We spend a lot of time trying to hire employees who have a customer service focus and are altruistic. We're very zealous about hiring. We would rather have somebody with less education and experience but with a great attitude. (Kelleher, 1998, 47)

Follower commitment is also encouraged through training programs. All employees get customer care training even those who don't deal very much with external customers; they still have internal customers. Says Kelleher,

The focus is entirely upon how to get different people with different backgrounds to work together harmoniously for a goal. What makes companies ultimately perform well is when everybody is leading and there's a little less management and administration--bureaucracy, in other words. (Kelleher, 1998, 47)

Demonstrate Empathy and Sensitivity to Followers' Needs

Management guru, Tom Peters, has called Herb Kelleher perhaps the best CEO in America--a CEO who plays many roles for his employees: "coach, quarterback, cheerleader, sage, father figure, huggy bear, entertainer, friend, and legend." (Melymuka, 1998, 71)

Peters has been equally impressed with Kelleher's business sense and love of his people. Kelleher is as shrewd a businessman as I've met, but it's his humanness that's so exceptional. He frequently peppers his remarks with "love", "fun," and "spirituality." He rips CEOs who sit on numerous outside boards and hang out mostly with one another. Kelleher insists that he gets a kick from being around Southwest's people. (Peters, 1995, 53)

A good way to establish the importance Kelleher puts on the company's employees is to note the art work at corporate headquarters where hundreds of framed photos of employees decorate the walls. "The feeling is of being in the den of your neighbor's house, with a generation's worth of family photos staring back at you from the pine paneling."(Welles, 1992, 44+)

Kelleher takes a personal interest in other ways. Each anniversary of a Southwest employee is recognized. Marriages, deaths in the family, and other personal events are recognized as well. Says Kelleher,

We have a lot of celebrations of different things, but I'm talking about a

personal communication in terms of cards, in terms of notes--"sorry to hear about the death of your grandfather"- that sort of thing. And that is a prodigious process for 27,000 people. But I would estimate, and this is just off the top of my head, that everybody at Southwest Airlines--all 27,000--hear from us in one way or another, probably five times a year. (Anonymous, 1999, 40)

Projects Self-Assurance and Treats Followers with Respect and Attention

The respect and attention that Kelleher projects to his employees is easy to establish. He spends a lot of time with them. Soon after Kelleher returned from a fishing trip with some of his pilots, he noted, "I think leadership is valuing the time you spend with your people more than anything else that you do."

To Kelleher, employees, not management, are the most important asset at Southwest Airlines.

Take the pyramid--and turn it upside down. Turn it on its point. Down here, at the bottom, you've got the people at headquarters. Up there, at the top, you've got the people who are out there in the field on the front lines. They're the ones who make things happen. They're the experts. You can compare our roles in the front offices to the military. We're the supply corp. We're not the heroes. We supply the heroes, period. The heroes are out there. (Lee, 1995, 9+)

Kelleher himself admits that when one of his vice presidents complained to him that a mechanic or flight attendant could get to see the boss before the vice president could, Herb replied, "Bill, I want you to understand why that is. They're more important than you are."(Kelleher, 1998, 46)

It's not overstating the case to say that Kelleher loves his employees. In fact, the word "love does not suffer from taboo-status it has at most companies. Employees laugh in the hallways, hug one another, and express affection for staff, again taking cues from Kelleher. A hugger and a kisser, he regularly tells employees how much he loves and values them. ("Southwest Thrives on Image of Wackiness," 1999, 7E)

Projects Competence and Success and Thereby Enhances His Own Image

In a video on leadership, (1999) Kelleher explained how he lives the Southwest vision every day.

If every day you are an ambassador to all of the other people saying I am the leader, I am going to show you by example the type of company that we want. I'm going to make you proud of the job we do, you can continue to do it.

Kelleher also has demonstrated his willingness to roll up his sleeves and load baggage or hand out peanuts on Southwest flights. Not only does this demonstrate his ability to do these jobs, but it assures the employees that Herb is "one of the guys," not the typical CEO who wouldn't be caught dead doing menial work. Kelleher sees the role of the general office as one of support to people in the field, not the other way around. Says Kelleher,

I think it is very important that you have a hands-on attitude, that you're willing to jump in there and help. (Video, 1999)

Even Herb's dress style reflects the casual and friendly style of Southwest Airlines. One journalist recently found him at the Dallas headquarters dressed in his version of a CEO power suit, a denim shirt, gray slacks and Topsiders. (Jones, March 1999, 22)

Empowers Followers and Assures Them of Their Competency

The Southwest philosophy is to push decision-making down into the ranks and allow the front-line employees to make operational decisions. For example, if a plane is closed up and ready to taxi out to the runway and three frequent-flyer customers come running up at the last minutes, should the plane be reopened for these customers?

Well, our policy is we have no policy. It's up to the person there on the ground. Everything we do is like the old Moody Blues song, "It's a Question of Balance." (Welles, 1992, 44+)

Provides Followers with the Opportunities and Support to Experience Success

Nobody illustrates how Kelleher gives opportunities to competent people as well as Colleen Barrett, Executive Vice President for Customers. Barrett started out as Kelleher's legal secretary and how has the second most powerful job in the company. Says Barrett,

Southwest is a cause, not a career. We offer people a chance to be themselves, not to be robots. When you trust people until they show they shouldn't be trusted, people respond. (Anonymous, 1999, 38)

Even Kelleher's famous parties--impromptude or planned--have a way of encouraging employees to be successful. Says Kelleher, "What we do communicates itself to the outside world in better service and warmer hospitality. (Gruner, 1998, 123)

Conclusion

To the authors, who admittedly are avid Southwest customers, Herb Kelleher seems the epitome of the charismatic leader. The traits and behaviors of charismatic leaders have been well

established and Kelleher fits them all. A confirming factor is that if one looks at the follower behaviors most often associated with charisma, i.e., awe, inspiration, and empowerment, these behaviors are very obvious among the Southwest employee body. On a recent flight from New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale, the author asked a counter agent how Herb was doing with his cancer treatments. All three counter agents gave me their full attention and assured me that Herb was doing great and spending even more time in the office than usual. Their affection for him was obvious; it was like asking someone how their favorite uncle was faring.

In a letter from Supervisory Editor of Executive Office Communications, Brian Lusk, there was more proof of the esteem with which Herb is held in the company. Said Lusk,

To me, the greatest Leadership skill is the ability to share knowledge and power, and Herb embodies that skill. I think every Southwest Employee would join me in saying that Herb IS the Southwest Spirit. And he ensures that the Spirit is a part of each and every one of us--from an Executive Vice President to a new-hire Ramp Agent. Even more importantly, he has given us the means to keep that Spirit alive for the day when he should retire. (1999)

The question does remain what will happen when Kelleher eventually leaves the company. Some, like shareholder Michael Shaever, recently demanded that Kelleher shed at least one of his roles as Chairman, CEO, and President. ("Proposal Would Ground Airline CEO, May 25, 1999) Kelleher's recent illness highlights the concern. Despite the assurances of Lusk, it is hard to ignore the larger-than-life personality of Herb Kelleher and wonder how the company will fare in his absence. Hopefully, this is a question whose answer will be a long time in coming.

References

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