Introduction
In this report, we review the book by Simon Sinek “Start with Why” focusing on the leadership style of a prominent leader and answer questions based on a lesson learned in class. The review will focus on the leadership style of Herb Kelleher who is a co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Herbert Kelleher is considered as the best CEO by the Fortune magazine in The USA. In the book by Simon Sinek, he shows what separates the successful business leaders like Kelleher from the mediocre leaders.
Leadership style
Herb Kelleher is the co-founder of Southwest Airlines and was able to build the most profitable airline in America. Under the leadership of Kelleher, Southwest airline was able to become the most profitable, cost efficient and productive airline in the industry. The leadership style of Kelleher helps answer many pertinent questions related to leadership and also the role of leaders in organizations. With his model of leadership, Kelleher managed to achieve amazing results. The results of Kelleher indicate that he practices what he preached. What Kelleher preach is that, take care of your people, take care of your customers, and do it with humor and humility.
The leadership style of Kelleher is popular because of charisma and empathy. Kelleher did believe in the power of being oneself and doing well for others. It could be for employees, peers, partners, and even passengers who were not his clients. According to Sinek (2011), Kelleher did have an empathetic approach to everything around him. It the high moral values and also the genuine devotion to doing something good, it led him to become a respected leader by everyone. His leadership style and traits enabled him to build a brand that has a unique place in the corporate history of America.
Kelleher had a genuine concern for his people and his actions to help the survival of Southwest Airline are some of the pillars of his success. His concern to people did demonstrate that he tried doing the right things firms. One characteristic of Kelleher’s leadership is that he always put employees first. Many organizations normally consider customers as being always right; however, Kelleher wanted to connect with his employees and keep them happy. According to Kelleher, he believes that if the employees are happy, they will be able to make customers happy. (Sinek, 2011) States that Southwest Airlines has the least number of complaints in the aviation industry. It indicates that the approach of Kelleher to keep the employees happy and have employees take care of client’s interest work wonders.
Positive impact of the leadership style
While as a CEO at Southwest Airlines, Kelleher considered leadership as a relationship; thus, he also was included his followers and their interests in the process of leadership. According to Northouse (2015), a leaders should be fully aware of the followers and their interests, ideas, motivation, attitudes, and positions. Kelleher always included his employees in the decision-making process and worked with employees in achieving the organization goals.
Kelleher leadership has been able to build the most profitable airline. Kelleher built Southwest Airlines around his idea of providing inexpensive flights. According to Sinek (2001), that was what Southwest offered. However, the airline did not only succeed in providing inexpensive flights. Instead, it succeeded because it had a deeper mission. The Southwest’s Why was to champion the common man in his travels. According to Sinek (2011) in the 1970s, there was only 15% traveling population by air. The large companies was servicing the small size of the market. However, Southwest considered their competition as being the car and bus. It means that they were the champion of the common man, and that was the Why they started the airline. The Why of the company is a factor that contributed to the success of Southwest. According to Sinek (2011), when a business does not have a clear mission, they will focus on the short-term economic gains at the expense of the long-term success.
Under the leadership of Kelleher, there had never been a year when the company did not turn a profit even including after 9/11 and during the oil crisis in the 1970s and 2000s. Everything that the airline does and says is authentic. Everything about the company reflects the original cause that Kelleher set out to a companion. Keller emphasizes the idea that people come first, and everybody is a leader irrespective of what their job is meaning that the employees are the most valuable asset at the airlines. Because of his belief, the employees can provide exceptional services to customers that result in the success of Southwest Airlines.
Situations
According to Northouse (2015), all leaders have the ability to find good fits for joining the organization. When considering the example of Southwest, it is a great example of an organization with the trend of hiring good fits. The ability of the company to find people who embody their cause tends to make it easier for it to provide great services. For years, Southwest Airlines did not have a complaints department. Kelleher did talk a lot about the need of hiring for attitude and believed the airline needed to hire good fits responsible for offering great service. In the 1970s, Southwest decided to put their flight attendants in go-go boots and hot pants as their uniforms. When recruiting the flight attendants, they realized that people applying for the jobs were majorettes and cheerleaders. The majorettes and cheerleaders did fit perfectly at Southwest as their attitude, and whole disposition was about cheering people (Sinek, 2011). When Kelleher realized the situation, he considered recruiting only the cheerleaders and majorettes. Kelleher believed that great companies do not hire skilled people and motivate them, but they hire motivated people and inspire them. The strategy that Kelleher used in this situation helped to acquire the appropriate people who fit the job description. The flight attendants hired were able to create a fun flight and also intangible services that other airlines were not able to imitate.
Critique the approach
When considering the situation that Southwest was at the moment, the approach that Kelleher took was appropriate, and it worked for the best of the company. Kelleher wanted to create a unique corporate culture and managed to do so through hiring cheerleaders and majorettes who had a great attitude and their outlook was cheering people. The approach used was unique, and I would handle the situation the same way that Kelleher used. Kelleher considered hiring employees who were already motivated even without the skills, and they were ready to wear the new uniforms. The new employees loved cheering people and according to (Northouse, 2015), it is important to hire employees who love what they are doing to clients.
Reference
Sinek, S (2011). Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Penguin Group
Northouse, P (2015) Introduction to leadership. SAGE Publications
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in custom essay paper writing if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom research paper services.
