Herbert D Kelleher is the CEO and the co-founder of the Southwest Airlines that started its business operations from being a small airline company comprising of four jets only to becoming an industry leader. The CEO Kelleher is respected and much appreciated by his employees and has earned commendable respect on the Wall Street. The airline company has harnessed 38 years of profitability, a record no other airline company has been able to break as yet. This is due to the leadership style of Herb Kelleher and the due respect given to the employees.
Herbert Kelleher follows a transformational leadership style. This leadership style can inspire and enhance the positive changes within the people who are following this leadership. The people who possess this leadership style are normally very passionate, enthusiastic and energetic. The leaders are involved in each and every process and also help every member to remain focused on their work in order to succeed . Herb has been able to inspire and motivate others to work. His transformational leadership has motivated the employees where the employees are able to create a sense of vision of their own work.
The successes and failures have been handled well and throughout the importance is not given to the infrastructure and hierarchy, but the employee management . Another important success factor has been innovation. This was the core idea of Kelleher to reduce extra services, eliminate food and bring innovation to the boarding pass, air tickets etc. so that to act as a low-cost provider airline.
An important lesson learnt from Herbert Kelleher’s life is to act in a sincere manner, focus on goals, give importance to values rather than materialism and give utmost respect and significance to the employees .
References
Cherian, M. (2014, Oct 14). 5 Enviable Leadership Lessons From Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines. Retrieved Feb 02, 2017, from LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141014112727-57650290-5-enviable-leadership-lessons-from-herb-kelleher-and-southwest-airlines
Cherry, K. (2017, Jan 31). What is transformational leadership? Retrieved Feb 02, 2017, from Very Well: https://www.verywell.com/what-is-transformational-leadership-2795313
Cote, B. (2015, Oct 13). Leadership Analysis: Southwest Airlines Flying High with Herb Kelleher, Former CEO. Retrieved Feb 02, 2017, from LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-analysis-southwest-airlines-flying-high-bob-cote-phd-mba
Johnston, T. (2006, Apr 01). Herb Kelleher: Manage in Good Times, So You'll Do Well in the Bad Times. Retrieved Feb 02, 2017, from Graduate School of Standford Business: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/herb-kelleher-manage-good-times-so-youll-do-well-bad-times
