![]() After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong? As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. The focus was on finances not operations. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.īut as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well. The new COO had little or no operational background. Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership. He didn’t engage front line employees much. He did not spend much time on the front lines. Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. ![]() Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. What happened yesterday started two decades ago. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |