Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

"...we look at them for attitude as well [as business smarts]. We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise, than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude."

When I looked at Kelleher's comments about hiring for attitude, I knew that at the beginning of my days blogging on ManagersRealm I had written something like it. When I went back and looked, it was my second post I had ever done on the blog. It was January 9, 2006.

Another thing that caught my eye on that post that I hadn't remembered, was that I used Herb Kelleher as an example then also concerning the importance of hiring for attitude above anything else.

Like Kelleher says after his quote above, "...we can train people. We can teach people how to lead. We can teach people how to provide customer service. But we can't change their DNA."

There's something in that last sentence we need to look at. Many times out of good hearts and wanting to give someone a break, we've hired people that we really shouldn't have because we thought that we could change who they were. That is always a big mistake.

When we look at potential hires or those we may want to promote, we have to assume as far as attiude goes that what you see is what you get, and the person will never change. While some people have changed, the great majority don't. We must assume the worst in these cases because almost 100 percent of the time we'll be right.

Think of how many times we've heard people that get married and say that they thought they would be able to change the person once they were married. It happens all the time. Business is the same. We can't count on someone changing their attitude in any way, shape or form. This is just one of those areas that we have to discipline ourselves to resist. The consequences are huge and the stakes too high to miss getting the right people in the business and positions.

Other Herb Kelleher Sources:

Special Event

Leadership: The Essential Herb Kelleher

The CEO as Brand Guardian

Herb's way

Speeches and Presentations from Southwest Leaders

Southwest Airlines: The Hottest Thing in the Sky

Have Fun, Make Money

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