Kelleher Looked for Humble People
When Kelleher looked at the hiring process for Southwest Airlines (LUV), he counted one thing as the most important aspect of the people that would be hired: humility.
With the unique business culture of Southwest, he knew that those with that humility would fail miserably in the company. You had to be willing to learn to be successful there.
He mentioned another interesting aspect of how he viewed things: "...it takes at least five years to become a really good practitioner." I've heard others say as far as mastering a discipline, that it takes at least 1,000 hours of study and learning to become great at it.
It does make me wonder about those that like to write about the job hoppers who stay for a few years then jump onto the next opportunity. About the time they are becoming good at what they do, they go off into the next thing.
As far as what Kelleher wanted his new people to focus on, it was in learning the operations of the company, how to treat people and how to specifically handle their customers. Once they learned those basics, then the company would teach them how to plan and other aspects of the job.
To be successful at this from the point of view of the company, it required a humility in people to be willing to go through the process to prepare them for being successful with Southwest.
Who a person is will always be more important than what they know. We need to hire for humility and attitude more than any other factor. Kelleher and many other great managers have come to the same conclusion.
Other Herb Kelleher Sources:
Herb Kelleher on the Record, Part 1
Belief Model for The Leadership of Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)
Herb Kelleher, Chairman, CEO and President, Southwest Airlines
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