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

The thought is simple, but the execution is exceedingly complex.

All the great business leaders have always understood what the core of their business was and is. In that area things should always be simple and easy to understand. In a number of businesses the purpose is communicated in a way that when after it's done being said, everyone says, "What?".
  
There are times when people listen to what is simple, and think because it sounds too simple, that it's not implementable. This is really a wrong way of thinking. Just because somethings simple to understand, doesn't mean that it's simple to execute.

Take Herb Kelleher when he was asked one time why the company didn't simply fly to Mexico City as one of Southwest Airlines (LUV) routes. His answer was that to do that would require the entire company to be changed. To offer international, and specifically Mexican flights, would mean the whole process would have to be adjusted because of that one route.

What he was saying is while it sounds easy to fly a plane to Mexico City from America, and it would be as far as a plane flying to the city. But everything from baggage, passports and Mexican requirements would have to be dealt with. In other words, people didn't really understand what they were asking when they suggested the route.

When it comes down to it, purpose needs to be kept extremely simple. But operations, processes and practicals are always changing and being adjusted in accordance to the changing world we live in. Purpose has to hit the center of the bullseye and never be moved, execution is a moving target that has to always be adjusted and adapted to.

This is one of the reasons that some companies have great difficulty in competing with other companies in their field. Even though they may know what the goal and vision is, it's the one that executes it the best that comes out the winner. A simple but powerful vision doesn't take away from that reality.

Other Herb Kelleher Sources:

A Culture of Commitment

HERB KELLEHER

The wild turkey

Herb Kelleher on the Record, Part 1

Herb Kelleher Talks about How Southwest Airlines Grew from Entrepreneurial Startup to Industry Leadership

Belief Model for The Leadership of Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)

Herb Kelleher, Chairman, CEO and President, Southwest Airlines

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