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

"We have to consider how things may fit into our environment."

Here's a good example of how Herb Kelleher describes filtering through ideas we get from other sources. We've talked in the past at managersrealm about great leaders and companies always get their ideas from numerous sources, including their competitors, and adapt it to their specific businesses.

At the same time, I've seen a lot of large companies simply copy what someone else is doing right down to every detail, not thinking how it would impact the business or if it even works good with it. They copy the idea because it works for their competitors alone. That's a bad habit to get into.

So the example Kelleher has offered, is in relationship to Jet Blue at the time. It was in concerning the possibility of starting up in-flight entertainment. Southwest Airlines (LUV) and Kelleher had noticed Jet Blue was very successful with it on their longer routes. But the key was they had started the business with this as part of the flight from the beginning.

In the case of Southwest, they already had 415 airplanes at the time they would have to consider putting the entertainment in. That fact alone made the decision from an investment standpoint completely different. They would have to rewire the entire fleet at the time if they were going to incorporate it into the business.

The other thing the company had to consider was 60% of their planes still only flew short routes, so the entertainment wouldn't make sense for them, which centered on watching movies.

Kelleher concluded "when we look at competitors we have to be mindful of the fact that just because a certain approach has been successful in one environment, it may not work for us."

We have to make the same decisions. Doing something because everyone else is, is a sure way to get into things that are beyond our expertise and our mission. If it doesn't make sense for our business, we need to just pass on it, no matter how much the practice is being hyped.

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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