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

"Ask your employees what's important to them. Ask your customers what is important to them. Then do it. It should be that simple."

The above comment of course assumes you have your core purpose and values as the center of the business, and from the market you serve ask these questions.

We did this especially well at one business I ran, and there was a fantastic flow as everyone communicated and worked together to cover each other if they needed time off or a change in their schedule, among many other things.

This came from asking the question of what was important to them; not just at work, but away from work as well. The question would bring out those things that could be looked at and worked with which made the workers tremendously motivated and appreciative of our efforts to work around their desires and needs as best we could without hurting the business.

A great benefit of it was almost any time we would ask something of our people, almost 100 percent of the time they would respond to us as well, taking care of what we needed.

This really isn't that complicated, as Kelleher stated. The problem comes when we go about our daily business without engaging and talking with our people and customers.

All of it means nothing though if we don't follow up. Only doing it is doing it, as one of my mentors had taught me. Execution, or those that follow up on input, will be able to run their businesses in a far more successful and profitable way than those that forget to ask these right questions.

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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