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

"All decisions are made based on clearly defined corporate values which are communicated clearly and frequently to employees and customers."

The statement made by Kelleher above is extraordinary in the breadth it covers in a very short, but easy to understand assertion.

Every one of the insights are worthy of comment, but in this post let's focus on the beginning two words of his idea: "All decisions..."

For whatever reason, business leaders and managers find it in their minds at times to take away the word "all" from above, and substitute the word "some." It is when the happens, that a series of events can be set in motion that will result in an unknown number of problems.

The reason there needs to be a constant flow of communication across any company is because of that word "some." We can never assume that anyone in a company has the clearly defined corporate values as the underlying foundation for making decisions.

Constant communication and reminding must always be part of the business process. That is essential to eliminating the "Some" word above. Some decisions should never be made outside the core values of a company. The key is a clearly defined set of values, and from there a constant stream of communication reinforcing those values over and over again.

That word "some" is powerful. It can take on a life of its own so fast that it should scare business leaders in the sense of never losing their vigilance over this issue.

Of course it must start with business leaders who have bought into the core values and make it their priority to keep it in their consciousness all the time.

It can be surprising when we adhere strongly to this how much easier our jobs become from hiring people to promoting them. Everything springs forth from core values. It's our job to embrace and be values evangelists wherever we are placed in our companies.

Herb Kelleher was as good at this at Southwest (LUV) as it gets.

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

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