Let the other person save face.
—Dale Carnegie
In the previous chapter we focused on the principles and tactics of organizational leadership. Now let’s look at a leader and a company where those ideas have been put into practice with outstanding results.
Herb Kelleher cofounded Southwest Airlines in 1967, where he held the esteemed position of chairman and CEO for more than forty years. Every aspect of his company was built on a horizontal, democratic model, both for the customers and the employees. This is one organization in which the pyramid has been rendered flat as a pancake.
Southwest Airlines relies almost exclusively on a single type of plane, the Boeing 737, which simplifies maintenance and reduces the need for spare parts inventory. For the customers, there is no first class and there are no seat assignments, but there is an industry-leading record of on-time departures and arrivals. On top of that, Southwest employees enjoy a corporate culture that is intentionally democratic.
Employees even participate in hiring decisions. Once technical skills have been assessed, current employees report on how well the job applicant seems to fit into the team. Team members spend hours with each applicant in casual but revealing conversation about sports, family, or current events. The goal is to find people who are service-oriented and idealistic. Attitude and commitment are the most important factors in a hiring decision. Skills can be taught or augmented if need be.
It’s also important to have a sense of humor. The atmosphere there is fun-loving and unpretentious. Prospective team members must be comfortable with that. Kelleher himself likes to laugh. He strongly believes that you shouldn’t have to change your personality when you come to work, and he’s appeared at company events in costumes ranging from Elvis to the Easter bunny.
Once, a group of pilots came in for job interviews. As the applicants arrived for their appointments, they were told that formal business attire during the interview would not be acceptable. Instead, they’d have to wear a pair of Southwest Airline shorts. So each applicant found himself wearing the shorts along with his dress shirt, tie, and jacket. Those that did not see the humor in this would clearly not fit in at Southwest, regardless of their technical qualifications. They were not hired because compatibility with the organizational culture was the all-important requirement.
Herb Kelleher says things that many other organizational leaders say, but few live up to. He says that leadership by example is crucial. He says that true leadership is actually servanthood, and that the best organizational leaders have to be good followers. They must be able to accept other people’s ideas even when those ideas conflict with their own. They have to be willing to place their own ego needs beneath the needs of the organization. Above all, they have to respect the needs of team members and do everything possible to satisfy them.
In terms of organizational leadership, it’s this last point that distinguishes the true master. During the ’80s and ’90s a tremendous upheaval occurred in American business when leaders began drastically cutting workforces in an effort to boost bottom lines. Downsizing was the word for it. This had enormous impact at all levels of society—an impact still being felt.
It also gave rise to a personal style among some corporate leaders of almost gleeful disregard for the human cost of downsizing. Very few of the most unrepentant downsizers still hold power today, which is no surprise to Herb Kelleher. He believes the success of Southwest Airlines is directly connected to the fact that there have never been any furloughs or layoffs. The airline industry is highly competitive, very cyclical, and often chaotic. Kelleher’s leadership was based on the principle that team members would be part of the company for a very long time.
Kelleher believed that if they didn’t feel secure and confident about that from the moment they were hired, their commitment would diminish. Their customer service would go down, and ultimately the strength of the organization will suffer.
In an interview, former CEO Herb Kelleher remarked on the number of leaders who study Southwest Airlines with an eye to establishing a similar business environment and business model. Yet Kelleher does not really have a formal method or a well-established set of procedures. It is simply a matter of hiring people who will do their best for the customers and for their fellow team members. Visiting executives find this hard to believe. They want a doctrine. They seek out a complex system of dos and don’ts, yet Kelleher feels that anything like that would ruin the organization.
Dale Carnegie, a natural teacher, liked to use the word enrollment to describe the relationship between leaders and employees in the creation of a successful organization. Mr. Carnegie believed that leaders must offer their team members the chance to improve themselves, just as a university offers new skills to students who choose to enroll. Team members, by their own choice and for their own benefit, enroll in the strategy, tactics, and principles of the leader. This does not necessarily have to happen at the moment of hiring, but the leader must see the potential for it to happen sooner rather than later.
Enrollment requires focused effort and continual reinforcement. There are no shortcuts. Masters of organizational leadership do not dictate: They enroll. As one CEO explained, “If you enroll one person, then you have the start of a chain reaction. You’ve changed someone and that person enrolls someone else or maybe two people or maybe ten. They become able to enroll a hundred more.”
This is like an old cowboy movie where the hero is going to have the final battle against the villain and rescue the heroine. The hero rides out on his white horse, and then all of a sudden there’s a guy next to him. Then there’s another guy on the other side, and then ten more on the left. Ten more appear on the right, and a minute later there are hundreds of guys riding by his side. The dust is flying and they’re on their way. This did not happen because the guy in the white hat made a phone call and said, “Can you meet me by the creek at ten o’clock in the morning for the big gunfight?” It happened because the cowboy decided to go to the creek himself if need be. When people saw him do that, they wanted to ride along.
It is the leader’s job to create those feelings, the sense that we are in this together. Leaders need to instill a sense that all are part of a team, and that each and every contributor is important. They should encourage the team, enforcing that “Together we’ll get it done.” Yes, everyone has bills to pay and everyone wants a paycheck. Perhaps everyone also wants a year-end bonus, and a great benefits package. A strong organization, based on real leadership, will never flow from financial incentives alone, nor will it grow using intimidation on employees who have a fear of being fired.
People who work for a paycheck will only work as hard as it takes to get paid. If enough people start thinking that way, nothing much is going to get done. A strong organizational leader recognizes people, includes them, encourages them, trains them, asks their opinions, praises them, and empowers them to make decisions. A wise leader shares the glory with them, seeks their advice, makes them understand how valued they are, encourages them to take risks, gives them the freedom to work as they see fit, and then conveys belief in their abilities by getting out of the way. At its best, organizational leadership evolves by showing people that you trust, respect, and care about them.
Great inspirational leaders have the ability to make people follow them. This is a unique gift, and even a form of genius. The gift of the organizational leader, however, is subtler and just as great. It requires the ability to get people moving forward. The movement comes, not because of the person leading them, but because they are leading themselves.
Each organization has its own distinctive culture. This is a combination of the influences of the original founders, the past and present leadership, crises, events, history, and profitability, and much more. It all adds up to the routines, rituals, and “the way we do things here.” These behaviors shape the way people act within the organization. They clarify what it takes to be in good standing as a team player, and they indicate appropriate behavior for each circumstance.
The culture of an organization is a relatively abstract concept. The climate, on the other hand, is the feel of the organization on a daily basis—the individual and shared perceptions and attitudes of the organization’s members. The culture is the deeply rooted nature of the group, and is a result of long-held formal and informal systems, rules, traditions, and customs. The climate is a short-term setting created by the current leadership. Climate represents the beliefs about the feel of the organization by its members at the present time. This individual perception of the climate comes from what the people believe about the activities that occur every day and even every minute. These activities influence both individual and team motivation and satisfaction, such as:
• How well does the leader clarify the priorities and goals of the organization? “What is expected of us?”
• What is the system of recognition, rewards, and criticism in the organization? “What will happen if I make a mistake?”
• How competent are the leaders? How highly are they regarded by team members?
• Are leaders free to make decisions?
Organizational climate is directly related to the leadership and management style of upper management, based on the values, attributes, skills, actions, and priorities. Another aspect of this is the “ethical climate”—the feel within the organization about the activities that have “right or wrong” content or those aspects of the work environment that constitute ethical behavior. The ethical climate is the feel about whether we are doing things correctly in a moral sense: the feel of whether we behave the way we ought to behave. The behavior and the character of the leader is the most important factor that impacts the climate of an organization.
Culture is a long-term, complex phenomenon. Culture represents the shared expectations and self-image of the organization, the mature values that create tradition or the “way we do things here.” Things are done differently in every organization. The collective vision and common folklore that define the institution are a reflection of culture. Individual leaders cannot easily create or change culture because culture is a part of the organization. Culture influences the characteristics of the climate by its effect on the actions and thought processes of the leader. But everything you do as a leader will affect the climate of the organization.
Here are some ideas for creating optimum culture and climate through consensus and collaboration
Effective teams work closely together to reach consensus or agreement. Consensus requires that each participant agrees on the point being discussed before it becomes a part of the decision. Not every point will meet with everyone’s complete approval. Unanimity is not the goal. The ability to use collaboration requires the recognition of and respect for everyone’s ideas, opinions, and suggestions. The goal is to have individuals accept a point of view based on logic. When individuals can understand and accept the logic of a differing point of view, you must assume you have reached consensus.
Follow these guidelines for reaching consensus:
• Avoid arguing over individual ranking or position. Present a position as logically as possible.
• Avoid “win-lose” statements. Discard the notion that someone must win.
• Avoid making people change their minds just to avoid conflict and achieve harmony.
• Avoid majority voting, averaging, bargaining, or coin flipping. These do not lead to real consensus. Treat differences of opinion as being indicative of incomplete sharing of relevant information: Keep asking questions.
• Keep the attitude that holding different views is both natural and healthy to a group.
• View any initial agreement as suspect, especially if it happens quickly. Explore the reasons underlying apparent agreement and make sure that members have willingly agreed.
1. Under the leadership of Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines created a unified and mutually respectful culture within its organization. Do you treat everyone with mutual dignity and respect? If not, write a list of individuals whom you do not treat this way. Then with some introspection, make note of why you do not treat them with respect. Very often, if something in someone else triggers us, it’s because this person has a trait that we struggle to come to terms with within ourselves.
2. Once you have noted why you struggle with that individual, create a plan to shift your perception. Often writing a list of the things that you DO respect in that individual and focusing on those traits can shift your feelings about him or her, and allow you to see him or her in a different light. After doing this exercise, make note of any changes within yourself, the other person, and your relationship.
3. Herb Kelleher claimed that he did not follow any particular system or methodology. Do you? To clarify your own organizational leadership style, write out a statement on how you lead others. What do you look for when hiring new employees? What interpersonal practices do you insist upon within the organization? What kind of incentive or reward program do you follow? What do you do to encourage team building?
4. If you were the cowboy with the white hat, who within your organization (or within your life as a whole) would follow you into battle and why? What have you done to gain their trust, loyalty and admiration? What can you do to enlist even more?