employee, customer, shareholder paradigm

[legacy-to-LCC]

partially in an effort to resurrect the "if i were DoUgIe, what would i do" thread, i am curious to know what people think this business model would look like in reality: employee, customer, shareholder. this paradigm surfaces a lot in the more intelligent conversations; but, alas, i am not sure what this theory would look like applied.

although my contributions to the now buried "if i were DoUgIe..." thread were dismissed as being not serious (which they clearly were, despite minor infusions of relative humor), i am genuinely curious to know what this, i believe brilliant, business model would look like for the new usairways.

disclaimer: hope is one thing...efficacy is another, particularly for team IMPOtempe, but ideas can be fun, too...

have at it, aviators...

 

[Art at ISP]

This should turn out to be an interesting topic if it is not hijacked.

To the question--I refer to Piney Bob's quote of an interview with Herb Kelleher in another thread:

Herb Kelleher: The Thought Leader Interview
by Chuck Lucier

The cofounder and chairman of Southwest Airlines tells why a firm’s people are everything.

S+B: Let’s start with some words from your award. You made an “audacious commitmentâ€￾ to putting employees first, customers second, and shareholders third. How did you get away with that for 20 years?

KELLEHER: When I started out, business school professors liked to pose a conundrum: Which do you put first, your employees, your customers, or your shareholders? As if that were an unanswerable question. My answer was very easy: You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy. So there is no constituency at war with any other constituency. Ultimately, it’s shareholder value that you’re producing.

This is the same philosphy shared by another successful airline CEO and the proof is in the numbers. They are the most consistently profitable of the legacy carriers still around since 9/11. In one of my first conversations with this gentleman, he reiterated to me that his employees are his first priority, customers are second, and shareholders third.

Happy employees are more likely to make sure there are happy customers--and happy customers result in repeat business, increased loyalty, and by natural extension then more profits, ergo happy shareholders.

It cannot work the other way around, as we can clearly see by US today.

 

[JoeDirt]

I had the distinct pleasure of starting my career working for a gentleman(a term I do not use lightly) who knew this concept all too well. The operation was run with military like precision and the employees were treated with respect and dignity. The gentleman never forgot an employee's name and was always welcome with open arms everywhere he went throughout the system. The employees were loyal, dedicated and extremely hard working and being employed by this company was a great source of pride. People would often inquire as to how to get a job because we were more like a family than a corporation. The passengers benifited immensely from this and the reward was a very happy and very loyal following. Passengers were actually willing to pay a little more if needed to fly on us. I could go on but will leave you with this little tidbit. As a way to show our appreciation for this leader we (the employees) purchased an aircraft and presented it to him. This was a full sized, brand new, passenger carrying Boeing 737 and was named the TOM DAVIS PACEMAKER. His leadership is greatly missed and may he rest in peace.

 

[Harry Callahan]

I had the distinct pleasure of starting my career working for a gentleman(a term I do not use lightly) who knew this concept all too well. The operation was run with military like precision and the employees were treated with respect and dignity. The gentleman never forgot an employee's name and was always welcome with open arms everywhere he went throughout the system. The employees were loyal, dedicated and extremely hard working and being employed by this company was a great source of pride. People would often inquire as to how to get a job because we were more like a family than a corporation. The passengers benifited immensely from this and the reward was a very happy and very loyal following. Passengers were actually willing to pay a little more if needed to fly on us. I could go on but will leave you with this little tidbit. As a way to show our appreciation for this leader we (the employees) purchased an aircraft and presented it to him. This was a full sized, brand new, passenger carrying Boeing 737 and was named the TOM DAVIS PACEMAKER. His leadership is greatly missed and may he rest in peace.

Buddy a BIG +1 if only those days could return.

 

[orioleman]

very well said Joe

I wish doug had read his bio's and learned something instead of trying to mimic Frank Lorenzo.

It was really great to be on the good side of the airline industry in the 80's. unfortunately we at US

are now learning what it must have been like to work under Lorenzo or Iccan