What sets apart a "culture of the deal?" For one thing, no culture of communications. Under Frank Lorenzo, it was all about cutting costs. But, as Gordon said, when you combine the "culture of the deal" with a management team hell bent on cost-cutting for the sake of cost-cutting, what do you get?" "A pizza no one wants to buy."
Instead, Bethune's goal was to set up a "stewardship culture." (American, please note.) In this culture, the mindset from top to bottom is on eliminating waste and making all employees feel that they are owners of the company. Southwest Airlines was clearly the forerunner in this industry in terms of implementing this management strategy.
But as I have said in the past, starting from scratch is one thing. Taking an existing culture and changing it is another, as the folks at US Airways are now finding out.
