One of the many ways exceptional leaders become exceptional is by being committed to continuous learning.
As you know, learning comes in various forms.
Said my Episode #2 podcast guest Tom Corrick, retired CEO of Boise Cascade, “There are lots of ways to learn. One of the things I do every day is look for a Wall Street Journal article in which everything went wrong. And there’s always one, though I have to dig sometimes to find it. When I read that article, I get to experience a disaster in leadership without actually having to live it.”
So true.
The well-documented disaster Southwest Airlines experienced during the recent winter storm and holiday season is as instructive as a case study in the Wall Street Journal. We can all learn from SWA’s operational chaos, flight cancellations, lost luggage, and overall frustration created.
For me, three key leadership lessons (tips) emerge from the pain Southwest Airlines caused its customers and employees.
Leadership Tip #1
Leaders must listen, really listen, to the details their team is telling them—not ignore them.
Had SWA leaders listened to their team’s concerns about the outdated scheduling and baggage tracing software, it’s highly likely the disruption to flight schedules, crew work schedules, and lost baggage could have gone smoother—like it did for their competitors who faced the same winter storm delays.
Leadership Tip #2
Leaders must make decisions for the correct business reasons.
Investing in an organization is no small task. After carefully considering all the data available and receiving input from team members, leaders have to get it right. In this case, investing in outdated software to avoid a future disaster seems to be a better business decision than the reported alternative—returning money to shareholders with dividend and share repurchases.
Leadership Tip #3
Leaders must truly understand what is important to their customers, then deliver it.
Air travel customers purchase airline tickets for business, holiday gatherings, life milestones, college breaks, reunions, vacations, and other reasons. All they want is to travel safely, leave and arrive on time, and be treated responsibly should things go wrong. Whatever your customers want, don’t ignore them.
It’s wise to learn from these and other recent mistakes by SWA leaders to affirm your commitment to your customers and employees — and always respond in the right way should things go wrong.
