Colleen Barrett on Leadership at Southwest Airlines

by Krista Bjorn on November 29, 2011

“Leading with luv is not always easy, especially when circumstances are stressful,” said Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines and co-author with Ken Blanchard of the new book, Leading With LUV. “Our internal mission is to always practice the golden rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Going with that is a respect for people. You don't judge.”

Barrett believes that Southwest Airline's record of stellar customer service correlates directly to the genuine affection and care they demonstrate for each other at work each day.

“I don't know how you can ever expect to have external customer service be exemplary if you're not doing it internally,” she said.

Maintaining a family atmosphere of love and mutual respect begins at every interview for every position in the company.

Southwest Airlines looks for three things: warrior spirit, servant heart, fun-loving attitude.

“We hire for attitude and we train for skills,” Barrett said. “We turn down very well qualified people if we see something about their attitude, demeanor or behavior that tells us they would not be a good fit within our family.”

This consistent standard of good attitudes makes it easy for Southwest Airlines to encourage trust when it comes to employees making decisions.

“As long as it's not illegal, unethical or immoral you do what your heart tells you to do, as if this person was a member of your own family,” Barrett said.

On 9/11 when a plane's passengers and crew were stranded in Sioux Falls, “They sat and watched TV for 16 hours straight, and people were getting so depressed,” Barrett recalled.

Instead of waiting for someone else to do something, a crew member rented a bus and treated everyone to the movies and pizza because he thought they just needed to get out of the hotel. He paid for it all himself and never considered asking for reimbursement.

Barrett was proud and thrilled. “We have a very egalitarian spirit and warm, happy people,” she said.

Southwest Airlines also trusts their leaders to display the three vital qualities they expect of their employees.

“You can't hold your employees accountable if you don't hold yourself accountable to them,” Barrett said. “You've got to walk the talk yourself. If you don't, the whole thing becomes a facade and nobody follows anything.”

Living this benevolence out moment by moment can be difficult, but Barrett strives to lead by example.

“I fake it until I make it,” Barrett admitted with a laugh. “I want to be left alone until I've had at least 2, maybe 3 cups of coffee in the morning.”

But once the day starts, it all boils down to making a choice to show love.

“You have to be patient, you have to understand that people absorb differently at different speeds,” she said. “Body language says far more than words do. You can't be slamming doors, you can't not be making eye contact. Families disagree and have conflict and have loud disagreements, and we're no exception. But if you're respectful about it, if you at least talk from the heart, and you're really honest and truthful, if people really respect you, people get it.”

For those moments when folks inevitably mess up, Barrett sees only one option, “You apologize, you make it up,” she said. “You have to show your vulnerabilities. I've done more than my fair share of apologies.”

Barrett's devotion to employees and customers stems from the way she was raised.

“We were really quite a poor family when it came to money and material things,” Barrett explained. “But my mom just loved people. She celebrated everything, no matter how small…. Most of our celebrations others might have thought were crazy, but she was a great model in that regard.”

She tries to carry that same attitude into her work environment. “We try to make heroes out of our people every time they do something right,” Barrett said.