This month we will discuss:
- Cows Really Don’t Stay Milked
- Dog Quotes
- Chesapeake News
Cows Really Don’t Stay Milked
Happy New Year! I hope this year will be a great one for you. Of course, you have a lot of input into that.
So how many of you flew Southwest Airlines over the holidays? Bless your hearts. Good grief, what a mess they were.
Eons ago, Southwest set the standard for airline service. In my book “Let’s Don’t Pave the Cow Paths—Lessons in Disruptive Leadership” published in 2005, I have a chapter on comparing Southwest and what was then US Air. The chapter is named, “Look up in the Sky! It’s Protective Capacity!” I recommend that you get a copy of the book. You can get it on Amazon or we prefer you get it directly from HERE. If you get it directly from us, we will throw in an additional treat.
One of our clients at the time lived next to a Southwest pilot who sent the article to Herb Kelleher, who was the CEO of Southwest. Herb really liked the article and sent me a cool letter which we have hanging in our office. My guess is Herb is dead by now and rolling over in his grave.
Protective capacity is too large of a topic to address in a blog, but imagine you are hydroplaning on wet pavement. When you are hydroplaning your system (you, your car, road, etc.) are not stable meaning it does not take much to send you in the ditch. So, you slow down (gain some protective capacity) and now all is well. That is what happened over the holidays to Southwest. They were running too close to the vest on capacity, one small unplanned event would throw you into chaos and they never recovered. There is a little more to it than that but that is the gist of it.
The old Southwest under Herb focused on providing excellent service to their customers. In order to do that their processes need to be stable to absorb the odds and ends that come up unexpectantly every day. And, they used to make a lot of money.
When you focus on a good customer experience you normally make money. When you focus on making money, you may not provide customer satisfaction so you achieve neither – you lose money while making your customers angry. My bet is Southwest is going to be paying for this poor performance for a long time. Especially if their competitors take advantage of the opportunity.
I have gotten off on a small tangent unrelated to behavior and leadership development. My “inner engineer” busted out some. So, I asked myself, “What do I want to accomplish with this Blog? What do I want to happen? Well – I really want you to purchase this book because I know it would bring value to you. Here are some of the other chapters:
- Sometimes you need a little Cow Poop.
- Don’t Leave the Toilet Seat up During National Neuter Month
- Identity Crisis in the Convent
- If You Find a Load of Caulk in Your Front Yard Then You Might Be a Redneck
- Can You Substitute Haggis for Cow Poop?
- Let’s Try and Improve Ethics
- Leaders Must Honor Folk
Dog Quotes:
- I found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source. Doris Day.
- We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. In return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made. M. Facklam
- Dogs teach us many things about being a better person that people don’t teach.
- For me, a house becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail and that incredible measure of love that we call a dog. Roger Caras
- A dog wags its tail with its heart.
- While he has not, in my hearing, spoke the English language, he makes it perfectly plane that he understands it. He uses his ears, tail, eyebrows, various rumbles and grunts, the head slant or a heart rendering sigh to get his meaning across. Jean Little
- One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you are feeling blue is he doesn’t try and find out why.
Chesapeake News:
Our Dan McCormack has won TTI Brand Ambassador of the Year Award for the work we do in the community, specifically with law enforcement and prisons. We are quite proud of Dan and our efforts in this arena.
Our products can help you know your people better. Are you considering filling a vacancy or a promotion? We can give you additional insights into these important decisions. Give us a buzz. We would love to help you.
John Covington