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Tag: SouthWest Airlines

  • BUSINESS PLAN on COCKTAIL NAPKIN

    BUSINESS PLAN on COCKTAIL NAPKIN

    Know the iconic business plan crafted on the Cocktail Napkin

    In the book, The Storyteller’s Secret, Carmine Gallo highlights the iconic business plan that was crafted on the cocktail napkin.

    The message behind this is that an idea needs to be simplistic enough to explain in easy terms.

    As you can see in the insight mentioned below a casual conversation led to the birth of the iconic SouthWest Airlines

    Like the business plan about SouthWest Airlines, Carmine Gallo mentions wonderful other facts on storytelling in his book.

    Another such insight has been mentioned below.

    https://viewpointsunplugged.com/the-15-percent-rule-at-3m-corporation/‘

    To know more about the author Carmine Gallo, please visit the below link:

    https://www.carminegallo.com/

  • SouthWest’s SMaC recipe for success

    10X organizations led by Level 5 leaders are characterized  by the adoption of SMaC principles.

    SMaC stands for Specific, Methodical and Consistent.

    A SMaC recipe is a set of “durable operating practices that create a replicable and consistent success formula”. It is clear and concrete without fluff, precise in guiding an enterprise on what to do (and what not to do) while reflecting the outcomes of empirical validation and insight.

    Listed below are some of  Howard Putnam’s points followed at Southwest Airlines adhering to SMaC principle for lasting success:

    – Remain a short-haul carrier, under two-hour segments;
    – Utilize the 737 as our primary aircraft for ten to twelve years;
    – Stay out of food services

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Great by Choice

  • Why just copying a business model will never work?

    SouthWest Airlines copied their model from Pacific SouthWest Airlines , even copied their name but eventually carved a niche out for themselves.

    This is because Herb Kelleher was successfully able to communicate the WHY which translated into all the employee touchpoints with the customers.The consistency of messaging is the reason SouthWest has had customer loyalty over the years.

    Seeing the rising popularity of SouthWest’s low cost model , prompted United to Start TED and Delta to start SONG as the low cost variants.

    Since both United and Delta copied the WHAT from SouthWest and did not focus on the WHY hence these models never took off.

    Mentioned below links showcase the respective failures of United and Delta with their low cost segments.

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/

    Source Adweek

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/business/delta-to-close-song-its-lowfare-airline.html

    Source NY Times

    Thus just copying the WHAT is not sufficient for long term sustenance.When the WHY is clear and communicated that way is when customers truly become loyal customers.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why