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Summary: Interesting and fun
Review: A good story about a good company. How a bunch of off the wall people put together a great airlin
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Summary: I Expected More...
Review: A very good book. A lot of history about one of the best airlines and corporations in the country. Good manual on corporate culture. Does make you love Soouthwest, but that's pretty much it... Closer to the end they just talk how cool the company is... I was not able to finish it.
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Summary: Good story about how to build a succesful company culture.
Review: Excellant story about the little guy and the giants. What is most important is that it fully shows us that people make the difference. If you don't have them, you don't get it.
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Summary: NH reader who appreciates the book, company, and authors.
Review: For anyone who feels that there must be a better place to work, the Frieberg's have written this for you! A successful company, well led and positive, with a GREAT story about Southwest Airlines for anyone who seeks to combine passion with productivity. It should be required reading for every CEO in America. (They'd also do well to give it to every one of their managers!) This book just sets the standard for corporate leadership, in how to run a truly caring and successful organization. Well done!!
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Summary: A must read for all owners of labor intensive businesses!
Review: Herb Kelleher and his company have rewritten the book on nurturing and growing the service business. I own a professional maid service and bought copies of this book for our entire management team - we discuss chapters at our weekly meetings and extract ideas to take our company to new heights. It's working!!
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Summary: Love the Company, Hate this Book
Review: I am a big fan of SWA but this book is almost unreadable. It's like a Christmas card to a loved one that goes on and on and on and on to the point of being just stupid and embarassing.
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Summary: How To Transform Your Company, Your Job, and Your Life
Review: I am a Life-Quester, always looking for adventure, passion, joy, and richness in life. What I've discovered is that I have to get out of the cave of my own little world and my own limited experiences and become enriched by the worlds and experiences of others. I use to be an adrenaline junky - now I am a total life passion junky. What does all this have to do with Southwest Airlines? Everything. When I can experience other persons in a process that transforms their lives, that creates a phenomenally successful business of unsurpassed value and service to their employees, customers and stockholders, that energizes, frees, and tickles everone it (they) touches, I am transformed too. Drink, swish, and swallow the power of SWA and the SWA story in. Then, if you are open and ready, let the creativity flow in you of how what they have done, do every day, and the fun and fulfillment they experience and bring to others open you, your team, your company, your agency, your life up to new wonders and successes that are waiting there, have been waiting, and will always be waiting just around the corner, for you to discover them. Thank you SWA. Thank you Kevin and Jackie.
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Summary: Makes you really question your own choice of employer...
Review: I am not entirely sure what the other reviewers herein were looking for in this book. Certainly it is not supposed to be an action thriller or fluffy romance novel. What it IS, however, is a fascinating insight into a fascinating company. So often during this book, as you read quotes from Herb Kelleher, you will find yourself dropping it into your lap, slapping your forehead and saying (out loud at times) "this makes SENSE! Why doesn't anyone ELSE do it this way?!" I began to truly feel that I could now fly Southwest and be a part of the family because I know all the history, quirks and inside jokes. Of course, it also seems that if you were to ask any given ticket agent or flight attendant... they would be happy (and proud) to tell you anyway! I do agree that, at times, it seems that the authors didn't read their final product cover to cover. There is a peculiar amount of resetting concepts that have already been mentioned previously... not unlike an author reintroducing us to the same old characters that he uses in every single volume of a series for purposes of people who didn't read the earlier books. This, of course, is rather silly to do from chapter to chapter in a book, however. Considering the overall concept of the book and the fact that the amusement that is provided from all the little annecdotes scattered throughout, I don't think it's something that detracts too much from its value. If you are a boss, an employee or patronize the service industry in any way, this is a valuable read. I wish it were mandatory in many circles!
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Summary: Great reading: exciting to learn about SW!
Review: I am one of those weird persons who had barely heard about Southwest before reading this book: all I'd heard about them were good things, yet I had neither flown them nor read much about them. My Organizational Behavior class turned out to be the place to learn about them, and I have to say the book helped me see how a company with values that are strongly tied to having fun at work, having respect for its employees, and so many more things that demonstrate human nature at its very best, can thrive even in the face of the hardest times, when most of the major carriers are undergoing severe restructuring (bankruptcy) or layoffs. In today's economy, where the airline industry has been one of the most impacted after 9/11, Southwest now has a market capitalization larger than that of all the major carriers put together and, as of today, continues to be profitable, as it has been since 1973. Quite a feat, I think you'll agree, and how they do it is something you can learn by reading this very nice book. Just make sure you grab a bag of peanuts to go with it! ;)
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Summary: too many accolades, too much Glizt, and not enough GUTS!
Review: I am totally amazed at the incredibly suspicious "shovel's of accolade" being heaped about Southwest Airlines. I am up-in-the air wondering if Herb Kelleher had the chance to review it before it was published and, whether or not, he was actually satisfied with this national bestseller. The first eighty pages was great reading, but then the authors get repetitive and extremely obnoxious to the point where standing behind a revved-up jet engine and lighting a smoke was preferable. I purchased this book because it was supposed to be the business book to read for the entire year. The horrors! (hehehe) The fact that wizards like Tom Peters and Ken Blanchard would wholesale themselves! What gives Southwest it's incredible impact upon the airline industry is their strong culture and people power. This enables them to be the 'price leader,' but they get uppity and lose traction when it comes to performance as a 'value leader.' Don't get me wrong. Southwest Airlines is the only U.S. carrier to be profitable every year since 1973. They have been extremely successful at forcing the rest of the industry to restructure, be more competitive and provide better service in their markets. Herb Kelleher had to combat several adversaries to stay in business to succeed. He has become a legend in the industry. There are critics who believe Southwest is a 'cattle-car' airline. Believe it or not, there are experts who will concur that the reason their performance is so great is because they do not have anything to offer in the first place, except price.
Southwest Airlines cannot be everything to all people. They supply a niche that only works in large markets. It is sheer hell to fly from Orlando to San Diego. It took four stops! If I got stuck in-between legs, too bad. I was on my own for the night. The same aircraft that started in Providence had restrooms that decomposed and did not get cleaned until arrival at the final destination in Portland. And whew, it smelled! This is due to the quick turnarounds that MANAGEMENT enforces. The flight attendants tossed jerky-treats to everyone while they huddled in the back of the plane with bags of food from Burger King and oversized ice-cold drinks. Sorry, but I recall not too many people on that flight felt it was exceptional customer service. This type of service is common enough to see for yourself. The authors are not balanced on the issue of customer service. Airlines such as US Airways and Delta Airlines provide fabulous service. If they didn't, they would be out of business. Don't be too quick to condemn the majors! Yes, the infrastructure of the majors is flawed, and they will go out of business, but for different reasons. The point is not to shoot arrows at them without better analysis. The book would have been more valuable had there been more analysis. The authors had no right to interlace their own philosophy and value system into a book that was suppose to highlight Southwest Airlines and Herb Kelleher. It had the potential to be a great business book. There are valuable morsels of peanuts tossed thoughout the book. There are some great moments and some wonderful pictures, provided you don't develop an allergic reaction.
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