The Culture of Southwest Airlines

Herb Kelleher and the Culture at Southwest Airlines Organization Theory What is Culture? The Random House College Dictionary describes culture in a social sense by stating it is ?the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.? Thus if we substitute the social world that we live in, for a business organization that we work in, we get only a slightly different …

…the drinking.? Herb Kelleher responds, ?At least they have that divided up.? Kelleher?s advice to entrepreneurs: ?Ask your employees what?s important to them. Ask your customers what is important to them. Then do it. It should be that simple.? That initial $10,000 capital Herb Kelleher invested in that smoke filled bar in San Antonio is now worth an estimated $200 million.4 Not bad for a lawyer who loved to tell jokes and listen to people.