Herb Kelleher Quotes

“Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.”

“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.”

“You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”

“Think small and act small, and we'll get bigger. Think big and act big, and we'll get smaller.”

“The business of business is people.”

“I tell my employees that we're in the service business, and it's incidental that we fly airplanes.”

“If you don't treat your own people well, they won't treat other people well.”

“Leading an organization is as much about soul as it is about systems. Effective leadership finds its source in understanding.”

“I learned it by doing it, and I was scared to death.”

“If you create an environment where the people truly participate, you don't need control. They know what needs to be done and they do it.”

“I think my greatest moment in business was when the first Southwest airplane arrived after four years of litigation, and I walked up to it and I kissed that baby on the lips and I cried.”

“We do have a plan. It's called doing things.”

“Because I am unable to perform competently any meaningful function at Southwest, our 25,000 Employees let me be CEO. That is one among many reasons why I love the People of Southwest Airlines.”

“You have to treat your employees like customers. When you treat them right, then they will treat your outside customers right. That has been a powerful competitive weapon for us.”

“Reality is chaotic. Planning is ordered and logical. The two don't square well with one another.”

“You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that's what makes your shareholders happy. So there is no constituency at war with any other constituency.”

“Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats. If you regard being a CEO as important because it's a powerful position, you're always going to regret that at some point you had to step down. If you regard it as a responsibility to others, you may say, "Whew!”

“Herb was the Grand Master Yoda of the low-fare airlines. He was the leader, the visionary, and the teacher: without Herb, there would be no Ryanair, and no low-fares airlines anywhere. His passing is a sad day for low-fare airlines and sales of Wild Turkey bourbon.”

“He was a man of great imagination. He was a man of diligence. He paid careful attention to the details. And he was a man of integrity. I think we will look back on Herb Kelleher as an example of the kind of people who ought to be our leaders.”