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Book Review

Lessons in Loyalty

How Southwest Airlines Does It – An Insiders View

CornerStone Leadership Institute - 2005 (128 pages in paperback)

Author Lorraine Grubbs-West

ISBN 0-9762528-5-6

Lessons in Loyalty is a fascinating book to read. For years, Southwest Airlines has become a legendary example of the power of servant leadership principles. Its achievements are impressive considering the competitive, cut-throat airline industry in which it thrives. Southwest Airlines has been named “one of the “Top Five Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune Magazine, It also has had the fewest customer complaints 18 years in a row as reported by the DOT Air Travel Consumer Report. The Southwest Airlines has been profitable for 31 consecutive years, named the “2^nd Most Admired Company in America by Fortune Magazine, and has an average employee turnover rate of less than 10%. If you made a $10,000 investment in Southwest Airlines in 1972, it would be worth more than $10 million today. Are you impressed yet? How they did this is a captivating read and the author tells gives us the real reasons.

Lorraine Grubbs-West was a senior executive for Southwest Airlines for over 15 years. Lessons in Loyalty is an “insider’s” view of work and life at the successful airlines. She discloses that what makes Southwest Airlines exceptional is “the strong employee and customer loyalty it has developed – a feeling of devotion, duty and attachment to Southwest”. Most organizations would like to achieve this exceptional level of loyalty, yet they consistently perform actions that alienate people rather than foster loyalty. The author provides 9 Loyalty Lessons (Chapters) that outline the positive principles that have made the airline a winner. Some of the lessons include thought-provoking titles like “Hire Attitude – Train Skills”, “People Give as Good as they Get”, “Luv “Em in Tough Times”, “Do What’s Right”, and “Nurture the Corporate Family”.

Lessons in Loyalty is written with the same enthusiastic spirit and confidence that has made the airlines a phenomenon. There have been a number of fine books written to explain how and why Southwest Airlines has risen to the top tier of corporations. This excellent book, from the perspective of a former employee, is easy to read and reveals some exceptional principles not discussed in other books on the subject.

weLEAD rating – highly recommended

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