Top 25 Herb Kelleher Quotes

I’ve been asked a number of times what was my proudest accomplishment when I was still very active in the day-to-day affairs of Southwest Airlines. I always said job security for our people.

I guess the worst moment I ever had in business was the fear that Southwest Airlines wouldn’t get off the ground.

Who says a lighthearted approach to business is incompatible with success?

Southwest isn’t a ‘This is my job, that’s your job’ kind of company. Being successful is our job, and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that.

I love battles. I think it’s part of the Irish in me.

I don’t really have any peeves, and I fly other carriers a good bit. My experience has been good in terms of getting on the airplane expeditiously and getting to my destination as need be, on time, with my bags – which I carry on.

I’ve always said manage in good times so that you’re ready for the bad times.

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

I forgive all personal weaknesses except egomania and pretension.

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.

Our people know that if they are sick, we will take care of them. If there are occasions of grief or joy, we will be there with them. They know that we value them as people, not just cogs in a machine.

I just always have felt that people should be natural in their behavior, that they should be able to derive enjoyment from whatever they do. When they derive enjoyment, they tend to work together better; they tend to be more productive.

Nothing kills your company’s culture like layoffs.

Most people think of us as this flamboyant airline, but we’re really very conservative from the fiscal standpoint.

Fight hierarchy and bureaucracy as hard as you possibly can. Don’t ever let it become the master; always remember it’s the servant.

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

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.

One piece of advice that always stuck in my mind is that people should be respected and trusted as people, not because of their position or title.

My suggestion is that if you need someone outside your company to prepare a mission statement for you, then you really don’t know what your mission is, and you probably don’t have one.

As far as value is concerned, the principal reason that I moved to Texas from New Jersey many, many years ago was because I recognized that Texas was a much more entrepreneurial state than New Jersey, that the opportunities to start things were greater in Texas. And my vision was fortunately fulfilled.

We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude. Because we can train people. We can teach people how to lead. We can teach people how to provide customer service. But we can’t change their DNA.

I want to see Texas remain an entrepreneurial powerhouse in the United States.

You want to show your people that you value them, and you’re not going to hurt them just to get a little more money in the short term. Not furloughing people breeds loyalty. It breeds a sense of security. It breeds a sense of trust.

Culture is intangible. It’s spiritual. You can’t buy it.

I’ve found that many of the greatest ideas surface in bars because that’s where many people cultivate inspiration.