Speeches and Presentations from Southwest Leaders
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Ginger Hardage |
As Southwest’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Ginger Hardage entered the room in Southwest’s newest city, Denver, she was met with friendly faces and attendees eager to absorb insight on brand development.
Ginger began her speech with a PBS documentary on Southwest’s Culture. The video features Southwest’s Executive Chairman, Herb Kelleher, dancing and singing with Southwest Airlines Employees. Definitely not your typical Fortune 500 company!
Citing that Southwest is known for its unique Culture and fun-loving attitude, Hardage attributed that image to Southwest’s Employees.
“We are very proud of the way Customers, peers, analysts, and the general public view our Company’s internal and external reputation,” Hardage said. “The most critical ingredient in any company’s reputation or brand positioning is its People.”
Hardage added, “At Southwest, we believe that the way a Company behaves on the inside will find its way to the outside.”
At Southwest, the brand is truly the personalities of the People of Southwest Airlines and that personality begins at the top. Southwest’s Chief Executive Officer, Gary Kelly dresses up for Halloween each year. One year, he was dressed from head to toe as Gene Simmons, from the band KISS (including the face makeup!). Southwest’s Executive Chairman of the Board, Herb Kelleher, once arm wrestled another business leader over a slogan. And Employees frequently refer to Southwest’s President, Colleen Barrett, as “mom.”
While having leadership walk the walk is key, the real brand of Southwest Airlines lies within the hearts and the day-to-day actions of its Employees. Remembering that we live and work in an age of transparency, Southwest first nurtures Employees behind the scenes which leads to the brand the public sees.
Southwest hires for attitude and trains for skill knowing that skills can be taught, but attitudes can’t be changed. For flight attendant candidates, Southwest conducts group interviews to observe how the applicants interact with each other, and considers this a strong indicator of how the candidates will treat Customers.
“At Southwest Airlines we believe that Employees personify the brand. That is why you will see Employees featured in our advertising, and why we had no concerns about participating in the reality television show, ‘Airline!’. Transparency defines what Southwest is all about.”
Knowing that communication is key in any organization, Southwest Airlines takes internal communication very seriously.
“We put a lot of emphasis on keeping Employees informed and letting them know how vital they are as a member of the Team,” Hardage said. “We communicate with our Employees daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.”
Hardage highlighted a few of Southwest’s Employee communication tools. Examples included a weekly message recorded by Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly; a monthly newsletter, LUVLines, that Southwest distributes filled with stories that spotlight Employees as well as educational articles on Company issues and how Employees can affect the bottomline; and the daily email update Employees receive with quick updates on Company news.
Hardage concluded her speech by noting the primary challenges communicators encounter. “We must provide the level of knowledge and information that allows our Employees to act like owners and we must nurture our corporate Culture so Employees understand how their behavior contributes to how our organizations are judged.”
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