In this Business Monday episode, Sam and Travis are back to express their thoughts on a recent flight ordeal. Get a hold of the latest on the Southwest Airlines meltdown, its effect on their customers, and some advice to help us be on track with our business goals while delivering customers' expectations. Don't miss out!
Key takeaways to listen for
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
About Sam Salah and Travis Revelle
Former corporate executive Travis Revelle switched to entrepreneurship in the internet and healthcare sectors, founding many successful businesses and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Sam Salah is a well-known businessperson and a lifelong serial entrepreneur interested in everything from technology to high-performance vehicles.
This episode is suitable for the C-Suite, entrepreneurs, business leaders, managers, and front-line employees because each of them is a wealth of material and a powerhouse when combined.
Connect with Sam and Travis
LinkedIn: Travis Revelle | Sam Salah
Connect With Us
Master your context with real results leadership training!
To learn more, visit our website at www.greatsummit.com.
For tax, bookkeeping, or accounting help, contact Dr. Nate’s team at www.theincometaxcenter.com or send an email to info@theincometaxcenter.com.
Follow Dr. Nate on His Social Media
In this Business Monday episode, Sam and Travis are back to express their thoughts on a recent flight ordeal. Get a hold of the latest on the Southwest Airlines meltdown, its effect on their customers, and some advice to help us be on track with our business goals while delivering customers' expectations. Don't miss out!
Key takeaways to listen for
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
About Sam Salah and Travis Revelle
Former corporate executive Travis Revelle switched to entrepreneurship in the internet and healthcare sectors, founding many successful businesses and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Sam Salah is a well-known businessperson and a lifelong serial entrepreneur interested in everything from technology to high-performance vehicles.
This episode is suitable for the C-Suite, entrepreneurs, business leaders, managers, and front-line employees because each of them is a wealth of material and a powerhouse when combined.
Connect with Sam and Travis
LinkedIn: Travis Revelle | Sam Salah
Connect With Us
Master your context with real results leadership training!
To learn more, visit our website at www.greatsummit.com.
For tax, bookkeeping, or accounting help, contact Dr. Nate’s team at www.theincometaxcenter.com or send an email to info@theincometaxcenter.com.
Follow Dr. Nate on His Social Media
[00:00:00] Sam Salah
Everyone that I talk to is like, man, if you look at Southwest Lights, Southwest Lights are high. Southwest used to be the, like the bargain airline, and it's not anymore, but it's fine too cuz I'll pay more. But what are you giving me more? So if you're gonna charge me more, what are you doing differently?
[00:00:18] Dr. Nate Salah
On this episode of a Call to Leadership, we jump right into technology innovation. What happens when organizations have antiquated systems and everything goes wrong? Can you keep your clients? Can you keep your customers? The brand loyal ones? Will they stay? I jump in with Sam and Travis as we embark on our own exploration in light of the FAA debacle as we travel across the country to Silicon Valley.
[00:00:47]
It's quite an interesting conversation in real time. What's really happening? I can't wait for you to listen in. I'm Dr. Nate Salah and this is A Call to Leadership. Travis Sam. Here we are not on our normal studio in St. Louis, Missouri. We are here in California. Yeah. Down in Silicon Valley. Actually looking over overlooking the beautiful valley as we are in our leadership retreat for our leadership elite group.
[00:01:11]
We talk a lot about the group. Mm-hmm, when we're in our, podcast episodes and, we're on site. Interestingly, this is the innovation capital of the world. Part of our retreat is really studying Steve Jobs's leadership and his innovative mind. But getting here, I called it Flight Mageddon. Yeah. Uh, and I mean, a lot of people experienced that with the Christmas flights, but we had a huge FAA meltdown on our way in here on Wednesday, and I'd like to just kind of talk about what happened. What was your experience and what does it mean for antiquated systems? What does it mean for tech? What does it mean for business? Mm-hmm, you know, can businesses survive? Can they even thrive without having the forward motion that's required for businesses to be relevant? So let's just dive right in.
[00:02:01]
So Wednesday, We all had a flight together. Mm-hmm. , there were six of us on the same flight. Mm-hmm. , I got a text message from you, I believe. Mm-hmm. , it said Check your flight. Yeah. Cuz you've been rebooked. Yes. Mm-hmm. . And then, so you two were on one flight. Mm-hmm, I was on another flight. The rest of the group were all on different flights. Yeah. Different times of the day. And then what happened? And then all of our flights. So then a lot happened.
[00:02:26] Travis Revelle
You go ahead and explain. Yeah. So, uh, About 6:30 in the morning. We're supposed to have a flight at 11:30. I check it. They changed us to 1:55. So I called Sam, let 'em know, hey, flight's changed to 1:55. So I was like, I'm gonna take my kids to school cause I'm gonna be out here. I'm not gonna see 'em for a few days. So I take 'em to school, run a couple of errands, happen to look down at nine o'clock, and they had changed the flight back to 11:30. So then it was a mad scramble, right? Like calling, saying like it was a mad screamer. My mom. To just, no, I was like, push back, got my feet up. You know? Right. So, so then we, we rushed there to get there for 11:30 flight, and then that gets delayed until about one o'clock. So it was a 12-hour travel day for something that should have been five and a half hours.
[00:03:14] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. And what was really interesting is that six people were on the same flight and then we all got dispersed to different flights. Was your flight full?
[00:03:25] Travis Revelle
One, flight was full, one flight was not.
[00:03:27] Dr. Nate Salah
Okay. Mm-hmm. . So, and then here's the other thing. Of course, we had a dinner here that was scheduled, and of course a lot of people had plans changed and whatnot. So I was gonna go to the airport and I was just gonna get there early anyway. I said, you know, I'm gonna stop by the office now.
[00:03:40]
My flight doesn't leave till like two 30, but then it was like three 30 and then four 30, and then it's like, well, I'm not gonna be there. So I go up to the airport and they take a look. I'm like, look, I've got an event. Is there any way? Do you have anything? Like, yeah, oh yeah, we've got a flight that goes through mid. And you can hop on that and you'll get to San Jose at four 30. I'm like, why didn't you put our entire party? On that. What if my son was coming with me a hundred percent. You don't know that it's my son and you split us up, right? Right. He's going to this airport. I'm going to that airport. This is a huge mess.
[00:04:08]
Yep. So they're like, oh, by the way, you only have 28 minutes to get there, . So I've got my backpack on like, you know, the old OJ Simpson running through the, uh, You're that guy, . There's many of you. There's many of you. Right. Stuff falling outta my bag. Yeah. Cause it wasn't closed all the way. And people are like, Hey, here's your, you know, here's all your stuff. Right? I'm like, good Lord. I hope nothing else falls out that I know about. I get there and I look at the flight and there's like 40 seats. That's crazy.
[00:04:33] Sam Salah
Uh, it's such a mess. I could not picture a worse travel day that I've ever had in my life. Yeah. To go in a very sh I mean, it's a long distance from the Midwest, but it's not crazy. It's not crazy. Right, right. Yeah. I think the audibles constantly, right? Like as soon as our flight was pushed back hours, I literally took my foot off the gas pedal and I was like, oh, I got time. You know? And then I really don't like, Like postpone your flight three hours and then half an hour later, oh, it's the right, it's the right, it's back to the original time or even longer than that. Yeah. Because then, you know, what do you do?
[00:05:09] Travis Revelle
We're just canceling our flight. Like, what do you do? Why did they cancel our flight? You know what I mean? Like our, that was before the FAA meltdown. Mm-hmm. , right? And so I've never, never understood why did they cancel our original flight?
[00:05:19] Sam Salah
Because we depend on systems and algorithms, and that's how it operates. And when you have that type of system, if there's any type of disruption, it cascades.
[00:05:29] Dr. Nate Salah
Cascading effect. And so that's a great starting point. In around, you know, right at Christmas, there was the huge Southwest meltdown. Mm-hmm. . And what was revealed was, and a lot of people don't know this because it's not in the news that their systems are, what, 20 years old? I think they have older, not updated system. They have not updated. Yeah. So that was on Southwest. And the CEO of Southwest was, you know, forthright and apologetic and we're working on it. Right.
[00:05:54] Travis Revelle
But I think he was forced into that because there were multiple different Southwest pilots that were posting, you know, because I think if you think about Southwest and you think about the culture that they had under their previous ceo, which was like their original CEO, right? They were. Outstanding culture. Right. Always the best place to work. Always had the best customer satisfaction. They really believed in the servant leadership model where, you know, they put a ton of effort into, you know what they called loving their employees. Yeah. Which was kind of a play on the fact that they're hub out of Right love field. But because of that, right. It was always kind of a fun look, it's Southwest, right? Like you're not getting the best plane, you're not getting the best snack. No frills. There's no
[00:06:32] Dr. Nate Salah
There's no frills. Right? But still the darling
[00:06:34] Travis Revelle
But still darling. Yeah, right? You got treated really well. People were happy. They got you direct flights, you know what I mean? It was relatively cheap. Now, fast forward, right, and I've been a Southwest customer for years and kind of in St. Louis. For those that don't know, we're kind of forced to use Southwest because you know, once TWA was acquired, there isn't really any other airlines that do a lot of direct flights, however, used Southwest for years and years and years. Old CEO, retired, whatever happened. New CEO comes in and I believe he was a COO, right? So you have an operational guy who kind of came in who has kind of stepped away from that same servant leadership model and starts looking at, okay, we need to drive revenue, right? Right. So all of a sudden now Southwest prices are usually on par with Delta, which I think Delta is a far superior.
[00:07:19]
Airline experience In general experience. Yeah. And now you get into the fact that you were utilizing the system that you know when, when I did a little bit of research on, this used to be the system that all airlines used until 1978. Right. And in 1978 there's deregulation in the airline industry and they went to more of a hub and spoke model instead of this point-to-point. What really bothers me about the whole scenario is in 2021, Southwest received 7 billion out of one of the different Covid acts, right? The Great American Rescue Plan, whatever it was. And so they had 7 billion, and obviously some of that is to obviously, you know, keep employees paid. They weren't flying, but they weren't.
[00:07:58]
Right. They weren't using their planes. Right. They didn't take that time to say, okay, here's a time where our volume has probably been cut by 90%. Mm-hmm. , let's update our systems with this gift that the American taxpayers gave us. Mm-hmm. , right? To help us, yeah. Stay competitive. Right. And I would love to know what they did with that money.
[00:08:17]
I would love to know where that money is, because it obviously didn't go into systems. It didn't go into upgrading their fleet, you know, because we're still flying on planes. One of our flights yesterday didn't have wifi. Not a big deal, but it's 2023, right? , it's 2023. You know what I mean? Like how do you not have wifi on a flight in 2023?
[00:08:35]
Yeah. You know? And so it's just, you know, when you start to compound all these different things about Southwest, and I used to be, I mean, I've got a Southwest credit card. I used to be De Guy say, Hey, right. Fly Southwest. Fly Southwest, fly Southwest. And I'm literally at the point now where it's like, I'd rather have a connecting flight with a better experience with an airline that's more on time. Mm-hmm. , that's gonna have an airline that's gonna be more, it's gonna be an updated aircraft. Right. Rather than deal with this nonsense any longer.
[00:09:03] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. And it's like, okay, so what's the trade off? Because, so you, the culture, Southwest culture is nails in terms of, like you said, sort of the caring and the uh, just the love, the love of it. But it's not, but it's, that's the aura. That's what it was.
[00:09:15] Sam Salah
Yeah. I think that's what it was. I think what Travis is right is that image and. Feeling when you get to south has really been negative.
[00:09:20] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. In every aspect. Yeah. For the past, but, but, but have the year and a half. Have the flight attendants and the crews. I mean, I still see them, you know, laughing, joking. In fact, on this last flight, the flight attendant said, Hey, did somebody lose this? Right. Everybody looks up and she's got the instructions with, you know, what we're gonna do about the whole, you know, if somebody, something happens in the plane, she's like, now I have your attention.
[00:09:43]
Right? Like, ah, that's pretty clever. Yeah, they do Clever. Pretty clever. So I think that's still there. I mean, it's not like that's just gonna die. Like they're not gonna like end this sort of culture of having the lightheartedness and that, but the question is, does it match the whole experience? Because it's not just, that's just one.
[00:09:59] Travis Revelle
Well, and I really think, I really think especially, you know, it was illuminating to read a lot of these posts by Southwest employees, especially on Facebook, while all this stuff was going on where they were saying like, we're ready to fly you. Right? Right. Like, we want to do this. Like it is not us. Right.
[00:10:16]
Right. Where it seems like that culture still exists with their, you know, seasoned employees mm-hmm. That were there before, but it's not being lived and breathed by the executive team. Right. It's just a culture that is starting to stagnate within employees. Yeah. And that's not, you know, five years from now, if you have that culture and you have that type of organization, five years from now with attrition in hiring new people, that culture is no longer there.
[00:10:38] Dr. Nate Salah
Correct? Right. And that's what we need to think about. Right. I mean, we're. In Silicon Valley, right? Mm-hmm. , what do we do as leaders in the movement to continue to innovate? We're not thinking about, today, we're thinking about three to five to 10 years from they didn't innovate. What does it look like? The
[00:10:54] Sam Salah
systems that are failing need to be updated and fixed. That's a crutch in your business model that you need to address. You need to invest in your business entirely. Yeah. I mean, you have guys like me and Travis who so. Our careers, our whole careers. And now I'm like, I'm switching to Delta.
[00:11:12] Travis Revelle
I'm, I'm, and how many points do you have on Southwest right now? Half a million. Right, right.
[00:11:15] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. I mean, your card is like, yeah, and that's just Southwest.
[00:11:19] Sam Salah
That's not what, you know.
[00:11:20] Dr. Nate Salah
Our, and that's just you just one person out of how many, right? Yeah. Could you, so you lose me?
[00:11:25] Sam Salah
Who flies, you know, 15, 16 times a year, you know? And now I'm gonna go to Delta. You know, I always kind of stayed with Southwest cause it's home. Yeah.
[00:11:35] Dr. Nate Salah:
Mm-hmm, it's home. Yeah. You know, it's like, oh, I can go to Delta. And then you look at it and you're like, it's kind of nice. The seats are kind of better.
[00:11:38] Sam Salah
Yeah. You get to pick your seat, you have all these different options.
[00:11:42] Dr. Nate Salah
It's like, but you know what, I'm just comfortable here. Yeah. Now it's like, I'm not comfortable here. Right. Do you think this is a really good psychological aspect of this relationship with the individual in the organization? Mm-hmm. , do you, is that partially stemmed from you? You know what? If they're not gonna take care of me, why should I be loyal to them if they're not gonna think about my future or my needs? I mean, what happens in the person's mind, like yourself, who flies a lot? Mm-hmm. , who says all bets are off, becomes a risk.
[00:12:12] Sam Salah
So now when you fly, you know there's a chance it's gonna be late, there's a chance, you know it's gonna get canceled. Now you have to like calculate that in your decision, right? And you really think about Southwest has gotten expense. More expensive. More expensive, more. No, you know, it's not that much. It's not that expensive less than Delta. No. Get at all. If at all. Like there's times where it's more expensive. It's all like, everyone that I talk to are like, man, you look at Southwest, why Southwest flights are high. Yeah. Southwest used to be the like, the bargain. Sure. You know, airline and it's not anymore, but it's fine too cuz I'll pay more. But what are you giving me more? So if you're gonna charge me more, what are you doing differently?
[00:12:48] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, there's a tipping point. Yeah. See what's happened in your mind. And I think this echoes a lot of our listeners. Right. So, and businesses who are listening. Right. This echoes sort of this tipping point that you're willing to accept some level. Sure. Based on your own loyalty. You know what, if there's some here and there, cool, but there's this tipping point. You're like, hmm, yeah, that's about it for me.
[00:13:08] Travis Revelle
I mean, for me, it's starting all of the things that are different about Southwest that I used to overlook or just kind of quote-unquote deal with. Right? Yeah. Right. Like the cattle call boarding process. Right, right. You know, getting on and you have, you know, just pick a seat. Pick a seat. Which that's my biggest, sounds great, but it's like, it's annoying, right? Like it's just frustrating. Right. You know, especially when you're flying with multiple people because it's super hard to try to get everybody right.
[00:13:31]
Lined up and then it. . Now, the fact that I try to always do a carry on, but I would never check a bag with Southwest. Mm-hmm. , right? Like, I would never check a bag with Southwest, which limits where I'm going to take Southwest on what trips. Right? Because if it's a long trip, I'm not gonna take a chance on checking my bag and it being gone for five days.
[00:13:49]
Mm-hmm. , you know what I mean? And so all of those things compounding, it's death by a thousand paper cuts, right? All those things compounded my mind and it's like, hmm, even if it's 10, 20, 30% more on Delta, I know what I'm gonna get, right? I know exactly what seat I'm gonna get, whatever seat I want, right? Like it's my choice. I know I'm going to get a better experience. And for me, at this point in my life, that part is really kind of, it's been the tipping point, right? Yeah. This trip is the tipping point for me where it's just like, that's it. I can't, I'm.
[00:14:19] Sam Salah
I actually had long baggage on Southwest last year. Did you? I just remember now that you said that. So it's been like, you've been, you've been, you've been tee Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been a lot of, but like, I think until this last, you know, I was just like, man, and I know it's not, this last particular event, wasn't them just them, but it's like, it's all these things. Like it was them recently, right? Yeah. And then the systems issue. And then you had, you know, they had a run not that long ago where flights were being. They were all delayed. They were, I mean, they would've had all kinds of mean, this has been problem after, and it goes back to their system.
[00:14:51] Travis Revelle
Right? Like even though the FAA meltdown that happened, I guess it was
[00:14:55] Dr. Nate Salah
Wednesday. Yeah, Tuesday. Tuesday, Wednesday.
[00:14:58] Travis Revelle
I can't remember what day exactly was Wednesday, even though that wasn't their fault. Their system doesn't allow them to rebound quickly from that. Right? Right. And so it doesn't matter, like it's not Southwest, oh, you know, our planes are breaking down, but weather happens, things happen, right? Mm-hmm, you have to have a system that can get you back up and running and get people that are depending on you to be places. Right. with their families. Right. Especially coming out of Covid when people weren't traveling and it's like, you guys have had all this time, you've had all this money, you should have been prepared. I agree. Right? And they are not prepared. And now it is just, it's compounding on them. Right? These issues are compounding on them.
[00:15:38] Dr. Nate Salah
It's a compound. Yeah. So in any of our businesses, like for example, you know, with tax and accounting, right? If our software was old, or maybe we're still using paper and pencil, right?
[00:15:47] Travis Revelle
Yeah. You're just using paper and pencil. You don't use the calculator. You know what I mean?
[00:15:47] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. And so like we have some kind of, you know, paper issue, right? Right. And shortage. And so like, oh, you know, your tax couldn't get done on time. Whatever that ends up, you know, the situation is people give you a pass and say, okay, well they're making things happen. But then the next problem is the IRS has an issue, but because of our system, we can't deal with that issue. And people are just gonna be like, you know what, I'm just gonna go somewhere else, somewhere else. . I mean, and that's not just Southwest, not like we're picking on Southwest. It's just Southwest is the clear sort of discussion point right now. Mm-hmm. based on what's happening in any industry. Mm-hmm. I mean, your systems, your technology has to continue to stay current. Yeah. I mean, you will die.
[00:16:25] Travis Revelle
Yeah, absolutely. In that sword. And especially in such a, uh, dynamic industry of the airline industry. And, you know, and I obviously, you know, we're all capitalists, right? And we believe in free market societies and everything. But where it's challenging, as I was thinking about this this morning, is how do you start an airline, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, you wanna talk about a barrier to entry to like start an airline and then start an airline to challenge the big boys, right?
[00:16:49]
It's not feasible, you know what I mean? Right. Like it's really not feasible. No. So in this regard, this is where the government needs right to step in. Like where is Pete Buttigieg, right? I say his last name, You know what I mean? Like you're the transportation secretary. That's great. You pick up the phone and you do a news conference that you picked up the phone to call the CEO.
[00:17:06]
Right. But like, what are you doing? Right? Like what are you doing to make sure that these airlines are staying competitive when there's not that many airlines out there? Yeah. Right. The industry has been, you know, has, has constricted so much over the years that there's only a few big players. There's no need. You give Southwest 7 billion and there's just no need for them to update their systems. There's no need to bring it to the 21st century. It just blows my mind that this is happening.
[00:17:34] Dr. Nate Salah
Right. Well, yeah, and I think it speaks to like organizational values. because your consumer, your end user, they're looking and watching to see what's important to you. Mm-hmm, and they'll align that with what's important to them and make a decision, an informed decision on whether or not they wanna partner with you. Mm-hmm. Right? And so when you send the message and say, you know what? We're not really interested in having a system for you. Mm-hmm. , that makes your travel easy.
[00:18:00]
Mm-hmm. , right? That deals with potential issues before they. that solves problems instead of starts problems. Mm-hmm. , I mean, those are, you know, you're just checking these boxes. Yep. And so then wow, it sure does become apparent. Why didn't we do this? Mm-hmm. how many years ago? But it's not just Southwest, it's all of us. Mm-hmm. . And I wonder, okay, so now you've got people who likely will be leaving in droves, right? Who are, yeah. That's obviously the punishment.
[00:18:25] Sam Salah
Yep. I mean, you'll have guys. like me and Travis and you know, thousands upon thousands of people who are starting to move to other airlines. And I think that's the really, the ultimate, other than, you know, obviously the government getting involved, which, you know, at the end of the day, like bad leadership is the problem here, right? Yes. The leadership is the issue. Yes. You had, the old CEO was different. He had a different leadership philosophy, servant leadership, which is great airline industry. Now you have a, an operator who. who's out of touch apparently. So, um, that's cost, it's costing them.
[00:19:00] Travis Revelle
Well, and not only, not only a lot of customers and money, not only does it affect the customers, but it negatively affects the employees, right? Because they were stuck as well, right? And so now your highest valued employees, right? Your pilots, right? They're stuck for 24 hours. They can't get hotels. There's nobody there to support them. They're on their own, right? So I look at it. any company, the way you treat your employees is the way you're gonna treat your consumer.
[00:19:23] Dr. Nate Salah
A hundred percent. And you give them what they need to thrive. Right? So now you have your flight attendants, you have your front desk clerks, right? You have all them really having so much more stress added to their lives. Mm-hmm. because now they're having the, not only combat these issues, but also the perception that persona people are more upset, right? Yeah. They're just more tension with your customer. So like, you know, in your organization, like saying what is it that I need to make sure are the necessities so that my team can function at their highest level. Mm-hmm, absolutely. Leadership. Leadership. And if I'm not providing that, yeah. I'm losing you. Losing. We're all losing and I'm gonna lose great people.
[00:20:02] Travis Revelle
Yep. And I think this is one of this, I heard this will be one of the first quarters that Southwest is, has lost money. Yeah. Right. Because of all the money they had to pay out on this. Yeah. And that's going to.
[00:20:10] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, you said in first quarters, right? Yeah, because, right. Yeah. Right. So the big question then is, all right, so this is the case, right? And maybe someone listening today is like, shoot, I'm in that same situation. Mm-hmm, you know, maybe they haven't had the meltdown. Mm-hmm, but maybe they can see it coming around the corner and they're like, this is a warning sign because if I end up in the same situation, I'm gonna lose market share. I might, my business might even have to shut down because I don't have, you know, I'm not too big to fail. Right? Right. So that's a person who certainly needs to do the evaluation. Right. Now, what is it that's missing? Right? Where do I need to put money into it?
[00:20:43]
If I don't have money, how do I find that money? Because my business will not survive unless I get current, get up to date, get innovative, and innovation, not necessarily, I don't have to get ahead of the game.
[00:20:54] Travis Revelle
Just look at your competitors. Yeah. Right, I mean, that's the thing, right? Find that one company in your industry that is the best. Right. And figure out what they're doing. Ask questions. Yes. You know, like as business leaders, as business owners, you know, I love talking about my business, right? And so if somebody would call me and be like, Hey, I got questions for you. You know, like, I'm in the same business, but I, you know, I'm starting out, or you know, do you have any advice for me? I would gladly.
[00:21:20] Sam Salah
But when you're the big, when you're a big fish like that, that's why it's so hard to get big corporations to move, you know, because it's such a big, it's, you know, it's a bureaucratic nature. Small business is nimble, right? Yeah. If you're operating a small business properly, you can be nimble, right? Big corporations, there's a lot of red tape and you know, there's. But leadership, but.
[00:21:36] Dr. Nate Salah
It comes back to leadership. Because if you think about Herb Kelleher, and so like this history of Southwest, there was a company called Pacific Southwest Airlines. Mm-hmm. . And so during the deregulation phase, Southwest or Kelleher was wanting to find out, he's doing this research on innovation on where there were different airlines are going. And he saw the Pacific Southwest model, which was the no frills model. And during the deregulation era, he was able to then take that model and then integrate it. So what is he doing? He's out there seeing, what is it absolutely that is on the front lines that I can maximize the value of this so that I can meet my customer exactly where I know they need to be.
[00:22:13]
Mm-hmm. , and this is where it comes down to, do I know what my customers want and need? We've talked about this, right? It's 1 0 1, right? Mm-hmm. , do I have the capacities? The competence needs to meet those needs. Mm-hmm. . And do I stand out in the crowd? Mm-hmm. . And if all those three r n a s better sharpen your pencil? Absolutely. Yeah. So my question to you then, how could they ever win you back?
[00:22:35] Travis Revelle
You know, I mean, it, it.
[00:22:39] Sam Salah
Who? I don't think you come back after that. I think you leave and then you say, oh, maybe I'll give 'em a try again. Yeah. I don't, I don't think it's like, Hey, I can win you back. Right. I can't win me back. Right.
[00:22:48] Travis Revelle
There's, yeah, it would be a scenario in. You know, six months from now they happen to have a really cheap direct flight that I last minute get a shot. Yeah. I gotta take that. Yeah. You know, again, flying outta St. Louis, kind of hamstrung. Right. So there will be those, those scenarios in which it's a last minute flight, gotta get somewhere, gotta be there at a certain time and that's what's available. But instead of my first option just to buy, default to go into my Southwest app and book what they have. , those days are gone. Right? Those days are gone. So I think I just booked my last one. Yeah. So those days are gone now. It's gonna be, now it's just gonna be, look, here's five airlines. Now it's gonna come down to like, which airline's gonna get me there the fastest?
[00:23:29]
You know, which one's gonna be the most comfortable, which one's gonna do like mm-hmm. . So you know from somebody who, again, credit card, rabid fan, right. Companion level, right? Yeah. I mean like, yeah, I am like we are their prototypical customer. Like I don't eat their snacks, ricks. Cause I don't want 'em, I don't drink anything. I'm the cheapest person, you know what I mean? I gotta pay full fair. I get on your flight. You don't have to do anything for him. You know what I mean? Just get me there to now. Right? Like that's no longer the primary option. Yeah. I agree, and it took years for me to get to that tipping point. It will probably take me years for me to ever really consider coming back full-time.
[00:24:02] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Me as well. Southwest has got some work to do. Yeah. Yep. And, but it's a lesson for all of us. Absolutely. Yeah. And we cheer Southwest on. Yeah. I hope we do. We want them it, we want them to be able to deliver the kind of service that the company and the vision was founded on. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's good stuff, guys. Hey, let's enjoy the rest of our trip, right? Yeah, let's do it. We're gonna go see Apple Campus today. Yeah. We're gonna go see Steve Jobs's house. We're gonna go really innovate in a way that this man had, and that's another thing for so. , if you're having trouble figuring out where your mojo is and spend some time with those who have done it right, even if they're not with us anymore. Go on site, get full immersion. Get inspired. Yeah. Mm-hmm. and reinvent the Future. Maybe read Herb's book. Yeah. Maybe read Herb's book. Good point. It's good seeing you guys. Glad we're doing it today here. Awesome. Thanks. Thanks guys. Yep.
[00:24:54] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, my friend, I am so thrilled that you joined me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. And before you go to the next episode, especially if you're binge-listing, take a moment. I would. To get your honest review right here on your screen. Your feedback is so important. It helps the podcast, it encourages me, and it helps me. It helps me to give you more and more and more value. So I can't wait to read your review. I can't wait to be with you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. This is A Call to Leadership.