Motivation Through Leadership: Leadership of Herb Kelleher

Herb Kelleher was the co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Southwest began as an upstart airline that soon began to rival the big market players. One big reason for its success was the servant-transformational-charismatic leadership style of Kelleher, who was known for what seemed like an unconventional but common-sense commitment to employees and his ability to create a strong corporate culture that fostered loyalty and high performance. By putting his workers first before all else, Kelleher helped make Southwest into an airline that people wanted to fly. His love for employees showed through and in turn his employees showed the same kind of love in the workplace and for the customers they served.

Kelleher embodied several styles of leadership: he was at once a servant leader, a charismatic leader, and a transformational leader (Kippenberger, 2002). He believed in the power...

He said that when employees were happy and fulfilled and felt loved by the boss, it would naturally lead to satisfied customers. In other words, by serving his employees, he motivated them to serve the customers with grace and friendliness and fun (Cote, 2018). Kelleher was renowned for his personal connections with his staff, and made it...…and a strong corporate culture can create a supportive and inclusive work environment, leading to higher levels of employee retention and satisfaction.

I chose to research and write about Herb Kelleher due to his success, his unconventional leadership style and his proven ability to create a thriving, high-performance organization. His focus on employee well-being is admirable to me. He represents a type of leadership that is needed todayone who cares about his workers. Kellehers legacy at Southwest Airlines speaks for itself. His leadership had a huge impact on employee motivation and organizational success, and shows that placing people at the heart of a business can lead to…