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Communicating Through Teamwork

We do this great thing here at Southwest—well, one of many great things—every first quarter we have our Message to the Field season where I talk with our Employees about the previous year and what the coming year will hold. These “state of the Company” addresses are a great way to kick off the year. We hold them in four cities—Phoenix, Chicago, Orlando, and Dallas—and, just like everything at Southwest, we turn them into celebrations and a chance to bond with one another. I love these visits because Employees come from all over our System and have the chance to ask me anything they want. I give a few remarks and let them know what’s on my mind, but the Q and A is the best part. I always get the standard question of, “What’s up with the stock price?” But I get really random questions, too, like about a parking situation at a certain airport or technology upgrades or what is our next specialty aircraft. I love them all because I want to know what’s on Employees’ minds. Most of the time, I think I’m in touch with what’s going on, but you never know.

Our final MTTF will be on March 1 in Dallas, and I’m always sad to see it end. Communication is very important to us here at Southwest. You know I love sports, so to use a sports analogy: You can’t have Teamwork without Communication. You can’t play offense or defense if everyone doesn’t know the play and doesn’t know their position. Our objective is almost to over communicate. We can’t talk with each other enough, and we can’t listen to each other enough.

I’m very proud of the way we communicate with each other, and I think that’s why Southwest is the best airline around, from great baggage handling to exceptional on-time performance to superior Customer Service. Both Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher and I are Irish, and many might say it’s the Luck O’ the Irish as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this month. But I know it is due to the hard work of Southwest Employees along with awesome communication that makes Southwest the best it can be.

Gary Kelly

Chairman, President, and CEO

Southwest Airlines