A chicken sandwich, and leadership
Written by Anthony Demangone
There's a wonderful fable about Southwest Airlines and their famous leader, Herb Kelleher.Â
Someone from Southwest's research division came up with a wonderful addition to their in-flight service. A delicious chicken sandwich.Â
They asked Herb to sign off on the addition.  But he asked them a simple question. How would the sandwich help Southwest meet its goal of being a low-cost airline that takes off and lands on time?Â
No one had a good answer. So the chicken sandwich was scratched.Â
When you have a clear vision and values, individual decisions are easier to make.Â
Can this apply to leadership?Â
Last year, John Spence led students at NAFCU's Management and Leadership Institute through a wonderful exercise. At the end of it, the group collectively described the traits of leaders they wanted to follow. Leaders they wanted to be.
Here's what they came up with. Â
- Honesty and Integrity
- Visionary
- Accountability
- Communication
- Execution
- Lifelong Learner
- Passion + Energy
- Empowerment
That's a great list. Here's a nice video John Spence did that discusses the list more. (Vimeo.)
But let's look at it this way...the next time you have a decision to make, look at that list. The next time you have to address your team, look at that list.
It should help guide you. Â If a decision or stance conflicts with one of the things listed above, you should think twice.
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