Herbert D. Kelleher was born in Camden, New Jersey on March 12, 1931 to Harry Kelleher and Ruth Moore. Growing up Kelleher’s father was the general manager at a Campbell’s Soup Factory. In high school, Kelleher was a star athlete and a student body president. Kelleher studied english and thought about becoming a journalist, but he eventually was pushed towards practicing law. He went to New York University Law School where he received his bachelor’s degree and was an Olin Scholar, and he also served for a Supreme Court justice for two years before deciding to join a law firm in his home state, New Jersey. In 1955 Herb Kelleher married Joan negley, who was a college classmate, and together they had four children. They moved to San Antonio,
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Even though the first two years with the airline was slow, the business has had a profitable year every single year since then. This is a record no company has been able to do in the U.S. airline industry. Herb is very proud of the record, but he is very fast to say that Southwest Airlines is quite a different company than the industry’s international airlines. Kelleher was once the lawyer for Southwest Airlines, but eventually he became president, CEO and executive chairman. Herb Kelleher gave up his CEO titles in June 2001, but remained chairman. He stepped down as chairman in May 2008. He also is the leading image and the basis for many of the innovative ideas that have made Southwest Airlines to be able to cut so many costs that ticket prices are in many causes …show more content…
He chose not to use the airline computer reservation system that other airlines use. Meals were taken out of flights and Southwest chose to only use Boeing 737s. This means that the pilots and mechanics only need to know how to fly and maintain one aircraft. All of these factors allowed Southwest Airlines to be able to cut costs that ticket prices are in many cases unbeatable. While at Southwest, Kelleher’s colorful personality and sense of humor created a corporate culture which made Southwest employees well-known for taking themselves lightly but their jobs seriously. Flight attendants often sing in-flight announcements to popular songs and pilots tell jokes. Herb Kelleher also raps in training videos and is often involved with employee motivational activities. He once challenged another company president to an arm wrestling match to decide who would use the disputed slogan. Unfortunately he lost, but thousands of people showed up in a arena to watch the
Even though the first two years with the airline was slow, the business has had a profitable year every single year since then. This is a record no company has been able to do in the U.S. airline industry. Herb is very proud of the record, but he is very fast to say that Southwest Airlines is quite a different company than the industry’s international airlines. Kelleher was once the lawyer for Southwest Airlines, but eventually he became president, CEO and executive chairman. Herb Kelleher gave up his CEO titles in June 2001, but remained chairman. He stepped down as chairman in May 2008. He also is the leading image and the basis for many of the innovative ideas that have made Southwest Airlines to be able to cut so many costs that ticket prices are in many causes …show more content…
He chose not to use the airline computer reservation system that other airlines use. Meals were taken out of flights and Southwest chose to only use Boeing 737s. This means that the pilots and mechanics only need to know how to fly and maintain one aircraft. All of these factors allowed Southwest Airlines to be able to cut costs that ticket prices are in many cases unbeatable. While at Southwest, Kelleher’s colorful personality and sense of humor created a corporate culture which made Southwest employees well-known for taking themselves lightly but their jobs seriously. Flight attendants often sing in-flight announcements to popular songs and pilots tell jokes. Herb Kelleher also raps in training videos and is often involved with employee motivational activities. He once challenged another company president to an arm wrestling match to decide who would use the disputed slogan. Unfortunately he lost, but thousands of people showed up in a arena to watch the