Guts! Companies That Blow The Doors Off Business-as-usual

INTRODUCTION Back in 1996, we published our own up-close account of one of America's great businesses. We called our book Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. Much as we admired that legendary airline and its irreverent culture, we were flabbergasted by the book's success. As of 2003, Nuts! has sold more than 500,000 copies, and it continues to sell thousands more each month. Why such interest? Well, it seems that people all over the world crave stories about extraordinary achievers, and Southwest fits the bill. Even in the aftermath of 9/11, with other airlines hammered by financial turbulence, Southwest Airlines soars on wings of success. Instead of laying off people and cutting flights, it has hired 6,500 new employees and added new routes. Instead of alienating customers, it has generated such loyalty that its passengers often donate unused portions of their tickets to the company and even send in cash. Post-9/11, Southwest is the only major carrier to make a profit every quarter. Inspired by the Southwest story and its impact on all those who hear it, we set out to find other Southwest-like companies with unusual strategies for attracting talent and ensuring success. Nuts! became our passport to amazing organizations, not only those on Fortune magazine's various "best" lists, but also companies that may not be on any list at all yet are known as the best within the communities they serve. We discovered organizations full of great people who are turned on, passionate, in love with what they do, and eager to use their skills, gifts, and talents to the fullest. We were determined to pinpoint just why such companies are so unusual. We confirmed that Southwest Airlines is still outrageously unique and still ingeniously nuts even after all these years, but we discovered something else as well. Many other enterprises, all nutty in their own ways, share an uncommon characteristic with Southwest. They're all run by what we call "gutsy leaders," meaning passionate men and women who don't hesitate to slaughter the sacred cows of convention. We discovered such organizations in Welds ranging from software to advertising to the U.S. military. All are led by people with the courage to discard traditional management rules, rituals, and expectations. They are gutsy enough to forge new paths, consistently serve their people first, and pursue a brilliant new way of working, one that we are convinced must dominate business in the decades to come. Our hope is that this book will help you become more gutsy, toomore engaged, more considerate, more courageous, and most important, a better leader. You may just blow the doors off business as usual in your corner of the world. All it takes is guts. CHAPTER 1 Gutsy leaders reject the mercenary notion that their employees are nothing more than human resources, akin to capital, fuel, oil, or machine tools, that can be allocated or discarded at will. Instead, they see their people as individuals with unique gifts and talents, eager to realize their potential. Gutsy leaders aren't afraid of being criticized or even mocked by their competitors. With bravery and vision, they have dismantled fear-based management and replaced it with heart, soul, discipline, loyalty, humorand long-term record profits. By being gutsy leaders, they have led their enterprises to new levels of performance. Exactly why and how gutsy leadership produces such impressive results is the focus of this book. These leaders teach us that it is absolutely possible to work hard, have fun, love what you do, live your values, and still make lots of money. After six years of observing these leaders in action, we want to spread the word. Jim Blanchard Has the Guts to Work for His People. [read more]