How good is Southwest airlines management? ( Part 2 Continued…)

Continued from Part 2...

What do the employees think?

Ok, it’s great that Mr. Kelly has won a bunch of awards, and has a good vision of what leadership could be. ​​ The question is, what do the employee’s think about him? In other words, does he ‘Walk the Talk’? ​​ For this question, I almost always go to a website called The Glass Door. This site allows employees to anonymously rate and review the jobs at a specific business. It also asks them to rate the leadership. ​​ This is one of the most accurate ways to see if the management team actually walks the talk since it comes directly from the employees. ​​ 

Here’s the results for Southwest Airlines:

What these numbers tell us is that 88% of employees approve of the current CEO, Gary Kelly (Based on 853 ratings). 87% of employees would also recommend working at Southwest to a friend. The Business score comes out to an overall rating of 4.2, which is among the top in the industry. ​​ The CEO approval rating of 88% is middle of the road as far as approval goes, though still a very positive score. ​​ Overall I’d say these numbers are fantastic for any business to achieve (Apple scored a 4.0 for comparison).

Management Conclusion

I think Kelly has won me over so far. ​​ He appears to be a thoughtful and honest leader with the long-term view in mind. ​​ I think he will cautiously expand Southwest into new markets, and as long as he follows the principles the company has used to thrive thus far, he should turn out to be an excellent leader. ​​ He get’s a pass from me.

Next time:

Part 3: Valuation

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