The Secret of Business Success? 'Leading with LUV,' new book reveals
What has love got to do with Leadership? Everything according to Lead with LUV: A Different Way to Create Real Success, the latest book by bestselling author and management guru Ken Blanchard, co-authored with the former President of Southwest Airlines, Colleen Barrett.
Written in the form of a conversation between the two business leaders, Blanchard and Barrett reveal why love is the most powerful way to lead, how to make it work, and how it can help you achieve unprecedented organisational success.
Why LUV? Because LUV is Southwest Airlines' symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. "We first started flying out of Love Field in Dallas, and our first advertising slogan in 1971 was 'Southwest Airlines, the Someone Else Up There Who LUVs You," explains Barrett. "We also had a heart on our first signature line and letterhead. And today, forty years later, we still have hearts on our aircraft, but most importantly, the LUV symbol identifies how we operate and lead as an organisation."
Barrett and Blanchard's premise is simple - if you treat your employees with love, place them first and follow the Golden Rule (do onto others as you would have done to you) then your customers will respond in kind, bringing brand loyalty and profits to your bottom line.
The idea of 'loving people to success' has proved true for Colleen Barrett. South West has succeeded through tough economic times in an industry where almost all other companies have struggled with problems, maintaining loyal customers, engaged employees and year-on-year profits.