It's Called Work for a Reason! by Larry Winget

Author:Larry Winget
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2007-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Sorry, it’s too late

You have already been branded. Before you get a chance to even do it, it’s already been done. Your reputation did it for you.

You might be known as a good guy. That’s not a bad thing. You might be known as a good guy who does good work but is really slow. That’s not such a good thing. You got that reputation because of the work you have done in the past. As a result you became branded as the good guy who does slow work.

Companies and organizations have reputations too. Some are known for speed: FedEx. Some for quality: Mercedes-Benz. Some for customer service: Nordstrom. Some for being cool: Apple. Some for being slow: the post office. Some for being idiots: the government.

Take a look at Southwest Airlines. Entire books have been written about them. Southwest Airlines is fast, fun, and cheap. You know clearly in advance what you are going to get. It is their reputation, and they live up to it at every turn. It works for them. I think they are amazing.

How do they do it? How can Southwest Airlines empty a plane and reload it in less than fifteen minutes when it takes other airlines forty-five minutes? They want to. They want to turn a plane quickly, so they do it. Plus, they include you in the process.

I recently took a short flight from Phoenix to Las Vegas. The plane was running about fifteen minutes late. The gate agent got on the loudspeaker and told everyone he knew they wanted to get to Las Vegas on time and those with connections wanted to make their connections with plenty of time. He said the only way that was going to happen was if they all pitched in and worked together to load that plane in record time. That meant finding a seat and getting in it fast—just sit down, shut up, and get it done. Everyone laughed and happily did what they could to get the plane out of there on time. And we did leave on time.

On the other hand, I recently took an American Airlines flight that was also running about fifteen minutes late. When I approached the gate agent to ask what the new arrival time would be, she told me they would get the plane loaded in fifteen minutes and be out on time. I asked her who she thought they were, Southwest? She didn’t laugh. Of course it took nearly an hour to deplane and get the plane reloaded. By the time we finally took off they were already making announcements about what to do if you missed your connection.

Many would say that the difference is that Southwest doesn’t have assigned seats and that is why they can unload and load a plane in fifteen minutes. I disagree. That plays a part, but the real reason is the attitude of the airline and the employees. Southwest’s goal is to run an on-time airline. Each employee tries to do that and they enlist their customers in the process.

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