Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success

The authors of "NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success", Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, came up with a captivating and hilarious book that reveal the ingredients that have made Southwest Airlines such a consistent success story. This is an airline that has defied industry norms of either red ink on the bottom line or very low profit margins of 1-4 percent. The airline invented its own business model avoiding the usual management fads such as business process reengineering, total quality management, change management and balanced business scorecard, among others. The authors vividly describe the epic struggles the airline founders had to go through during the early years in their attempt to be allowed to provide passengers with value for their money, to enable hardworking people who had never flown before to be able to fly, to allow passengers to enjoy flights in the company of a team of happy cabin and cockpit crews who are all keen to delight the customer. Entrepreneurs in any industry struggling to establish their businesses under the weight of ridiculous laws and red tape and big businesses that seek to reap monopoly or oligopoly profits will take comfort from the realization that with persistence, perseverance, determination, self-confidence, hard work and the desire to provide exceptional services to customers using dedicated and motivated workforce, they will always win in the end. The book shows that a business that is innovative, has an intense liking of its people, enjoy delighting its customers, have a clear strategy articulated by visionary leaders is bound to be very successful and prosperous. Herb Kelleher and his merry team demonstrated that an airline business can be very profitable whilst maintaining exceptional safety records and high quality of services. The book is recommended reading to those who want to learn to win in business using highly motivated people who are all keen to exceed customer expectations.

In the forward of this book Tom Peters says, "If you take time to read only one business book this year, I strongly encourage you to read NUTS!" We wholeheartedly agree! Between the covers of this entertaining book Kevin and Jackie Freiberg have captured the essence of the "Southwest Spirit" that has made Southwest Airlines one of the top companies in America. Although Southwest served over 90 million bags of peanuts in 1999, there is nothing "nuts" about the way they run their company. Southwest topped the list of Fortune magazine's Best Companies To Work For in 1998, and since then has been in one of the top four slots every year. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to see how the concepts of servant leadership are actually put into practice in a real company of over 30,000 employees. You will learn about a company that practices the golden rule as corporate policy-and has paid quarterly dividends for 97 consecutive quarters doing it! The "Southwest culture" described at length in the book gives this company its strategic advantage. This culture genuinely cares about the welfare of the Southwest employees-which are approximately 82% unionized. Southwest Airlines has turned a profit every year since 1973, yet it maintains the lowest fares in a highly competitive industry. It is one of the most admired airlines in the world, regularly ranks best in customer service, and has a consistently high safety record. Southwest was the first airline to establish a home page on the Internet, and was named by BusinessWeek as a "Web Smart 50" company. Some of the book's statistics about the airline are now out of date due to incredible growth. More recent statistics are readily available at Southwest's web site . However, the principles discussed in this book that are used to guide this most admired airline are timeless.Review by Dr. J. Howard Baker

This is a good book on management. The authors discusses how SouthWest Airlines manages problems under tight constraints and intense competition. The book emphasises how "out of box" thinking helps achieve the results faster. It shows how the rules can be re-defined and make impossible to happen. It gives a whole new perspective on how Airlines should operate. It sets new records to be surpassed by itself. Gives good insights in to the corporate recruiting and retention of the employees. On a personal level, it is a good book on how to manage in difficult times, how to manage with limited resources, how to be optimistic, how with courage, determination and constancy of purpose one can overcome heavy odds in personal life to fulfill one's dreams. Every 15 days I read a new book on management/self-help. But this is the only book I continuously refer to again and again. It has changed my attitude altogether. I feel every corporation wishing to transform the work culture from dull and boring to interesting work place should give this book to every employee.

If you've wondered how this small Texas airline outsmarted the larger giant airlines, read it all here. After reading this book, I was left with many ideas about how to incorporate more fun into my own work life, while increasing productivity. The corporate culture of Southwest is so ingrained into the employees! Fly with them, and notice how different their people are, and how they each seem to enjoy their job! I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I have read the reviews about how this book is "mushy." I think maybe because they can't believe that a company this good really exists. I am a brand-new employee to SWA, and this book is given to every new employee at the day-long welcome class. After participating in the class, reading this book, and experiencing the SWA culture first-hand, I can safely say that the book does NOT exaggerate! The feel-good style emphasized over and over in the book is a reality. People care about each other. Everyday (as shown in the book) everyone is made to feel valuable--and it makes you want to work harder, work smarter, and spread the LUV. Others may "say" that's what they are doing, but somehow it always comes back to "the rules." Herb Kelleher and crew are breaking the rules--and showing the others how to make a profit while caring about the dignity and welfare of the SWA family. Great and easily read book. Highly recommended.