Fun-loving Warriors and Servants at Southwest Airlines

Dateline: January 8, 2016

Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.

Today we are sharing an article from Julie Weber, vice-president of people at Southwest Airlines, published at Harvard Business Review.  The article, How Southwest Airlines Hires Such Dedicated People, describes how the airline hires about 2% of all their applicants, and makes it clear what the expectations and values are of the organization.  Weber shared,

At Southwest, for example, we talk about hiring not for skills but three attributes: a warrior spirit (that is, a desire to excel, act with courage, persevere and innovate); a servant’s heart (the ability to put others first, treat everyone with respect and proactively serve customers); and a fun-loving attitude (passion, joy and an aversion to taking oneself too seriously.)

Weber continues by explaining,

We’ve found that it’s important to clearly define these expectations — they’re listed on every job description — and build our interviewing methodology around them. The mentality isn’t “We’ll know it when we see it.”  It’s “Does this person already live the way we do?”

What do you hire for?  Does your hiring process truly reflect what your expectation and values are?

That’s a WRAP!  Have a wonderful weekend!

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