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    Leadership Activity

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    Cecilia Arreola Arceo
    After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all US airlines were grounded but Southwest Airlines responded differently than competitors. Southwest encouraged employees to help stranded customers have a good time, and the CEO announced three days later that no jobs would be cut and employees would receive profit-sharing payments. Strong leadership with crisis management and problem-solving skills allowed Southwest to survive the crisis in a better position. Broader lessons show that outstanding business managers can turn disastrous situations into opportunities through leadership traits like flexibility, empathy, communication, and protecting employees.

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    Leadership Activity

    Uploaded by

    Cecilia Arreola Arceo
    107 views2 pages
    After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all US airlines were grounded but Southwest Airlines responded differently than competitors. Southwest encouraged employees to help stranded customers have a good time, and the CEO announced three days later that no jobs would be cut and employees would receive profit-sharing payments. Strong leadership with crisis management and problem-solving skills allowed Southwest to survive the crisis in a better position. Broader lessons show that outstanding business managers can turn disastrous situations into opportunities through leadership traits like flexibility, empathy, communication, and protecting employees.

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    After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all US airlines were grounded but Southwest Airlines responded differently than competitors. Southwest encouraged employees to help stranded customers have a good time, and the CEO announced three days later that no jobs would be cut and employees would receive profit-sharing payments. Strong leadership with crisis management and problem-solving skills allowed Southwest to survive the crisis in a better position. Broader lessons show that outstanding business managers can turn disastrous situations into opportunities through leadership traits like flexibility, empathy, communication, and protecting employees.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    107 views2 pages

    Leadership Activity

    Uploaded by

    Cecilia Arreola Arceo
    After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all US airlines were grounded but Southwest Airlines responded differently than competitors. Southwest encouraged employees to help stranded customers have a good time, and the CEO announced three days later that no jobs would be cut and employees would receive profit-sharing payments. Strong leadership with crisis management and problem-solving skills allowed Southwest to survive the crisis in a better position. Broader lessons show that outstanding business managers can turn disastrous situations into opportunities through leadership traits like flexibility, empathy, communication, and protecting employees.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    1. What happened?

    Southwest Airlines. How can an airline survive a government order to ground its
    entire fleet and shut down for days? After 9/11, all U.S. airlines were faced with
    this same crisis. One that succeeded through the difficulty was Southwest
    Airlines, already known for its outstanding customer service. Southwest’s
    passengers, flight attendants, pilots and ground crews were stranded all across
    the country after the terrorist attacks. But unlike their competition, Southwest’s
    leadership did more than just sit and wait. They encouraged employees to
    leverage their trademark fun approach to business and to help stranded
    customers enjoy themselves at the movies or the local bowling alley. And when
    the ramifications of the shutdown forced other airlines to cut staff, Southwest’s
    then-CEO, James Parker, announced just three days after 9/11 that the company
    would be keeping all of its employees, as well as issuing a profit-sharing
    payment.

    2. Why did this happen?

    It was an inevitable situation; it was a crisis and the CEO and employees did
    everything in their power to manage it. They needed to act fast and smart after
    that crisis.

    3. What class concepts are relevant to this situation?

    Leadership characteristics like crisis management, creative problem solving and a


    strong belief in the company’s vision saw Southwest through this unimaginable
    situation. The CEO also protected his staff, which ultimately led to a stronger
    airlines.

    1. What did you learn from this? (Broader lessons that might apply to other
    situations or problems.)

    Outstanding business managers can take a potentially disastrous situation and not
    only prevent it from becoming worse, but turn it into a positive outcome for the
    company. A leader uses a variety of leadership traits when taking an organization
    through turbulence:

     Flexibility
     Tenaciousness
     Empathy
     Transparency
     Compassion
     Communication
     Decisiveness
     Conflict resolution
     Clear vision
     Passion
     Protection
     Understanding
     Problem solving
     Negotiation

    Not all leaders possess all of these skills. While a CEO like James Parker have
    natural talent and leadership abilities, most managers of this caliber recognize their
    weaknesses, as well as their strengths, and take advantage of opportunities to
    develop their areas of weakness.

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