Malice In Dallas

OtisAir

OtisAir

Line Up and Wait
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OtisAir
True Story

There was a dispute over a name or slogan that SouthWest Airlines was using. The company who claimed they owned the slogan sued Southwest Airlines. They are (or were) based out of Trenton NJ.

Herb called up the company and the two CEO’s talked about it for a while and decided that they didn’t want to give the “rich” lawyers any more money so they scheduled an arm wrestling match to decide who won the rights to use the slogan.

There were to be 3 rounds.. on round one, Herb decided he would substitute himself for an EX national arm wrestling champion. Herb’s “team” won round one. On round to, the other CEO substituted a lady and the lady won. So they were tied…

In round three, I think they arm wrestled themselves and Herb’s team lost. They had sold tickets to the event and pay per view rights and all this stuff and the two CEO’s ended up laughing about it and both have rights to use the slogan and no lawyers were ever paid a dime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46osNRJxBks (I forget how to embed )
 
I'm taking Organization Behavior as part of a PennState MBA program and Herb Kelleher (CEO SWA) became the topic of discussion the other night.

He (Herb) once interviewed a childhood friend of mine for a pilot position. Herb ask him to tell him a funny joke as soon as my friend walked in the door. My friend told him a joke, Herb dismissed him from the interview and sent him an offer letter 2 days later. That too, is true. :yesnod:
 
OtisAir said:
I'm taking Organization Behavior as part of a PennState MBA program and Herb Kelleher (CEO SWA) became the topic of discussion the other night.

He (Herb) once interviewed a childhood friend of mine for a pilot position. Herb ask him to tell him a funny joke as soon as my friend walked in the door. My friend told him a joke, Herb dismissed him from the interview and sent him an offer letter 2 days later. That too, is true. :yesnod:
Click to expand...

Did your friend spend two days thinking he had flunked the interview?
 
Palmpilot said:
Did your friend spend two days thinking he had flunked the interview?
Click to expand...
lol probably. I would have. He told me at the same time he was telling me this that he'd heard of other SW pilots being asked for a joke. The pilot's he'd heard this happened too hadn't mentioned anything about the interview ending at that point.

My buddy came to SW with 8 years of F16 experience and a bunch of civilian flight hours so I can only guess that Herb was already leaning towards the hire. That's only a guess though...
 
Sounds like some of the stories about Admiral Rickover's interviews with prospective nuclear submariners.

One of the best was the candidate who walked in, and was told by Rickover to "Make me boiling angry." The young ensign did not hesitate -- he walked up to Rickover's desk, which was covered with model subs and other memorobilia, and swept it clean onto the floor. Rickover exploded out of his chair like a Polaris missile coming out of the tube, screaming at the candidate to "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" The candidate ran as fast as he could, thinking he was about to be sent to NS Adak, Alaska. Next day he got a call telling him he'd passed Rickover's test.

The other story I heard was the candidate who was first in Rickover's agenda one morning. He walked in and reported, and Rickover, pointing to his coat closet, said "Get in that closet." He did. And he spent the rest of the day sitting quietly in the dark, listening to whatever it was Rickover did in his office all day. Late in the evening, Rickover opened the door, took out his coat, put it on, looked at the young officer, and said, "You can go." The mystified candidate said "aye, aye, sir," and left. Yup -- another success story.
 
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The CEO of Stevens was a former bodybuilder, and still built like a brick shipyard. The result of the match was a foregone conclusion -- yet everyone was a winner.

Too bad there aren't more leaders like Herb (and Kurt) out there.
 
flyersfan31 said:
The CEO of Stevens was a former bodybuilder, and still built like a brick shipyard. The result of the match was a foregone conclusion -- yet everyone was a winner.

Too bad there aren't more leaders like Herb (and Kurt) out there.
Click to expand...

Food for thought:

Herb Kelleher is a lawyer.

Not all lawyers want a confrontational result- good ones find ways to divert the dispute to a different track... and recognize that, to win, you don't always have to make someone else lose.

That, my friends, is leadership.
 
SCCutler said:
...

Not all lawyers want a confrontational result- good ones find ways to divert the dispute to a different track... and recognize that, to win, you don't always have to make someone else lose.

....
Click to expand...

That is so incredibly true.

Unfortunately, if only all clients felt the same.
 
Ron Levy said:
Sounds like some of the stories about Admiral Rickover's interviews with prospective nuclear submariners.

One of the best was the candidate who walked in, and was told by Rickover to "Make me boiling angry." The young ensign did not hesitate -- he walked up to Rickover's desk, which was covered with model subs and other memorobilia, and swept it clean onto the floor. Rickover exploded out of his chair like a Polaris missile coming out of the tube, screaming at the candidate to "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" The candidate ran as fast as he could, thinking he was about to be sent to NS Adak, Alaska. Next day he got a call telling him he'd passed Rickover's test.

The other story I heard was the candidate who was first in Rickover's agenda one morning. He walked in and reported, and Rickover, pointing to his coat closet, said "Get in that closet." He did. And he spent the rest of the day sitting quietly in the dark, listening to whatever it was Rickover did in his office all day. Late in the evening, Rickover opened the door, took out his coat, put it on, looked at the young officer, and said, "You can go." The mystified candidate said "aye, aye, sir," and left. Yup -- another success story.
Click to expand...

I've been to Adak, twice. He wouldn't have liked it.

Another true Rickover story. A guy I worked with at Martin Marietta many (many) years ago had interviewed with him. He was getting ready to graduate with his BS degree and had two options, either of which was fine with him. Get into Rickover's Navy, or go to grad school. He didn't care which. Rickover was absolutely convinced that he was there because he needed a job and wanted him to admit it. It wasn't true, and he wouldn't admit it. Rickover was furious. My co-worker at Martin Marietta went to grad school.

Then there were my experiences working as a civilian on Rickover's tea kettles. All I can say is that his henchmen weren't the brightest bulbs in the drawer. For years the guard shack at the north gate of Mare Island Naval Shipyard was shaped like the conning tower of a submarine, including fake dive planes. Rickover's people, after many years, came along and complained that this told people that the yard worked on submarines. Gee, ya think? Sit on the Vallejo shore of the Napa River across from the yard and watch. What's there? Submarines. And, want to know what the latest boat into the yard was? Drive down I-80 past the Horse and Cow bar and see what hull number was painted on the boat on the roof. So, an iconic guard gate was replaced with a nondescript box. Oh well, the yard was closed a number of years ago...
 
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