Do you know what it takes to make your competition irrelevant?
Are you aware of growth strategies that work in up and down markets?
THE BIG IDEA: Humor is a powerful, largely underutilized resource that can uplift your organization. Today we’ll look at how Southwest Airlines uses humor to stay on top.
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Bleary-eyed passengers who have come to equate air travel with their worst living nightmare have to fight hard not to smile when disembarking from a Southwest flight.
Immediately after takeoff, the pilot’s voice is heard through the overhead speaker: “Bear with me folks, this is my first time.”
Chuckles are heard throughout the cabin.
In reviewing the safety procedures, a flight attendant instructs, “In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.”
The laughter continues.
When the plane lands, a flight attendant warns, “Please use caution when opening the overhead compartments, as shift happens.”
A Happy Workplace Translates to Greater Profitability
It’s well known that a healthy workplace boosts morale, lowers turnover, decreases absenteeism, and increases productivity.
When workplaces are plagued by negative energy, backstabbing antics, and gossipmongers, people turn into the lost school children of Lord of the Flies, forced to fend for themselves in a cruel, competitive, and unforgiving world.
Southwest Airlines understands that humor has the power to ease stressful situations, build rapport and cohesiveness, and soften the most hardened lines of communication.
The organization knows that humor and a happy work environment translates to the bottom line. After all, the airline has remained consistently profitable for the last 42 consecutive years.
Creating a Culture of Fun Starts at the Top
Who did Southwest inherit the funny genes from? Who else, but the zany, jolly good fellow by the name of Herb Kelleher. As founder and former chairman of Southwest, Kelleher’s off-the-wall antics successfully established the mood for the company’s quirky culture.
In one famously outrageous incident, Kelleher and Kurt Herwald, then chairman of Stevens Aviation went head-to-head in an arm-wrestling competition over the rights to a slogan. Stevens Aviation was using their “Plane Smart” catchphrase for a year before Southwest inadvertently infringed on their rights with its “Just Plane Smart” campaign.
The dual, scheduled for high noon, would proclaim one winner. Kelleher lost the match, but in a spirit of good will, Herwald granted Southwest permission for continued use of the tagline.
Kelleher knows that humor can disarm his competitors, dissolve hurt feelings, and mollify potentially litigious situations. He also knows that humor can ease customer frustrations and create positive associations that last.
Robert Half International, an executive recruitment firm, surveyed 492 professionals and found that 97% felt it is important for managers to have a sense of humor.
Max Messmer, chief executive of Robert Half, explained, “Managers who can laugh at themselves or difficult situations are often seen as more approachable and in touch with the challenges their teams face.”
Hiring the Light-at-Heart
It’s no doubt that Kelleher and CEO Gary Kelly are in touch with their people, and it’s this particular attitude that Southwest looks for in potential hires.
Ginger Hardage, Southwest’s Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications, explains, “What we try to show in our public relations and our advertising is the Southwest attitude. When we hire people, we look for that particular attitude.”
A candidate on a job interview might be asked a question about the last time he or she used humor to pacify a tense situation. Hardage also recalls a time when a group of pilots showed up wearing traditional suits, but were told that only candidates wearing gym shorts would be interviewed that day.
Sounds like a joke? To Southwest, humor is serious business. The pilots who changed into gym shorts got hired; the others went home. Hardage stated, “If people tend to be serious, stuffy and can’t laugh at themselves, then they probably won’t work out at Southwest.”
How Humor Positively Impacts the Workplace
Chris Robert, associate professor of management at the University of Missouri, studied the effects of humor in the workplace.
With humor and positive emotions going hand-in-hand, there was also a strong correlation between positive emotions and workplace performance.
Robert explains, “That’s where employee retention comes into it. If you have positive emotions about your job, you’re less likely to quit. And maybe part of that is because of the fun you’re having in the break room. You might get a better job offer, but it will take more to draw you away when you like where you work and you like the people you work with.”
Yet humor does more than create a happy workplace that increases productivity. Robert found that the use of humor is associated with two highly prized values: intelligence and creativity.
He explains that humor traces its impact to incongruity. A joke is funny because two seemingly disparate things are connected in a way that makes them compatible. It parallels the process of creativity where ideas converge in a unique manner.
When humor infuses the workplace, it becomes a breeding ground for happiness, productivity, creativity, and innovation. Also, when employees are feeling positive, the customers catch onto the spirit and everyone benefits.
In the words of Kelleher, “Humor rubs off on people. We don’t hire people to be funny, but we want them to keep their individuality, which makes them feel better about work and, in turn, makes them happier and more productive.”
So loosen up and let the laughter begin.
THE BIG IDEA: Seven psychological factors that drive your customers to spread the word about your products and services.
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How do you get your customers talking about your products and services?
You work hard to create amazing experiences for your customers—experiences worth talking about.
Here are seven principles to help you better understand what drives your customers to share the good word:
1 – The Principle of Integrity:
They know that you know that they know.
People know you have an intention and that you know that they know you have an intention. This means they know you are trying to sell them a product. And they know that you know that they know you’re trying to persuade them.
Unless you are very adept at meeting their needs, you’re going to encounter an impenetrable barrier. Don’t think you can deceive them into believing they’re not being coerced into buying a product. People are much better at detecting deception than they are at being the deceiver.
2 – The Principle of Status:
People share what makes them look good.
Both negative and positive information reflect positively on the person conveying the information, as both are useful to decision-making.
Negative information is perhaps more useful because it is perceived as being highly diagnostic. Supplying accurate information benefits the conveyer, as it confers status upon the conveyor. Supplying inaccurate information quickly erodes the reputation of the conveyer.
3 – The Principle of Cool:
Ride in front of the “Cool Wave” or wipe out.
If you see something cool today, you can almost bet it’s on its way out and something else will be cool very soon.
Soon, however, that won’t be cool either. Pogs—the milkcap game that originated in the 1920s—reemerged and was all the rage in the early ‘90s, but has now all but disappeared.
Technological advances in communication shorten the cycles of “cool.” Listen to your customer. In order to be on top, you must know what’s cool before it becomes cool. Just like a wave, if you jump too late, you’re not going to catch it.
4 – The Principle of Groups:
Small groups—the critical few—dictate the large.
Customers can be broken down into two subgroups: the trivial many and the critical few. Avoid focusing on the trivial many and find out who comprises your brand’s critical few. They are the ones who truly influence their subcultures.
The same principle that applies to individuals applies to groups—you need the influence of many small groups to create a movement.
5 – The Principle of Influence:
Everyone is influential—especially on the Internet.
Connectivity changed the landscape of influence. Everyone is able to influence people in some way, on some subject. No one can affect people’s decisions in every category. Those who provide more useful input gain more status, and are more likely to be listened to.
Knowledge is power, especially on the Internet, where normal social cues like body expressions and facial reactions are not in place. As a result, anyone can say what he or she is thinking. Comments are judged by their accuracy and value rather than the person’s background.
6 – The Principle of Meaning:
People talk about what’s meaningful to them.
Listen carefully to the critical few to find out what they care about, and give them something to talk about. If you can find ways to amuse them, surprise them, or give them information that will give them esteem among their peers, they will talk. Everyone else will follow.
7 – The Principle of Surprise:
People love to share what surprised them.
Never underestimate the power of surprise. Let the consumer discover the best thing about you instead of hearing you shout it from the rooftops.
Okay, now go get your customers talking!
THE BIG IDEA: Outperforming leaders tend to be growth-oriented, both within themselves and within their organization. This week’s article highlights thirteen characteristics of self-actualizing people observed by Maslow.
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Psychologists primarily studied mental illness for the first 50 years of the field’s existence.
After World War II, Abraham Maslow asked a revolutionary question: What does positive mental health actually look like?
Maslow challenged the assumption that there was a clear dividing line between mental illness and mental health. He realized that his field of psychology—the study of the human mind—hadn’t studied or clearly defined the characteristics of positive mental health.
If you’re over 50, you probably remember the term “self-actualization” from the 1970s. Maslow used this term to characterize those individuals that tend to have a higher degree of positive mental health.
Self-Actualization Explained
If you recall from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs, the first four levels—physiological, safety, love/belonging, and esteem—are basic needs. He also called them deficiency needs.
When we feel that these basic needs aren’t being met, we experience tension and exhibit neurotic behavior. If we feel that our colleagues at work don’t like us, for example, our need to belong is threatened. Most human beings in the modern world struggle to meet one or more of their basic needs.
Until these basic needs are gratified, our attention is mainly focused on them. The more we gratify our basic needs, the more our attention can shift to “higher” level needs. Higher level needs are growth needs. Whereas basic needs are external, growth needs are internal.
Maslow called growth-motivated individuals self-actualizing. He defined self-actualization as:
- Ongoing actualization of potentials, capacities, and talents
- Fulfillment of mission (or calling, fate, destiny, or vocation)
- A fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person’s own intrinsic nature
- An unceasing trend toward unity, integration, or synergy within the person
Think of self-actualization as the need to become what one has the potential to be. One realizes this potential for its own gratification—not for any external gain or concern of what others will think or say.
How Self-Actualization Translates to the Bottom Line
Chief executives and entrepreneurs that outperform their peers in the long-term tend to be self-actualizing. That is, they are interested not just in the growth of their enterprise, but in their own growth as well. These two areas are intrinsically linked; one uplifts the other.
Your people are constantly watching your behavior, consciously and subconsciously. The more you focus on your own growth and demonstrate noticeable improvements over time, the more you’ll inspire your people to do likewise.
Certain businesses go so far as to make self-actualization one of their core values. Companies like Netflix, Zappos, and the Ritz-Carlton have learning and growth explicitly stated as something they stand for.
But having learning and growth as a core value only works if leadership has the same commitment within themselves.
Thirteen Characteristics of Self-Actualizing Leaders
Maslow observed thirteen interconnected characteristics commonly found in self-actualizing people:
1) Superior perception of reality: an unusual ability to judge others accurately and detect dishonesty in the personality.
2) Increased acceptance of self, of others, and of nature: less overriding guilt, crippling shame, and severe anxiety. Acceptance of shortcomings and contradictions, without feeling real concern.
3) Increased spontaneity: behavior marked by naturalness and simplicity.
4) Increase in problem-centering: more focused on problems outside themselves as opposed to personal problems (ego-centered).
5) Increased detachment and desire for privacy: comfortable being by themselves without the neurotic need to always be around others.
6) Increased autonomy and resistance to enculturation: dependent on their own development of their potentialities as opposed to being dependent on social or cultural forces that motivate the average person.
7) Greater freshness of appreciation and richness of emotional reaction: ability to appreciate the basic elements of life with awe, wonder, and pleasure long after these elements become stale to others.
8) Higher frequency of peak experiences: Maslow originally called this a mystic experience or oceanic feeling. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it flow.
9) Increased identification with the human species.
10) Improved interpersonal relations: capable of greater love and more obliteration of ego boundaries.
11) More democratic character structure: friendly with anyone of suitable character regardless of class, education, political belief, race, or color.
12) Greatly increased creativeness: innocent, playful, and spontaneous creative expression, similar to that found in young children.
13) Certain changes in the value system: with an appreciation and acceptance of human nature, many of our so-called “problems” are seen as gratuitous and fade out of existence.
Leadership: Constant Growth in the Service of Others
Maslow was disappointed when he saw what happened to many people who read his work and adopted the idea of self actualization.
While Maslow was attempting to define the qualities of those with positive mental health, many people simply used the term to form a stronger self-concept: “I am a self-actualizing person.” The term became a badge—yet one more way for people to inflate their egos.
Level 5 leaders, guided by humility and a strong personal will, can avoid this pitfall, finding their own paths of growth while staying grounded in the service of others.
THE BIG IDEA: Conducting more effective meetings is a constant challenge. How do you manage conflict and internal tensions while enhancing ideation and collaboration? Use the Six Thinking Hats.
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Do your meetings often become a political dance of excuse making? Do you consider most meetings you attend to be highly productive and results-oriented or are they mediocre and unnecessary?