In a “dog-eat-dog world,” you better watch out for your own interests because everyone else is watching out for theirs. You’re taught to guard your back and compete without mercy. In this world, winner takes all.
Unfortunately, this type of mentality drives a great portion of corporate America. Corporations that are motivated by greed, concerned only with the bottom line, breed employees that are trained to fight like attack dogs in underground pens, and win at all costs. In this blood sport, employees are driven by animal instincts, dark shadows are exposed, and brute behaviors are rewarded.
Psychiatrist and mystic David R. Hawkins wrote, “Success in any venture is simply the automatic consequence of being the best that one can be as a lifestyle, without looking for gain.” Now this type of mentality would seem antithetical to the mission of corporations, where having a competitive advantage in the market is crucial to their staying power and overall success. But as we know, it doesn’t have to be.
Companies that uphold Cult-Brand values are showcasing a different side of human nature. They expect the best from their employees, because as humans, they have the intrinsic capacity to feel, emote, contribute, and most of all, love.
The Container Store, the nation’s leading retailer of storage and organization products, landed its position on Fortune magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies to Work for” for its 9th consecutive years. The company consistently embraces their “do unto others” business philosophy. When this value pervades the organization, employees feel empowered and want to share the positive rewards. At the Container Store, you may hear an employee “being Gumby,” a highly prized attribute of bending over backwards to please co-workers and customers.
Like the Container Store, the pay-it-forward attitude pervades every corridor of Southwest Airlines. Southwest publishes an internal newsletter, Luv Lines, and dedicates a section to highlight how employees have gone beyond expectations, as documented by real customers who have been blessed by a Southwest angel. You’ll read about a passenger who arrived at the airport 20 minutes before her departure, frantic about missing her flight and not having enough time to move her car from the drop-off area. The Southwest employee reassured the passenger and offered to move her car into long-term parking. The following day the employee called to tell the passenger where her car was parked and where her keys could be retrieved upon her return.
You’ll also hear about a customer service representative who stayed overnight at a hotel with an elderly woman who was fearful of being alone after her flight was grounded due to inclement weather. And what about that SWA worker who stumbled across someone in the airport parking lot who had a flat tire? The employee got down on his knees and helped the stranded passenger change the tire. When the passenger said, “You know, I didn’t fly Southwest,” the employee replied, “It doesn’t matter.”
But it makes all the difference in the world.
On September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks, all airborne planes were instructed to land. One Southwest plane was grounded, and the passengers and crew were put up in a hotel. Southwest management called to check up on its flight, but the concierge told them that no one was at the hotel. The pilot took everyone on the flight—the crew and the passengers—out to the movies.
And the list goes on.
Ginger Hardage, Southwest’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, explains, “There’s no manual from which to learn that. At Southwest, employees are encouraged to make decisions from the heart, and in turn, these proactive gestures provide positive benefits to the customers and the company.”
The leadership at Southwest knows a thing or two about kindness and love. Herbert Kelleher, founder and former chairman, once said, “You have to be genuinely interested in, and like, people. Show them tolerance, patience, respect and empathy. Drown them in a tsunami of gratitude for their marvelous works … People will respond with an esprit de corps–a desire to perform because they want to, not because they have to.”
With such a visionary at the helm, employees might ask themselves the WWHD question. What Would Herb Do?
Southwest has masterfully made “living legends” out of their “service heroes.” Rewarding values in this way inspires others to offer unparalleled customer service in return. In their pursuit of love, rather than techniques, Southwest inspires their employees to “make love a decision, not just a feeling; then stick to it.”
What values are being rewarded in your organization? Are you breeding dogs to fight for their own survival? Or are you raising angels to uplift and inspire?