The business of business is people.

Herb Kelleher

Entrepreneurs

Herb Kelleher

Born in 1931 in New Jersey, Herb Kelleher was a lawyer-turned-aviation-executive who co-founded Southwest Airlines in 1967. He established the foundational model of the low-cost carrier — low fares, short-haul point-to-point routes, high aircraft utilization, and a single fleet type. His employees-first management philosophy and humor-infused corporate culture sustained more than forty consecutive years of profitability in an industry notorious for losses. He died in 2019 at eighty-seven.

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Herb Kelleher's Other Quotes

A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.

We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise, than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude.

Related Quotes

The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest.

-- John D. Rockefeller

Competition is a sin.

-- John D. Rockefeller

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

-- Henry Ford

We bet on people.

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What is the root of wealth? Benevolence and moral principle. Unless grounded in right reason, wealth cannot endure.

-- Shibusawa Eiichi

We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

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