Jim Parker

Jim Parker was CEO of Southwest Airlines during and after September 11th, where he continued their strong customer focused culture and maintained their record profitability - among a difficult time period for most companies, particularly in the airline industry. Some of Jim's accomplishments during this time...

Only airline not to furlough employees after 9/11
Only airline not to borrow money from the US Government's guaranteed loan program
Only airline to not cut employee salaries after 9/11
Only airline to offer unconditional "no questions asked refunds" after 9/11
Made a scheduled $160MM + profit sharing plan payment within a week after 9/11 when the airline's cash situation was squeezed due to paying employees for basically "staying home"
Ultimately led Southwest to a market capitalization greater than the sum of the other airlines combined.

Jim tells the story of how the culture of an organization can be a great benefit in good economic times and is absolutely essential in bad economic times. He stresses the "round earth" principle where "what goes 'round comes 'round" if you develop a respect and appreciation for your employees, they will do the same with your customers. And when times are tough, that respect and appreciation transcend a purchasing consumer's decision to save money to one where they will spend money on that product or service from a company that they have an emotional attachment to. Parker tells story after story of customers who did not ask for refunds after 9/11 instead they told Southwest employees "that the airline needed the money more than they did" and more customers who actually sent money to Southwest in the days and weeks following 9/11 for the same reasons.