Deep Dive Series: The Power of an Empathic, Strategic No
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
The June 15th episode of Ted Talks Daily is titled “Why you should get good at being bad.” In this podcast, the speakers tell the story of Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher. When building the model for Southwest, Herb Kelleher was very aware of strategic trade-offs. He wanted the company to focus on offering cheaper prices and more frequent flights. But prioritizing these perks necessitated saying no to other things. For example, you wouldn’t get an assigned seat or a meal. They also had a policy where they wouldn’t transfer bags.
One day Herb received a letter from a disgruntled Southwest customer. She was frustrated because she traveled to see her grandchildren often, and she had to transfer airlines in order to visit them. Southwest’s policy to not transfer bags was inconvenient for her, and she was voicing her displeasure at that policy. All other airlines provided the service, and she thought Southwest should as well.
Herb’s response to the letter was thoughtful. He explained that in order for Southwest to be cheaper and faster, sacrifices needed to be made. If bags were transferred, Southwest’s entire business model would fall apart. Southwest could turn their planes around 30 minutes faster partly because of this no luggage transfer policy, and it was the reason why they could be cheaper and faster. He empathized with her frustration, but he strategically explained why luggage transfers were going to remain a “no” for their company. Southwest decided they were going to strategically say no to luggage transfers, seat assignments, and meals in order to say yes to cheaper and more frequent flights. Herb shared his response to the frustrated grandmother with the rest of the company to emphasize the priorities of the firm and to encourage everyone to also give empathic, strategic no’s.
Sometimes in order to say yes to priorities, we must say no to other details. Know your priorities and give your own empathic but strategic no when warranted.
If you or your team would like to sign up for our 2 hour Balance and Productivity training to instantly double your meaningful output and find the feeling of lasting flow and optimized work life balance, please click here and say hello!
Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team