Innovative Leadership essay MGMT 4910 hellip

Merriam-Webster defines the term ‘profit’ as “the advantage or benefit that is gained from doing something.” Likewise, ‘consistent’ is defined as “continuing to happen or develop in the same way.” Both words are fairly common and do not draw much attention in and of themselves. The combination of the two however, that is, ‘consistent profitability’ is a much less spoken phrase, particularly in the world of business. With the emergence of the global market and the ever-changing economy, most businesses find themselves in the red with disgruntled shareholders at some point or another.
Companies that do not suffer the fickle nature of the business world are few and far between. One such company is Southwest Airlines. At its helm sits co-founder and chairman Herb Kelleher. Herb was born in New Jersey in 1931 and acquired his J.D. from New York University in 1956. A decade later, over drinks with a client and charter airline owner by the name of Rollin King, Air Southwest Company was conceived on the back of a cocktail napkin. It was a revolutionary idea that would provide affordable air travel to commuters between Texas’ three largest cities. Air Southwest was incorporated a year later and renamed Southwest Airlines. Kelleher and King planned to enter the market by offering short, direct flights across vast Texas to businessmen. This ‘point-to-point’ approach as it would soon become known was a drastic departure from the conventional ‘hub-and-spoke’ method of air travel where passengers would be rerouted through major airports, often times out of the way, no matter where they were headed. This method helped consolidate passengers and flights but was very time consuming. Kelleher’s plan stood in contrast to the major carriers and was therefore perceived as a threat and met with huge amounts of litigation and opposition from the incumbent airlines. By 1969 Kelleher was engaged in over thirty legal battles and the accounts ran dry. After ardent perseverance