Kelleher: 4% Profitable Market Share Beats 90% Unprofitable Share
Herb Kelleher · Remembering Herb Kelleher · Jan 4, 2019 · at 26:39
Herb Kelleher, co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, reflects on prioritizing profitability over market share battles that bankrupted legacy competitors.
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“Let's focus on profitability. And if we have four percent of a market and we're profitable, that's better than having 90% of a market and being unprofitable.”
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More from Herb Kelleher
Kelleher: Southwest was the most heavily unionized carrier in the US
“We were the most heavily unionized carrier in the United States. Our low costs were not due to being a non-union carrier, since we were more unionized than our competitors were.”
Kelleher: Southwest kept low costs despite being the most unionized US airline
“Yeah, we were the most heavily unionized carrier in the United States. Our low costs were not due to being a non-union carrier, since we were more unionized than our competitors were.”
Kelleher: A profitable 4% market share is better than an unprofitable 90%
“So I said, let's focus on profitability. And if we have four percent of a market and we're profitable, that's better than having 90% of a market and being unprofitable.”
Kelleher: Companies that think small grow bigger; companies that think big shrink
“Think small and act small and we'll get bigger. Think big and act big, and we'll get smaller.”