【高分紀錄片】商業精英【720p高清全13集】 P5 - 5.美國西南航空創始人：赫伯·凱萊赫

In this episode of Titans, Herb Kelleher has a dream, an airline for the masses. Taking an airline, fighting all the odds. He outworked them, he outdared them. In the beginning, his obscure Texas airline is quirky. We put our fighter tents and hot pants and go-go boots. But Kelleher builds Southwest Airlines into a giant, through unconventional leadership. Think small and act small and we'll get bigger. He's a fierce competitor. He's eccentric and he's just fun-loving. And he's constantly thinking, how do we better serve those customers? Herb Kelleher is a man on a mission, giving Americans the freedom to fly. He changed the world. People today can afford to fly that never could afford to fly before. On any given day, Southwest Airlines flies more than a quarter of a million passengers around the U.S. That makes this Dallas-based airline the biggest in the country, in terms of passengers flown. Southwest has revolutionized the airline industry, with its low fares, no-frill service and easy-going in-flight attitude. We know you're ready to get to new places. Open up the fans, put away your suitcases. It's very easy for the public to understand what Southwest is all about. And that's part of the charm of Southwest. When you mention Southwest to somebody who is flying, they know exactly what they're going to get with Southwest. Great service, consistent service, and we're going to get you to your destination, perhaps with a smile on your face. The heart and soul of Southwest Airlines is Herb Kelleher, the co-founder and former CEO. He's larger than life. And a little bit of a ham. And at Southwest headquarters in Dallas, Herb Kelleher is treated like a rock star. If you think I'm a rock star, you need to get out more. Literally, when he walks into a room, he draws excitement. Just his personality alone just brings out the excitement in people. You can't help but love him. And he's the type of boss that every boss should want to be like. Perfect. Though Kelleher retired in 2001, he keeps an office at Southwest and often gives pep talks to Southwest managers. Whenever Kelleher speaks about Southwest, he defines the airline's mission. He calls it democratizing the skies, one low fare at a time. Kelleher notes that when Southwest started flying in 1971, only about half of the American public had ever flown in a jet. It wasn't because people didn't want to fly. They simply, under federal regulation, couldn't afford to fly. Today, thanks in part to lower fares started by Southwest, 85 percent of Americans have flown. We set out to free the American people to fly, and it's been an enormous success thanks to all of you. In the airline industry, it's called the Southwest effect. When Southwest enters a market, fares drop and more passengers take to the skies. Every place we've gone, traffic just multiplies like rabbits. Because there's that latent demand, people could not surmount the cost barrier to fly. Well, we moved that barrier way down. The man with the Texas swagger begins life in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia. Growing up, Kelleher's biggest influence is his mother, who, like Herb, has a boundless curiosity. She was interested in all facets of life. It didn't matter what the subject was. Business, yes. Politics, yes. Philosophy, yes. You name it. The love of learning instilled by his mother serves Kelleher well at Wesleyan University, where he studies English literature, and then New York University Law School. Years later, when Kelleher found Southwest, his mother's influences felt again. I'll never forget, she told me, always remember, son, the title and position in and of themselves are nothing. He doesn't see a janitor or a pilot, a flight attendant or a Supreme Court judge. That's just not the way Herb thinks, which I think is, you know, incredibly remarkable. And Herb has this love for people and this impassioned curiosity that says, there isn't anybody I can't learn from, and there isn't anybody I really can enjoy. The story of Southwest Airlines begins in the 1960s, when Kelleher, a lawyer with a young family in New Jersey, decides to pick up and move to San Antonio, Texas, a place he believes has a freewheeling, pro-business environment. And I said, because I want to start things, and I think Texas is more wide open, and I'd like to get something started if I could. Opportunity knocks when his friend, Rollin King, calls a meeting. Rollin and I used to go over to the St. Anthony Club at the St. Anthony Hotel to have a few pops, you know, to inspire creativity. King, who runs a charter airline service, has an idea for a new airline. It will serve just three Texas cities, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The routing is simple enough to sketch in a cocktail napkin, and the idea for Southwest Airlines is born. So I've always told everybody, well, you really couldn't see the lines anymore because of the watermarks. The year is 1967, and the low fare airline that's dreamed up on a cocktail napkin...