My personal interview with Colleen Barrett!

[paQman]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board, so be nice!

I am writing a college paper for a behavioral management class I'm taking. And I have the great opportunity to have a personal interview with Pres. Colleen Barrett! The interview is on April 12th, and I have a couple questions for you.

First, I wanted to ask her a question about Herb Kelleher, but I don't know how to pronounce his name, first or last, and I don't want to sound like an idiot. Do any of you know how to pronounce his first and last name? Is it Herb, with the "h" sound, or just "Erb" with no "h" sound? And then I think his last name is prounced just the way it's spelled, I just wanted to make sure.

The other thing I wanted to ask, is for suggestions on questions I should ask Colleen. I have already submitted a lits of questions, but I have an hour with her, so if I have any extra time, what questions would you ask her if you had the chance? Maybe I'll ask one, and tell you what she says!

Thanks,
Nate

 

[EricLv2Fish]

Herb...pronounce the "H", Kell-her. I'd ask her if she was single...just kiddin'. You probably have lots of SWA cultural questions...and SWA pay versus the rest of the industry. Good luck on the interview.

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Here's a couple of neat questions....

Ask her why, when she put the guest list together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of service to Harlingen (its first expansion outside the original 3 cities) she omitted the names of the two people most critical to the success of that expansion - Lamar Muse, who insisted on going to HRL (Herb wanted Austin) and the former VP-Ground Ops (who drove Dallas to Harlingen on a Thursday night with one other person and, by Tuesday morning, had a station ready to start service.) I have always wondered about that.

Ask her why they emasculated Parker after the FA contract negotiations. In fact, ask her if she is happy about caving in to the demands of the Flight Attendants now that every other airline has better labor costs.

 

[swflyer]

EEK!!!! :blink:

I wouldn't recommend either question ELP wrote!! Colleen is pretty 'no BS', and I'll bet the tone of those questions in no way matches what you've already submitted. Try to back her into a corner, and get politely shown the door. You can re-phrase the Lamar Muse question, and probably get a pretty good earful. It's all in the tone. IMHO.

It's also Kell-uh-her, not Kell-her.

If behavioral management is your focus, ask her about her efforts to insure Culture (capitalized) translates to all levels. In my experience, her level 'gets it', as well as the front line employees, but sometimes there's a blocking layer in between the two. How to you hold Management accountable for the message AND get your performance targets met??

BTW, again IMHO, the two schools of thought are that Jim Parker was scapegoated to help w/the transition from the Herb era, or, the promotion so inflated his ego, that he forgot his place and became a liability to the Culture and operation of SWA. I'm not basing my opinion on just the f/a negotiations, but also conversations with other G.O. departments. ELP's comment seems to ignore the productivity improvements the f/a's agreed to to pay for the "lucrative" contract. <_< I can hold up my own work schedule as an example of that.

Enjoy the time w/Colleen. I think she's a woman frequently underestimated by her detractors.

Here's a couple of neat questions....

Ask her why, when she put the guest list together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of service to Harlingen (its first expansion outside the original 3 cities) she omitted the names of the two people most critical to the success of that expansion - Lamar Muse, who insisted on going to HRL (Herb wanted Austin) and the former VP-Ground Ops (who drove Dallas to Harlingen on a Thursday night with one other person and, by Tuesday morning, had a station ready to start service.) I have always wondered about that.

Ask her why they emasculated Parker after the FA contract negotiations. In fact, ask her if she is happy about caving in to the demands of the Flight Attendants now that every other airline has better labor costs.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Here's 2 SERIOUS questions ;

Ask, WHAT "decade" does she think the Wright Ammendment "may" be overturned?...2010's...2020's.. ?

And

Ask here WHY AA's "political Juice"(In Texas) is MORE potent than WN's ?

NH/BB's

 

[WNjetdoc]

Here's a couple of neat questions....

Ask her why, when she put the guest list together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of service to Harlingen (its first expansion outside the original 3 cities) she omitted the names of the two people most critical to the success of that expansion - Lamar Muse, who insisted on going to HRL (Herb wanted Austin) and the former VP-Ground Ops (who drove Dallas to Harlingen on a Thursday night with one other person and, by Tuesday morning, had a station ready to start service.) I have always wondered about that.

Ask her why they emasculated Parker after the FA contract negotiations. In fact, ask her if she is happy about caving in to the demands of the Flight Attendants now that every other airline has better labor costs.

Can you post proof that SWA now has the HIGHEST lobor cost in the ENTIRE U.S commercial aviation industry? Thank you.

 

[ronaldl79]

Nate,

Congrats on securing an interview with Southwest's President! I interviewed their VP of Public Relations, Linda Rutherford, in February. Listen to the interview for guidance, name pronunciations, and more. You can download it at http://www.ronaldlewis.com/interviews.

Again, congrats!

Ron

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board, so be nice!

I am writing a college paper for a behavioral management class I'm taking. And I have the great opportunity to have a personal interview with Pres. Colleen Barrett! The interview is on April 12th, and I have a couple questions for you.

First, I wanted to ask her a question about Herb Kelleher, but I don't know how to pronounce his name, first or last, and I don't want to sound like an idiot. Do any of you know how to pronounce his first and last name? Is it Herb, with the "h" sound, or just "Erb" with no "h" sound? And then I think his last name is prounced just the way it's spelled, I just wanted to make sure.

The other thing I wanted to ask, is for suggestions on questions I should ask Colleen. I have already submitted a lits of questions, but I have an hour with her, so if I have any extra time, what questions would you ask her if you had the chance? Maybe I'll ask one, and tell you what she says!

Thanks,
Nate

 

[SharoninSAT]

Here's 2 SERIOUS questions ;

Ask, WHAT "decade" does she think the Wright Ammendment "may" be overturned?...2010's...2020's.. ?

Ask here WHY AA's "political Juice"(In Texas) is MORE potent than WN's ?

NH/BB's
..................
1."very soon"
2."not"

 

[KCFlyer]

Here's 2 SERIOUS questions ;

Ask, WHAT "decade" does she think the Wright Ammendment "may" be overturned?...2010's...2020's.. ?

And

Ask here WHY AA's "political Juice"(In Texas) is MORE potent than WN's ?

NH/BB's

Bear....is AA's political juice all that strong? After all, the Wrong Amendment WAS modified to include the state of Missouri, and no politico's have done much to prevent AA from losing money (by their own expectations) at DAL.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Bear....is AA's political juice all that strong? After all, the Wrong Amendment WAS modified to include the state of Missouri, and no politico's have done much to prevent AA from losing money (by their own expectations) at DAL.

===========================================================

KCF,
Your right about Missouri, BUT I would argue that a "TOTAL (non) reversal of Wright, speaks Volumes.

SharoninSAT,

Care to "go on record" as to what "very soon" means, with regard to Wright ???


NH/BB's

 

[KCFlyer]

===========================================================

KCF,
Your right about Missouri, BUT I would argue that a "TOTAL (non) reversal of Wright, speaks Volumes.

NHBB....remember...Rome was not built in a day....

 

[OIcUdranksome2]

Ask her what she means when she says that she is "Tough on issues, but tender on people."