How to summarise 25 years in a few words…

I first “get” into what company can achieve with people thanks to Ricardo Semler and his Brazilian company Semco as related in his book “A contre courant” or “Maverick” in English.

At the time I worked in Lisbon in a portuguese bank, that I joined after graduating with a master in applied economic science. That bank was doing a few things right in getting people motivated and passionated by their work. I was hooked but very quickly disappointed when I realised that this bank and Semler were just a few examples.

When I moved to London in 1994, I soon get acquainted with the works of Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University and “The human equation”. Also working in a small insurance company in the fast moving market of direct insurance I get again the opportunity to taste what freedom can make you do as an employee and achieve in order to improve the organisation or the business.

Thanks to Pfeffer I discovered in the late 90s Southwest Airlines. Based on my previous experiences, positive or not I discovered that organisations differ greatly in the way they treat their people. I also discovered, as a management consultant in Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young and then as freelance that the best way to help people is to let them do it experience it, advise them, give them feedback, make them grow…

It is then a wonderful learning and practicing experience for me first in the UK then back in Belgium, about change management, ADKAR, cultural integration, stress assessment, giving training on behaviours, on feedbacks, on assertivity, coaching managers and employees, the role of values and every time there was a bit of Southwest Airlines that I brought to my trainings, coaching or advices.

Finally a year ago, the light went on when I compared Southwest’ stock returns to the likes of Apple, Google, Microsoft, General Electric under Jack Welch, Berkshire Hathaway, I realised that Southwest Airlines beat them all on return per action over the long term and this mostly due to their People, their culture, their values, their mission, their vision and the way they live all these principles, just a few principles…

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