Herb Kelleher has written about a leadership lesson he learned years ago when he had moved to San Antonio as a young lawyer. That lesson is recounted below.
"My best lesson in leadership came during my early days as a trial lawyer. Wanting to learn from the best, I went to see two of the most renowned litigators in San Antonio try cases. One sat there and never objected to anything, but was very gentle with witnesses and established a rapport with the jury. The other was an aggressive, thundering hell-raiser. And both seemed to win every case. That's when I realized there are many different paths, not one right path. That's true of leadership as well. People with different personalities, different approaches, different values succeed not because one set of values or practices is superior, but because their values and practices are genuine. And when you and your organization are true to yourselves -- when you deliver results and a singular experience -- customers can spot it from 30,000 feet."
To see this lesson in the larger context of an article Mr. Kelleher has written, click here.