Communicating openly and often has always been an expectation for our Southwest Leaders. When the Company first started, long before the countless means of digital communication we all rely on today, it was still small enough to have face-to-face conversations with just about everyone. In fact, it wouldn’t have been uncommon to see Lamar Muse or Rollin King at one of the local watering holes having a beer with Employees. It wasn’t until almost 1980 that we even broke the 1,000 mark for total headcount. And with the combination of our early load factors and destinations within about an hour of Dallas, jumping on a flight to just about any station wasn’t out of the question as either. As we all know as well, another major limiting factor to access to Love Field was the Wright Amendment which was signed into law in 1980. When new locations such as San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas opened about two years later, there was no scheduled service available to Dallas. Herb felt that it was important for all Employees to hear an annual review of our accomplishments, lay out the battle plan for where the Company was going, and to give everyone the opportunity to ask questions. The solution to the challenge of bringing Employees to the heart of Southwest was to bring the heart to them. In October 1985, Herb’s Message to the Field was born.
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For the first year, the Message to the Field took place in our original three Texas triangle cities. Often utilizing a hotel conference room, the Message provided Employees a chance to hear an inspiring speech directly from Herb. Following his remarks, the small group would then have the opportunity to ask followup questions, which sometimes ranged from “Can I get a new some new pens for my desk?” to “When are we going to start flying to Florida?” No matter what the question, Herb made an effort to answer as many as he could. Following the success of the first year, the 1986 Message to the Field schedule also included its first destinations outside of Texas—with two appearances in Phoenix. Herb delivered his final Message on March 20, 2001, the day after announcing the succession plan, which included Jim Parker transitioning into the CEO role and Colleen joining the Board of Directors the day after our 30th anniversary in June. In his speech, Herb described the honor it had been for him to serve in the role and reminded everyone that the airline business is a war. Although his comments were mainly framed around the fierce business competition, little did anyone know the unthinkable challenges our industry would encounter later that year.
Gary delivered his first Message to the Field in 2005 after assuming the role of CEO and Vice Chairman a few months earlier. In it, he continued Herb’s tradition of providing an outline of where we stood as a Company and motivating everyone to rise to the challenges we faced. Gary also had the opportunity to speak directly to Employees about our recent announcement regarding efforts to start repealing the Wright Amendment.
This year will mark our 30th Message to the Field. Even though the event has changed from a few dozen folks gathered in the local Ramada conference room to the thousands of motivated Employees who look forward to the annual meeting, the purpose remains the same—providing Employees the opportunity to connect with our Senior Leadership and celebrate our Culture. Just like the theme of our 1996 Message, we’re “Still Nuts after All These Years.” (And, proud of it!)