“From the ridiculous to the sublime...” As soon as Doug Lawson uttered those words, I know he’d just perfectly described my first day at SWA. It’s not everyday you see groups of people shamelessly gobbling, squawking, strutting, and clawing the ground—all while a festive crowd (decked out in feather headdresses and paper towel Pilgrim hats) cheered them on. Welcome to the first-ever Southwest Airlines Wild Turkey Call Contest. And welcome to the Southwest Culture, indeed.
I was more than a little impressed by the willingness of people from every department eager to sign up and literally strut their stuff. The originality, creativity, sincerity, and overall sheer volume of each performance were commendable. This being the first-ever Wild Turkey call event, the turnout was impressive as well.
As one of three judges (along with Brian Lusk and Christi Day) I felt honored, and slightly torn, about choosing a winner. We decided to have a “gobble-off” with the top four:
Josiah Beam, Customer Relations
Char Sabin, Culture
Tre Toombs, SOS
Ken Martin, Technology
We went with Josiah as the winner, as his impression of a Turkey Tom with two Jennies was undeniably original. He was awarded a 1.75L liter of Wild Turkey and a $50 Wal-Mart gift card. What more could a guy want this holiday weekend? Still, I must say, Char’s gobble was instrument-free and involved wearing a plush turkey on her head—no easy task. Tre was actually a visitor for the day, and I’m sure his wife must be very proud of his formerly secret skill. Ken wins kudos simply for "scuddling" to the ground, squawking, and scurrying over to harass the judges. It was proclaimed a resounding success by all, and we hope another Southwest tradition has begun.
Speaking of traditions, if I ever need to earn another brain wrinkle, I’ll be sure to visit Doug Lawson in Ground Operations. I had the opportunity my very first day to hear him speak about swarm theory, and his very own self-titled theory: Viv Engineering (VivE for short.) Swarm intelligence studies animal behavioral patterns (including ant colonies, herds, and flocks of birds) and attempts to convert these patterns into algorithms that could make large-scale operations (such as the aviation industry) more intuitive and efficient.
Sounds easy, right? To boil it down into laymen terms, his theory hopes to engineer improvements for the service industry using life system principles. As a rule, people are unpredictable, so trying to make inanimate objects as reactive as Customers can be difficult. But that’s exactly what Doug is trying to do. If you’ve ever wondered who was the brain behind Southwest’s open seating policy, this is the man himself. Doug creates the software that allows engineers to simulate situations online before actually implementing them in real life. Of course, human nature can make this a little tricky. But it’s been implemented in Southwest’s Sky Harbor Phoenix airport successfully, and Doug now has his eyes on another obstacle-ridden, traffic-heavy feature: the ticket counter. So stay tuned.
If this much zaniness could happen in only my first day at SWA, I can’t imagine what the rest of the year will hold. Here’s hoping it involves a gobble or two.