rep or flight attendant. So be sure to hire the right attitude.” When he arrived at Southwest, Putnam immediately surveyed the employees. What he discovered was a company of positive attitudes and extroverted, big thinkers who were team players and innovative and customer-focused in their jobs. “In other words, they wanted us to show them the big plan and then they im- plemented it,” Putnam observed. “Tey loved to have fun. Many had no college (degrees). Tey wanted to be in the ‘people business.’ In fact, we didn’t hire for a college degree, but if they had one, that was fine.” From there, Southwest literally and figura-
tively took off. “Soon, high attitudes and the development of personal skills became the mantra over our door,” Putnam added. “We took that formula to all new hires in every department, including pilots and mechanics.” By hiring the “cream of attitudes,” as
Putnam described them, student transpor- tation departments, too, can accelerate their operations by spending more time on honing
efficiency rather than play revolving door with the HR department. Putnam’s second item on his to-list, and similarity between school busing and airlines, is understanding the company’s business. “We concluded we were not in the airline business, we were in the business of ‘mass transpor- tation,’” said Putnam, adding that this fact certainly extends to school transportation. “We had no first class, seat assignments or food. We focused on high productivity of our airplanes and employees. And we kept it simple. Because we had one type of airplane, the Boeing 737, every pilot could fly every airplane without retraining. We had one pile of space parts, which meant simplicity of the fleet, simplicity of ground equipment and office furniture. We made it easy for employee and customers to thread their way through the maze.” And, third, because Putnam’s regime con- cluded that Southwest’s business model was “the people business of mass transportation,” he ensured the company culture supported the vision. “Tat is what you need to do in your culture,” he added.
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