Faculty and students took the inaugural Buff Business Trek to Southwest Airlines’ headquarters at Love Field in Dallas on Jan. 16 before spring semester classes began at WT. The Buff Business Trek initiative supports the Engler Edge, a program designed to increase the leadership, business acumen and communication effectiveness for all graduates of the programs in the Engler College of Business.
Highlights of the program include a visit to the Southwest Training Center’s full motion Level D flight simulators, Southwest’s historical archives, training and development areas for flight crew, Network Operations Center, and interaction with many other WT alums working for Southwest, including Dillon Vaughan (BBA Finance 2016; MBA General Business 2018) and Judd Baker (BA Broadcast Media, 2018).
This program provides a vital connection between current and former students where our alumni served as exemplary ambassadors of Southwest Airlines’ corporate culture. A key takeaway for all involved was the vital importance of professional networking which affords our students a perspective and vision in building their future career paths.
During the part of the tour hosted by Little, Vaughn, and Baker, we witnessed a positive corporate culture and atmosphere that was instantly noticeable to everyone visiting.
“Southwest does an excellent job creating a fun culture beyond the typical office setting. One mentioned quote that stuck with me was from Herb Kelleher, their founder and former CEO: “We’re in the customer service business; we just happen to fly airplanes.” I think that from this trip, I can bring home the importance of hospitality in business success as well as the importance of company culture. From this trip, I can bring back to my students the importance of hospitality and the company culture that creates it to the business success of any firm.” – Kami Drinnon
Next, Lovell took over the tour and. We learned about the history of Southwest. Some notable things we explored were the importance of the rewriting of the Wright Amendment and the effect on flight profitability, the role of mergers and acquisitions to growth of Southwest Airlines. “My favorite part of the experience was learning about the history of the company; how they have had to manage the ups and downs in a difficult industry by implementing new branding or marketing strategies while also working to keep traditions alive. Every action impacts their profitability.” – Kami Drinnon
In the end while we were waiting on the runway in Dallas, there was a five-minute delay on the runway for ice on the runway in Amarillo. From what we learned in the meeting discussing the (on air pilot iPad thing) and from the NOS (What that is), we all knew how the delay was handled and how the pilots knew about how to respond.