Leading Growth through Building People

Southwest Airlines disrupted the airline industry by a relentless focus on building their people around a culture of fun, hard work, and hands-on leadership.

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The contractors who truly have that same level of focus on their people and culture will dominate the industry tomorrow. 

Leadership Tools: Leading Growth Through a Focus on Building People. Quotes by Mikel Bowman, General Manager and Safety Specialist at Turner Mining Group and Herb Kelleher, Founder of Southwest Airlines.

Mikel Bowman from Turner Mining Group in an excellent video by Aaron Witt commented:

“We are more of a people company that does mining services.” 


Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan in the book Execution comment that:

“Leaders need to commit as much as 40 percent of their time and emotional energy, in one form or another, to selecting, appraising, and developing people.” 


You can see through the daily posts by leaders like Keaton Turner what spending this kind of time on people really looks like. These posts aren’t marketing fluff and can’t be faked. There is no way that doesn’t translate into long-term sustainable growth.  

We are at a major inflection point in the industry, including a major shortage of talent along with evolving project delivery methods and rapidly accelerating technologies.  


How much of your time did you spend on developing people last week? What’s your plan this week?




Not All Growth is Visible Above the Surface
Deep roots equal strong trees, and the same is true for strong people. Those roots include relationships and skills that are largely invisible for years while they are being built. Like an iceberg, there is always a lot more going on under the surface.
Competitive Advantage
A contractor’s market strategy is the most highly leveraged decision leadership can make. Getting this right then executing effectively can easily have a 2X+ positive impact on earnings over the next 5 years.
Discipline Vs. Motivation
Leadership requires a balance between motivation and discipline. These are two very different things and if you are relying on motivation to keep you going it is likely that you will come up short on long-term goals.