''Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success'' is a 1996 non-fiction book about the American low-cost airline

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

by Kevin and Jacquelyn Freiburg, published by Bard Press.

Background

The Freiburgs, a husband and wife couple, were working on a PhD about leadership when they first became involved with Southwest.Sander, p. 111. They operate a consulting company together in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

The book lists positive aspects of the company operations and culture at Southwest.

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

wrote that "The Freibergs state up front that their work is not an exposé and make no apologies for presenting a very positive and optimistic view." The chapters are "A Legend Takes Off," "Basics Gone Nuts", "Doing the Extra Special Exceptionally Well", and "The Legend Lives On." The first describes the company's beginning. The second describes Southwest's management philosophy, known as "NUTS". The third describes the

Corporate Culture Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...

and putting the interests of employees ahead of those of customers, and the fourth is about the management style from the executives. Each chapter has a "Success in a Nutshell" section summarizing what Bellinda Wise of

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Uniondale, New York, using the Garden City, New York ZIP Code. It was founded in 1959 and is part of the State University of New York. History Nassau Community College was cre ...

describes as "the eccentric elements of Southwest's corporate culture." Wise adds that the Freiburgs "emphasize" the "caring character of the company" "to the point of sounding corny."

Reception

James Routhnie of EasyGroup, owner of British budget airline

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

, stated that the company founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou had referred to the book as his "bible" and personally gave him a copy. Routhnie wrote that the book helped him learn about job satisfaction. John Nirenberg of the

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree lev ...

wrote that the book "is the story not of one person or a small group of insiders" but instead "the story of what is possible when people are engaged in their work and their organization."Nirenberg, p. 216. He described the book " as a fascinating account" as the opposite of ''Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great'' by

Albert J. Dunlap Albert John Dunlap (July 26, 1937 – January 25, 2019) was an American corporate executive. He was known at the peak of his career as a professional turnaround management specialist and downsizer. The mass layoffs at his companies earned him ...

.Nirenberg, p. 215. Nirenberg stated that the book "equally leaves the reader with a skeptical view of the cozy claims" of the company's benevolence; and that it "hardly created a ripple upon its release."

stated that "some critical analysis would have made for a more worthwhile presentation" although the rise of Southwest is "worthy of study".

References

* *

Notes

External links

* * (excerpt of ''Nuts!'' from the personal website of the authors)
Website of publisher, Bard Press
Southwest Airlines 1996 non-fiction books {{business-book-stub

Background

Contents

Reception

References

Notes

External links