In my MBA studies, many classes touched on Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines. Mr. Kelleher was an excellent example of how leadership should be done, and he led Southwest to growth in a very difficult market. As I revisit my previous studies, I now see technology lessons that parallel the business lessons.

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Southwest simplified operational costs by selecting a single model of airplane and focusing on high-density routes. They also rode out some short term spikes in oil prices by leveraging advanced purhcases of airline fuel.

To read how these lessons relate to IT, visit my article “Successful virtualization strategies learned from the airline industry” at SearchServerVirtualization, then come back here to leave comments.