经济学人讣告||美西南航空公司的联合创始人赫伯•凯莱赫
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导读
赫伯·凯莱赫：从拥有4架小飞机的小航空公司到航空界的领头羊
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
The high priest of ha ha
哈哈大祭司
英文部分选自经济学人Obituary版块
The high priest of ha ha
哈哈大祭司
Obituary: Herb Kelleher died on January 3rd
讣告：赫伯·凯莱赫不幸于1月3日离世
Co-founder and, for 30 years, chairman of Southwest Airlines was 87
赫伯·凯莱赫是美西南航空公司的联合创始人，曾担任总裁30年，于1月3日辞世，享年87岁
Unusually for a man who believed in cutting costs wherever possible, Herb Kelleher, the boss of Southwest Airlines, America’s most successful carrier, liked being flexible with trade unions. In 1994, during discussions over an unprecedented ten-year agreement that would freeze pilots’ wages for five years in return for stock options in the airline, he promised Gary Kerans, president of the pilots’ association, that if the contract went through, he would freeze his own salary and bonus for five years as well. Chairman and pilots should get the same treatment. The deal was done.
很难想象，赫伯·凯莱赫这样的人会喜欢对工会采取灵活变通的态度。作为西南航空的老板，美国最成功的承运人，尽可能地降低成本是他坚定不移的信念。1994年，赫伯·凯莱赫和飞行员协会主席加里·克兰斯曾就一项前所未有的十年协议进行谈判。该协议将冻结飞行员的工资五年，而作为回报他们将获得航空公司的股票期权。赫伯·凯莱赫向加里·克兰斯承诺，如果协议通过，5年内他将同样冻结自己的工资和奖金。董事长和飞行员们理当被一视同仁。最终，协议达成。
工资冻结：资本主义国家政府牺牲工人阶级利益以解决财政经济困难的一种措施。由政府以法令宣布将工资标准固定在某一特定的日期的水平上，不得任意变动，工人要求增加工资就成为“违法”的行动。
Born in New Jersey, he studied English and philosophy at Wesleyan University and then law at New York University. It was his wife, Joan, whom he met on a blind date, who persuaded him to set up a law firm in Texas. Southwest Airlines was born, not on the back of a cocktail napkin, as he later liked to boast, but when one of his legal clients, Rollin King, owner of a small commuter airline, and his banker, John Parker, came to his office. Both men found travelling between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio inconvenient and expensive, and thought they could do it better.
赫伯·凯莱赫出生于新泽西，先在卫斯理大学学习英文和哲学，后于纽约大学研修法律。他与妻子琼相识于一场相亲。正是琼劝说他在德克萨斯创办了一家律师事务所。尽管他后来喜欢吹牛，说西南航空（的构想）诞生于鸡尾酒会上一张餐巾纸的背面，但实际上这是他和罗林·金以及约翰·帕克一起策划出来的。罗林·金是一家小型通勤航空公司的老板，也是他的客户。约翰·帕克则是他的银行经理。某日，两人一起造访赫伯·凯莱赫，提出他们发现休斯顿、达拉斯和圣安东尼奥之间的交通既不方便又非常昂贵，而他们合伙一定能干得更好。
American aviation in the 1970s was dominated by the hub-and-spoke approach, pioneered by Delta Air Lines in the belief that the most efficient way to fill planes was to fly through hub cities and hoover up passengers. What King and Parker were proposing was cheap, point-to-point travel using small, convenient airports near to fast-growing centres. The competition was not other airlines, they believed, but cars. After all, the distance between Houston and San Antonio was less than 200 miles, a three-hour journey by road. Pacific Southwest Airlines had made city-hopping efficient in California, so why would it not work in Texas? He put up $10,000 of his own money and on November 27th 1967 he filed Southwest’s application to fly between the three cities.
上世纪七十年代，在美国航空业占主导的是达美航空公司所开创的中心辐射型空运理念。达美航空认为，最有效的“塞满”飞机的方法是飞经中心城市，“吸走”所有乘客。罗林·金和约翰·帕克却提议，使用靠近快速增长中枢的小型便利性机场，提供廉价、点对点的航空服务。他们认为竞争将不再来自其他航空公司，而是源自地面交通。毕竟，休斯顿和圣安东尼奥之间的距离不到200英里，乘车的话3个小时就到了。既然太平洋西南航空公司已经使得加利福尼亚州的城际短程空中旅行变得高效，为什么他们的模式不能在德克萨斯获得成功呢？赫伯·凯莱赫个人出资一万美金，合伙创办西南航空公司，并于1967年11月27日提交申请在休斯顿、达拉斯和圣安东尼奥三地通航。
What he hadn’t reckoned on was the airborne competition. Within a day, Braniff, Trans Texas (later Texas International) and Continental applied for a restraining order stopping Southwest from taking to the skies, arguing that Texas was perfectly well served by existing airlines. For the next four years, through the state district court in Austin, the state court of civil appeals, the Texas Supreme Court and the us Supreme Court, the big airlines pleaded for injunctions that would kill off the new business. As the airline’s lawyer, and later its general counsel, he laid out its arguments and rebuttals. When, the night before one final hearing, an anxious chief executive suggested that a sheriff might show up at the last minute and stop Southwest’s first plane from taking off, Mr Kelleher gave him strict instructions: “You roll right over the son of a bitch and leave our tyre tracks on his uniform if you have to.”
令他始料未及的来自其他航空公司的恶意竞争。短短一天之内，布兰尼夫航空公司、跨德克萨斯航空公司（后更名为德州国际航空公司）、美国大陆航空公司均申请了限制令，阻止西南航空开通此航线。它们声称现有航线已为德州提供了完美的服务。接下来的四年间，他们的官司一路从奥斯汀地方法院，民事上诉法院打到了德克萨斯州最高法院以及美国最高法院。这些大型航空公司要求法院颁布禁令，终止西南航空拓展新生意。凯莱赫作为西南航空公司的律师，后成为西南航空公司的法律总顾问，（通盘）驾驭了这些辩词和批驳。最后审理的前一晚，首席执行官焦虑不已，认为最后关头时警官可能现身，阻止飞机起飞。凯莱赫先生则给他下了死命令，勒令他直接从这个狗娘养的身上轧过去，必要的话就把他们的轮胎印到此人的制服上。
The legal battles forged the Southwest culture. Mr Kelleher, who became chairman in 1978 and then also ceo in 1981, was deeply affected by the tactics his rivals had used to try to strangle Southwest at birth. It offended the sense instilled in him by his mother that you should treat all people equally, and with respect. And it challenged his beliefs about what America stood for. As he would later tell Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, two academics who studied Southwest and went on to write the bestselling “Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success”: “It was an affront to my idealism. If you’re going to let these guys get away with this, it’s a radically different type of country from the one I wanted to believe in.”
法律斗争锻造了西南航空公司的文化基调。凯莱赫1978年成为公司董事长，1981年又成为执行总裁。他深受西南航空公司诞生之际，其对手的不当竞争手段的影响。这些做法深深违逆了母亲从小便教育他要平等、尊重地对待所有人的理念。也挑战了他对美国的信仰。正如他后来告诉凯文和贾姬·富莱伯格——西南航空公司的研究者，著有畅销书《西南航空：让员工热爱公司的疯狂处方》——那样，这些不当竞争是对其理想主义的蔑视，如果要是让这帮人占到便宜，美国将变成一个他无法信任的国家。
Southwest became his cause. When one airline ran an ad claiming that Southwest was a cheap carrier, he had himself filmed with a bag over his head, saying the airline was prepared to offer the same to any mortified passenger. When another started a price war and halved its Dallas-Houston fare to $13, Southwest countered: pay full price and get a bottle of vodka or whisky in return. When a rival airline complained that Southwest pinched its slogan and began advertising itself as “Just Plane Smart”, he suggested the two chairmen settle the matter over three rounds of arm-wrestling instead of using lawyers.
西南航空公司成为了他的毕生追求的事业。某航空公司曾在广告中称西南航空公司廉价，于是他便拍摄了自己头套袋子的广告，并表示将随时准备给感到羞愧的乘客提供相同的服务。当另一航空公司拉起价格战，将达拉斯到休斯顿的机票价格减半至仅为13美元时，西南航空公司展开回击，开展“付全款26美元即可获得一瓶伏特加或威士忌”的策略。而当竞争对手抱怨称西南航空公司剽窃其创意，在自己的广告中称“只是时髦的飞行”，他则建议两家公司的董事长用掰手腕的方式三局两胜，而不要麻烦律师。
Kool cigarette and a glass of Wild Turkey bourbon at hand, he was always ready to tell stories about his airline. How it hired for attitude; skills, you could always teach. How all its flight attendants wore hotpants. How when it won its first triple crown for best on-time performance, fewest customer complaints and smallest number of mishandled bags, all its customer-service employees were allowed to give up their uniforms and dress casually for a year. He put his workers first, ahead of his customers. Fortune dubbed him the “high priest of ha ha”.
酷尔（Kool）香烟在手，再加一杯威凤凰波本（Wild Turkey Bourbon）威士忌, 赫比·凯莱赫随时都能讲个美西南航空的段子：录用员工看中的是态度，至于技术嘛，总是可以通过培训习得的；空乘人员全都穿着热裤；当美西南荣获第一次航班准点率冠军、顾客最低投诉率冠军和行李转送准确率冠军而成就三冠王之际；所有美西南服务人员可以摒弃制服，穿休闲服装上班一年。他奉行员工第一而非顾客至上的原则。《财富》杂志戏称他为“哈哈大师”。
That every-day’s-a-holiday atmosphere would be called branding today, and was an important part of the Southwest story. But it hid some hard-headed business decisions. In the 1970s Southwest bought three brand-new 737-200s that Boeing had been unable to sell in the slump. The airline paid $4m rather than the usual $5m for the planes, and Boeing provided 90% of the finance. Southwest used no other aircraft, a boon for servicing and spare parts. It served no meals; just peanuts. And, to ensure the fastest turnaround, it offered no seat assignments. Planes don’t make money when they are on the ground. And making money in good times to ride out the lean years was what it was all about; Southwest has made an annual profit for 45 years on the trot.
“天天都是节日”的欢乐客舱气氛在今天会被称作品牌推广，当时是美西南航空故事中重要的一部分；在这种光芒掩映下，许多清醒冷静的商业决策显得不那么明显了。上世纪七十年代，正值波音公司萧条时期，美西南以低于正常价500万美元的400万美元，购买了三架全新的波音737-200S 客机，而其中90%的款项还是向波音公司融资获得。美西南使用唯一机型，因而有利于控制维修和备用件耗费成本；除了花生，不提供任何配餐服务。同时，为了保证迅速转机，也不提供座位分配服务。飞机停在地面上是赚不到钱的。美西南的经营之道就是在经济景气的时候赚钱以便在行业萧条时安然渡过。至今，美西南已经实现连续盈利45年。
Without Mr Kelleher, there would have been no Michael O’Leary and Ryanair or Stelios Haji-Ioannou rolling up his sleeves at EasyJet. And yet somewhere along the line something was lost. Cut-price air travel today is endured rather than enjoyed. It has become a hideous blend of zero-hours contracts and excuses to extort charges for everything from handbaggage that is deemed too big to failing to check in online. It is hard to imagine today’s airline workers taking out a full-page newspaper advertisement praising their chairman. On Bosses’ Day in 1994, Southwest’s employees did just that, pitching in an hour’s salary each to raise $60,000. “Thanks Herb. For remembering every one of our names…For listening…For being a friend, not just a boss.”
没有凯莱赫，就没有迈克尔·奥利里（Michael O’Leary）和瑞安航空，也不会有斯特里奥·哈吉·艾安诺（Stelios Haji-Ioannou）开创易捷航空（EasyJet）。然而， 在廉价航空如火如荼的今日，有些东西似乎丢失了。如今的廉价航空旅行只有忍受毫无愉快可言。而廉价航空公司一方面与雇员签订零时工合同，另一方面运用种种蹩脚借口勒索顾客，譬如以手提行李太大而不能办理网上登记为借口，收取额外费用；诸多作为，导致其口碑甚差。时至今日，再难出现航空公司员工筹款买下报纸的整版页面来夸奖航空主席的盛事。1994年老板日的那天，美西南航空的员工们拿出自己一小时的薪水，筹集了六万美金，登报赞扬他们的老板，“感谢赫比，感谢他记住我们每一个人的名字……感谢他乐于倾听……感谢他不仅仅是我们的老板更乐于做我们的朋友。”
翻译组：
Li Xia, 女， 爱爬山的自由翻译，美食狂人
Yao，英专本科生，准上外小硕，只读不背的经济学人爱好者
Alex,男，工科研究生，文学与科学爱好者，经济学人忠实读者
校核组：
Forest，女，意义之网编织中，经济学人爱好者
Dave，肌肉男大学教师，文学翻译，CATTI一笔二口
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Echo全权执笔
Echo，女，翻译专业学生，经济学人铁粉
美国当地时间1月3日，美国航空界传奇人物、美国西南航空联合创始人、名誉主席、前总裁Herb Kelleher去世，享年87岁
Herb Kelleher出生于美国东北部，毕业于纽约大学法学院，曾在新泽西州最高法院任书记员。他的终生成就即美国西南航空公司。美国西南航空公司创建于1971年6月18日，在几年内迅速扩张和发展，成为以美国国内城际间航线为主的航空公司，创造了多项美国民航业纪录。2001年9.11事件后，几乎所有的美国航空公司陷入了困境，美西南航却幸免遇难。2005年运力过剩和史无前例的燃油价格让美国整个航空公司行业共亏损100亿美元，达美航空和美国西北航空都是同年申请破产法保护，相比之下，美国西南航空公司则连续第33年保持赢利。美国西南航空是自1973年以来唯一一家连续盈利时间最长的航空公司。
在我看来，美国西南航空公司的成功主要得益于三个方面：
第一，创新经营。为节省费用，西南航空开业初期就采取了一些与众不同的经营方式：一是公司不设立专门的机修后勤部门，所有机修包给专业机修公司。二是使用单一机型，全部采用波音737机型，以适应西南航空市场定位的需要，同时节约了飞机维修费用。三是视飞机为公共汽车，不设头等舱，全部皮座椅，登机不对号入座，以此满足乘客有急于上机的心理，缩减乘客的误点率。这样一来，西南航空的登机和下机时间只有20分钟，明显提高了飞机使用率。
第二，员工队伍。Herb Kelleher一直坚持员工第一而非顾客第一。员工是公司最宝贵的财富。美西南花费了大量的时间和精力雇用、培训和保留那些聪慧的员工。虽然是低成本航空公司，但公司向员工队伍提供了极佳的福利方案。同时公司注重培养一种合作、信任和团队精神的工作氛围——鼓励员工具有创新性并且对所从事工作心怀高兴，比如他们所具有的标志性的幽默感能让乘客拥有一段令人愉悦和令人回想的旅行经历。
第三，企业文化。Herb Kelleher曾说：“西南航空公司的商业模式可能被抄袭，但我们的企业文化难以复制。” “在美西南，我们宁愿让公司充满爱，而不是敬畏。”“不仅仅是一项工作，而是一项事业”。等一系列口号中可以看出美西南企业文化的特质。在其员工培训中强调员工应该“承担责任、做主人翁”（take accountability and ownership），“畅所欲言”（celebrate and let you hair down），在企业文化中真正引导员工形成一种主人翁意识，让其认为公司的发展也就是个人的发展，促使员工愉快地投入到工作中去。
Herb Kelleher 是一个身负重任的人，是他让美国人实现了自由飞行；他改变了世界，让飞行价格更低廉，让人们可以支付以前支付不起的飞行，让天空民主化。
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