David Neeleman Quotes

Southwest Airlines is successful because the company understands it's a customer service company. It also happens to be an airline.

Chick-fil-A is what it is today because of its people, purpose and product.

Our employees and competitors thought we were docile. We want to be defiantly disruptive. I don't mean necessarily by launching price wars but by being the best at the basics - having the best customer service, the best on-time performance, the best coffee - in a thoughtful, not a testosterone-laced, way.

I am wired like a CEO and care a great deal about the bottom line, but I care about my customers even more than that. That's always been my competitive advantage.

Cutting prices or putting things on sale is not sustainable business strategy. The other side of it is that you can't cut enough costs to save your way to prosperity.

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions, but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles, to organizational structure, to employee engagement, to customer service an marketplace.

Being a part of SKECHERS is exciting. It is such a hip company with a great attitude and image.

We have never seen a sport as a business, and we have this great passion for football. QPR are not a trophy asset. If we had wanted a trophy asset, there were more glamorous clubs we could have bought.

We're living in what I like to call the 'Thank You Economy,' because only the companies that can figure out how to mind their manners in a very old-fashioned way - and do it authentically - are going to have a prayer of competing.

Profitability comes from loyalty, productivity, and having a character base from which to work.

Going forward, we are mindful of the challenges we face in the competitive retail landscape, but we have demonstrated that our concept of building compelling brands that focus on the customers' lifestyles can produce superior results. We will not waver from that concept.

My father taught us that to thrive, excellence in technology, quality, and customer service along with cost competitiveness is a prerequisite. His contribution to business, the economy, and society at large can never be underscored enough.

How can you franchise hospitality?

Focusing on the long term and building a great product that is scalable ultimately leads to a great company.

Starbucks is not an advertiser; people think we are a great marketing company, but in fact we spend very little money on marketing and more money on training our people than advertising.

I am convinced that if you serve great value, people will come to you.

Great companies have high cultures of accountability, it comes with this culture of criticism I was talking about before, and I think our culture is strong on that.

The essence of business to me is great people run great companies. Mediocre people don't do a very good job.

The purpose of a business is to create customers.

I think any company should compete on the quality of their products, their prices, the novelty they can produce, their services, because that would be fair competition.

To any CEO who's skeptical at all, you have to create a social enterprise today; you have to be totally connected with everyone who touches your brand.

Keeping customers is about the experience, and the employees control the culture and temperature of the business. Never forget that.

I know only a few ways to take market share and drive new revenue. I can engineer better products and services, I can build better relationships with my customers and deliver a higher level of service, or I can give my customers a lower price.

I really did enjoy my time at Apple - it's a great company, and I really loved building Apple Music.

If you fly and you look around today and you see our United family, you see them incredibly motivated and focused on making things right.