The world is complex and living in the communication age adds further complexity to our lives.

We are all getting inundated with information and impulses that have every opportunity to distract us from what we should be doing. Because of this, I find striving for simplicity, one of the best attributes in business.

Do more with less! Stay the course! Stay on target! Those are the messages we should all put on our screensavers and our wallpaper. I admire companies that do this very well and the ones that I know are all best in class.
Case in point Southwest Airlines. They just celebrated their 40th year in business and have not changed their model or what they set out to do. Like so many upstarts, Southwest Airlines was a company that was nearly doomed before it got out of the starting blocks. In their case it was their competition that tried to keep them out of business by endless litigation. (One of their primary antagonists was Braniff and where are they now?)
Southwest Airlines has been excellent in keeping it simple for themselves and thus predictable for their customers:

• Fly only one type of aircraft
• No baggage fees
• No change fees
• Every day low fares
• Quick turnaround
• One cabin class
• All leather seats
• Standard leg room

Simplicity is not the only way in which Southwest separates themselves from the pack. It is also an excellent company to work for, because the attitude of the Southwest personnel at all levels is exceptionally customer oriented and refreshingly positive (disregarding the stray pilot who kept his mike open while making completely inappropriate comments about the female cabin staff; Southwest made a critical mistake in not firing him on the spot).
I am a fan of Southwest Airlines because of all of the above and because they have saved me a lot of money in airfare (I have a choice between "Senior Fare" and "Wanna Get Away" and then I frequently earn a freebee).

Now that Southwest has acquired Airtran their network is unmatched for the Continental US. And the good thing is with them you never again have to fly a puddle jumper and you never again have to gate check your roller bag.
Southwest Airlines is truly keeping it simple for themselves, for their associates, and for their passengers. In the process they make it less trying than air-travel has become for us road warriors.

There is a lesson in this for all of us. Keep it simple for the sake of keeping control of your business and in order to make doing business with you a predictable and pleasant experience for your customers.

(Frans Jager is President of Castnet Corp. (www.castnetcorp.net) a Business Consultant for the Green Industry and an Executive Coach. He frequently writes about matters pertaining to the Green Industry. He can be reached at (castnetcorp@gmail.com)