What does it take to go from an entry-level employee to the Chief Administration Officer of one of America's most beloved companies?

In Part 1 of my conversation with Linda Rutherford, we explore Linda's remarkable career journey from the newspaper industry to the executive leadership team at Southwest Airlines.

After losing her newspaper job when her employer closed, Linda found an opportunity at Southwest and spent decades growing into one of the airline's most influential leaders. Along the way, she discovered that one of the most important leadership skills isn't speaking—it's listening.

Linda shares how a fifth-grade teacher changed the course of her life by making her write the "Wise Old Owl" poem 500 times in a spiral notebook, a lesson that would later shape her leadership philosophy, influence her writing on listening, and guide her contributions to books on leadership and organizational change.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Making career pivots after unexpected setbacks
• Growing from an entry-level role into executive leadership
• Why listening is one of the most underrated leadership skills
• The leadership lessons behind her published work on listening and change management
• How childhood experiences can shape a lifetime of leadership

If you've ever faced a career detour, wondered how leaders build trust, or wanted to understand the difference between hearing and truly listening, this conversation is for you.

Thanks for Answering the Call.

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I’m Brandon Davis Wells and thanks for answering the call.