1. Industrious Agenda ically that Southwest Airlines was prepared for it. Just
Agenda2009
like we were prepared for 9/11, and just like we were
Andrew N. Liveris
prepared for the first Gulf War in 1991. We’ve got cash
President, CEO and Chairman
in the bank, we have a line of credit, we have modest
The Dow Chemical Company
levels of debt and we have manageable commitments.
BY STEVE VIUKER “ Everyone is concerned about the energy crisis
and the economic crisis, but the challenge America is
really facing is an industrial crisis. The solution? A new
industrial policy—one developed by manufacturers for
So, it remains to be seen what will happen with the
economy and on Wall Street in 2009, but I feel very,
very good about the Southwest Airlines brand and
where it is headed. As we’re thinking about making
manufacturers, a policy that rejuvenates our econom- choices for our future, we’re putting it through a filter
ic base and makes American industry competitive again. and asking ourselves: what’s a good way to take care of
With the financial meltdown of 2008 bringing Wall Street and much of the U.S. In order to bring U.S. manufacturing costs in line with our employees in the long run so that they, in turn, can
our global competitors, we need to lower the corporate take great care of our customers.
economy to its knees, CEOs continue to reel from the credit shock blowback. tax rate, reinvent regulation, reform our civil justice sys- In terms of thinking about next year, however, we still
tem and find solutions to the health care crisis. Energy need to be very cautious. There’s a lot of risk built into
Many say we are in a recession but are not certain how long and hard it will prove our industry, and we’re obviously not immune to those
consumption will continue to soar, and we have got to
to be. Chief Executive asked business leaders from a wide range of industries: develop a comprehensive policy so that we can keep risks or their effects in today’s volatile economic envi-
energy investments inside our borders. And we have to ronment. We’ve said for some time that our plan is to
What issues or challenges, either for your company and industry or for the improve our energy security by improving efficiency keep our fleet growth relatively flat in 2009, and even as
and conservation, diversifying domestic supplies and of today, we haven’t firmly decided how many aircraft
economy, will be uppermost on your minds, as you face 2009 and beyond? finding new alternatives and renewables. Everyone— we’ll deploy beyond our current schedule (open through
not just the $1.6 trillion manufacturing sector but every March 8, 2009). We do know we’ll be adding Minneapo-
industry, all public and private sectors, and environ- lis-St. Paul to our schedule in March 2009, and we’ll be
mentalists—must collaborate to realize these goals. I ready to grow our capacity when it makes sense.
Regardless, 2009 will be a critical year for us. We’ve
The Dow Chemical Company is a $54 billion global chem- started a lot of work to continue positioning ourselves
ical, plastics and agro sciences company based in Midland, for the future, and the coming year is the time when
Mich. www.dow.com we’ll be executing a lot of these initiatives. I
Southwest Airlines is a $9.9 billion Dallas-based passen-
Cautious Flyer ger airline. www.southwest.com
Gary Kelly
Chairman, President and CEO
Southwest Airlines
“ Times are, indeed, challenging. The entire
economy is obviously mired in uncertainty, which nev-
er bodes well for our industry. This has been such a
tough decade, and many are calling our current indus-
try situation worse than the aftermath of 9/11. It’s not
just soaring oil prices. Airlines are experiencing cut-
backs in business travel spending, declining leisure trav-
el, bankruptcies and layoffs, and the list goes on.
DORIANO SOLINAS/GETTYIMAGES.COM
Of course, no one knows the future, and I will be the
first to tell you I had no idea this financial crisis was com-
ing the way it erupted this fall. But I can tell you emphat- Andrew Liveris Gary Kelly
Dow Chemical Southwest Airlines
CEO Magazine November/December 2008 41