As Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications, Ginger Hardage was a tireless ambassador of the world-famous Southwest Culture, leading to honors such as being a perpetual standout on FORTUNE’s “Most Admired Companies in the World” list. She helped champion the values, purpose and “Best Place to Work” initiatives at the nation’s largest airline.

Ginger Hardage’s Speech Topics:

Unstoppable Cultures: Creating and Sustaining Organizations of Enduring Greatness

Every company has a culture. For some, it’s a culture of innovation – new, never been done before ideas. For others, it’s fun (birthday cakes and costumes are often involved). For some, it’s toxicity and gossip. There are cultures that celebrate loyalty, hard work, or profit above all else. There are cultures that are both intentional and accidental. There are cultures that draw people in and ones that drive people away. There are cultures that detract from the mission of the organization, cultures that must be overcome or compensated for, cultures that derail or dead end. Surely, you can resonate with at least one of those descriptions.

But then, there are cultures that are unstoppable. Unstoppable Cultures put people first, are consistent in nurturing their culture through systems, and are relentless in storytelling. In this signature talk from Ginger, she will walk you through these critical characteristics of unstoppable cultures. You will undoubtedly leave with both practical and inspiring ideas on how to begin the journey of building the culture you always dreamed of for your organization.

Building a Brand from the Inside Out

What do you think about when you think about a brand? A logo? A website? A stock symbol? Maybe. But these are just expressions of a brand; they are not what brings a brand to life. So if not these elements, what is the most important thing when we think about our brands? Ginger has a simple answer – people.

In this inspiring talk, Ginger discusses why employee engagement is the single most important element when any of us are thinking about our brands. She knows that the way an organization behaves on the inside will find its way to the outside, and that the true character of any company is expressed by its people. In “Building a Brand from the Inside Out,” learn from this 25-year Southwest Airlines veteran about creating an “employee first” culture where employees are engaged, act like owners, and are connected to their organization’s purpose.

The Power of Purpose

If we look back to our parents’ and grandparents’ generation of organizations, winning was often defined quite simply – as producing the most widgets for the least amount of money. Profits along were the name of the game to companies and a paycheck was all that mattered to employees.

But times have changed. These days, leaders understand deeply that aligning their organization to a deeper, rooted purpose – and ensuring that their employees and even customers are bought in to this purpose – is critical. Purpose mobilizes an organization in a way that profits alone cannot; today’s most successful companies consistently thread purpose and values throughout their organizations, including hiring, training, customer delivery, and performance management. In this talk, Ginger will inspire with insights from category-leading companies that are harnessing a well-defined purpose to propel their success.

Bio:

Ginger Hardage retired as Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications at Southwest Airlines after an illustrious 25 years, where she served as a member of the CEO’s executive leadership team.  At Southwest, Ginger led a team of 150 people responsible for building and sustaining the organization’s legendary culture and communications enterprise. In 2017, Ginger launched Unstoppable Cultures, a brand designed to help organizations create and sustain cultures of enduring greatness.

Recognized by many as a foremost global authority on building and sustaining organizational culture, Ginger was responsible for the activities at Southwest that nourished the culture and the internal and external communications function. Ginger was a tireless ambassador of the world-famous Southwest Culture, leading to honors such as being a perpetual standout on FORTUNE’s “Most Admired Companies in the World” list. She helped champion the values, purpose and “Best Place to Work” initiatives at the nation’s largest airline.

Upon her retirement, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said “Ginger has made countless contributions to Southwest. She has been an invaluable business partner, advisor, and mentor. She brings constant, positive energy and enthusiasm to all those around her, and that is infectious. She has built superb teams that we are very proud of, and that I know will continue her special brand of excellence.”

Ginger has received numerous honors throughout her career, including induction into the Public Relations Hall of Fame and Page Hall of Fame in 2023, the highest award in her profession. She has been named as one of Texas’ Most Powerful and Influential Women and received the prestigious Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication from the Arthur W. Page Center. PRWeek has named her multiple times to its Top 50 Power list and 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations.  She was named “Legendary Communicator” by Southern Methodist University and Legacy Award honoree by the Plank Center for Leadership.

Ginger currently serves as Global Chair of the Board for Ronald McDonald House Charities which operates in 64 countries.  In Dallas, she serves on the board of The Trinity Park Conservancy and was a past president of the Trinity Commons Foundation. Ginger previously served on advisory boards of Novartis in Basel, Switzerland; Page, the premier global association for communications; Business Civic Leadership Center, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Big Brothers and Sisters of Metropolitan Dallas; Southwest Cares; and the Council of Public Relations Firms. Before beginning her career at Southwest Airlines in 1990, Ginger held a variety of marketing and public relations positions at Maxus Energy Corporation, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, and Life Insurance Company of the Southwest.

Ginger earned a B.A. in advertising/public relations from Texas Tech University and was recognized as an outstanding alumna by the College of Mass Communications at Texas Tech University.