At a recent Global Business Travel Association gathering in Prague, BCD Travel Chief Executive Officer Joop Drechsel sat down for an on-stage Q&A with Philip Wolf, founder of business travel research firm PhocusWright. Here’s an excerpt, edited for space and clarity.
Philip Wolf: The impact [of a crisis] on travel is huge compared to other sectors of the economy. How do you manage that?
Joop Drechsel: I think there are two ground rules. One is to remain flexible, not only in your mind, but also in terms of organizing [business] affairs. I’m always very glad, for instance, that we have a lot of temporary employment—people who may not work 40 hours a week. It’s a phenomenon in the world, more so in Europe than the U.S., and it has actually helped. You can ask people maybe for this year to work 10 hours less because there is slightly less work and then ask them to come back because you don’t want to lose them.
Second, is really communication. The whole world today is all about communication. We know about the crisis instantly. The crisis becomes more manageable and less threatening if you know more about it and if you know that matters are under control. You can see people going back to their old habits quite rapidly. For a TMC, this is why communication with travelers on a more personalized basis, using technology, is an important tool.
PW: How do you [keep up with the flow of information about global risks]? It’s 24/7.
JD: In some ways it has become so much easier. In the past, you effectively needed to call everybody locally and say, ‘How is it going?’ If you think about social media, sometimes using Twitter or Facebook is faster than Reuters or any news agency. So, it’s about tapping into all the local media and content spaces to get sort of a feed.
PW: How do you facilitate a culture of innovation and open discussions [at BCD Travel]? How do you stimulate a meaningful dialogue?
JD: It’s not only me. You need a leadership team that asks questions effectively. Most of the time, the questions you ask are more important than the stories you tell. If the questions are about new technologies, new changes, new customer behavior, you show that you’ve thought about this and find it interesting. As a leader, what you find interesting tends to be followed by your organization, at least if you’re an effective leader. So, asking questions about it is important.
Secondly, continuously hiring new people is important. I love my team. They are extremely loyal and have stayed with the company for a long time. But I always like to bring in new people, especially from other industries. They bring with them new experiences and different outlooks.
Thirdly, stay on top of innovation yourself. We all think that the younger generations are quick adapters of technologies; they are. But that really shouldn’t stop us from continuously staying on top of [technology] ourselves.
PW: When is it smart to deal with managed travel as a silo, and when can it backfire?
JD: Being good at something means that you specialize. People tend to be better at things when they are specialists, instead of generalists. And that tends to lead more to silos because you’re in your cocoon, and that’s where you succeed. The only real problem is that the world changes so fast that by staying in your cocoon, you’re not going to succeed longer term. So, I think the management challenge is to make sure you have the right people specializing while also [enabling] generalists.