Johan Lundgren CEO Easyjet – From Musician & Tour Guide to CEO of £Multi - Billion Businesses
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Show Notes
In this episode, Jeannette speaks to Johan Lundgren, Group CEO of EasyJet serving 100 million customers every year (pre-covid). They talk about his incredible career, how Johan wanted to be a professional classic trombonist originally but then started his journey in the travel industry starting out as a tour guide, becoming MD at the age of 29 and then progressing to become CEO. Johan shares many of the lessons he learned along the way and tips that anyone can apply to their business or role.
Jeannette and Johan discuss the benefits of diversity in the workplace and explains how his organization has achieved the right mix and balance without relying on positive discrimination. He talks about why EasyJet is run as an egalitarian company and the approach they have taken to successfully deal with the fallout from the CoVid crisis.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Take the opportunities as they come.
- If you discover that you cannot follow your dream for some reason, don´t give up find a new one.
- Spending time working at the coalface teaches you so much about your customer and industry.
- When making decisions, always ask yourself what impact it is going to have on your customer.
- Having a diverse and inclusive workforce brings many commercial benefits.
- When people with different perspectives work on a common goal the results are always better.
- Letting everyone express themselves in the most natural way creates energy and passion within an organisation.
- A good leader, leads by example and provides the framework for a motivated team to succeed.
- Johan has had to deal with multiple challenges at Easyjet - Brexit, Covid pandemic, data breach and shareholder activism.
- When faced with a big problem, break it down into pieces and assign a team to tackle each aspect.
- To make sense of a big problem and stay on track, focus on the outcome and what you're trying to achieve.
- Whatever difficulties have happened the day before, tomorrow is another day.
- When working as a leader, be yourself and be authentic. When you're younger you often feel you should behave in a certain way but with age and experience you learn to be more comfortable in yourself.
- Having mentors is critical to success
- Setting out to be proud of what you're doing gives you energy, and is a core part of Johan's true purpose
- Every day when you wake up you have the opportunity to be a little better than you were yesterday.
- Choose a career you feel passionate about - you're going to be spending a lot of time on it, so it needs to be engaging.
- Don’t be intellectually lazy, don´t be afraid to push things and go beyond good enough.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Take the opportunities as they come.’
‘Be at your best and do what you think you´re capable of doing and be a force for good. ´
‘The best outcomes come by having people who have different experiences come together to achieve a common goal. ´
‘Authenticity is absolutely critical when it comes to successful leadership. ´
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Brave, Bold, Brilliant podcast series
www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com
ABOUT THE GUEST
Johan Lundgren joined easyJet as Chief Executive Officer in 2017. Since joining the airline Johan has driven the relaunch and growth of easyJet holidays as well leading the airline industry’s sustainability push. In November 2019 easyJet became the UK's first major airline to offset all flight emissions. easyJet continues to work tirelessly to drive efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions across its current operations while pushing for the introduction of radical new technologies with the aim of zero emissions flying in the future. Johan has more than 30 years’ experience working in the travel industry, starting his career as a tour guide and occupying various roles in travel marketing and sales. Prior to joining easyJet, Mr Lundgren was the Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Mainstream Tourism at TUI AG.
ABOUT THE HOST
Jeannette Linfoot is a highly regarded senior executive, property investor, board advisor, and business mentor with over 25 years of global professional business experience across the travel, leisure, hospitality, and property sectors. Having bought, ran, and sold businesses all over the world, Jeannette now has a portfolio of her own businesses and also advises and mentors other business leaders to drive forward their strategies as well as their own personal development.
Jeannette is a down-to-earth leader, a passionate champion for diversity & inclusion, and a huge advocate of nurturing talent so every person can unleash their full potential and live their dreams.
CONTACT METHOD
https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Jeannette Linfoot talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers, and life in general. From the boardroom tables of ‘big’ international business to the dining room tables of entrepreneurial start-ups, how to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities and take risks, whilst staying ‘true’ to yourself is the order of the day.