Ryanair – A Model Vision, Strategy And Leadership

Author: Dave Nicol
Posted: Thursday 27th October, 2011. 00:00:00

I was reading Anthony Chadwick’s blog over on The Webinar Vet, he’s just had a bad time on an budget airline while on vacation and was bemoaning the service and business. On his blog Anthony says,

“Siena, Pisa, Florence are magnificent places. Not so magnificent is the service of Ryanair who I think revel in under-delivering…

“..Sometimes I know we, as vets, bend over backwards to give tremendous service but actually good customer service is rare. A poor company like RyanAir still does well with a very arrogant CEO leading the company. It might be good to vote with our feet… but this is conference season and I suppose we will put up with it.”

Having had similar experience with a rival airline a few years ago I stopped using the so-called budget airlines. (Aside from the fact that once you throw in all the taxes, additional fees and inconvenient flight times/airport locations they aren’t that much cheaper anyway.)

But the question that popped into my mind when reading his blog was why Anthony (or anyone else for that matter) thought it might be a better experience in the first place?

He describes Ryanair as a “poor company” but I disagree. I reckon they are actually one of the best businesses and most honest companies around.

Think about it for a second, their mission statement might actually read “we are going to cut everything-bar-the-engine (and if we find a way to do that we will) from our air service as we know the punters want cheap deals.”

They are world renowned for appalling for service, but they are a cost driven business. I struggle to think of another business as relentless in the pursuit of their objective. Ryanair will get you from A to B as cheaply as possible but they will push the envelope of their constraints in the drive to deliver cheaper flights and greater profits. (For me that’s a dangerous combination so I don’t fly with them.)

When chief executive Micheal O’Leary goes on telly, he can be inflammatory and down right repugnant in some of the things he says. But he’s honest. He doesn’t BS about how good they are for service because he knows that’s not his niche.

I’m sure most of his punters would love BA style and service. But they crave an affordable trip to Costa del Sol even more. And in these difficult times he’s pretty well placed to drive the business even higher and harder.

You can imagine the boardroom discussions:

‘Strip out toilets? Yep, because we can get 6 more seats and reduce cost a bit more.’

‘Standing on the aircraft? Right on! If we can squeeze a few more in let’s do it.’

‘Remove airline terminals and dump passengers directly into cabs? You betcha…if it cuts costs we’ll hammer it!’

‘Barely legal? Barely is just the right side of actually legal…OK, does it reduce costs? Yes? Done!’

That’s the thought process of the entire company and look how they’ve grown. Michael O’Leary is at the helm of an airline that made over 10% net profit in 2010.

To put this achievement in perspective, both British Airways and Australia’s flag carrier Qantas lose massive sums every year. Despite national media vilification with a conveyor of shocking customer service reports, Ryanair is growing and growing fast. People are voting with their feet all right, and the footfall says we like what you do.

Far from being a bad business, they are a model of what can be achieved with a clear vision, a coherent strategy and strong, prominent, fearless leadership. You may not like the CEO or the service, but it’s hard not to admire their focus and determination to succeed.

In our world, when we’re not jetting off to conferences, the application of a fraction of the vision, strategy and leadership provided by Micheal O’Leary would work wonders.

A net 10% for many clinics in the world would be a great result. Though I’d stop short of actually taking the toilet out of your practice so you could squeeze in a new consult room however!

Veterinary practice troubleshooter. Expertise in HR, marketing and all aspects of the vet practice management. Dave can be contacted at info@davenicol.com

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