Terry Jones is an entrepreneur with a powerful message about digital disruption and innovation.听
While听working for American Airlines 鈥�听where he rose to the position of听Chief Information Officer for its SABRE division 鈥� Jones听founded听Travelocity,听initially managing a team of six before becoming CEO and raking in billions of dollars in sales for the travel industry.听
He had an unorthodox approach to scaling听the听online travel agency. 鈥�At Travelocity I tried to build a team of rivals,鈥� he tells听老九品茶Cloud.听听
鈥淚 hired people outside of American Airlines, young people who weren’t from travel, who thought they could fix anything, but they didn’t have any experience.听听
鈥淥n the other side, I had the 鈥榮uits鈥� and they thought everything was fine and it didn’t need changing. They were slow, but they knew travel.听听
鈥淚 put them together and they fought like cats in a bag – it was crazy. But out of that crucible came a multibillion-dollar company.听
鈥淭o听be an inspiring leader, you听have to听listen, because the best ideas come from the bottom.鈥�听
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Once Travelocity.com moved to private management 鈥� it is now听owned by Expedia Group 鈥� Jones left the company to become a founding chairman of Kayak.com.听
The听travel agency and metasearch engine听was听another example of Jones looking to听revolutionise the travel industry through disruption.听
鈥淎听start-up is about a dream,鈥� he explains.听鈥淲hen Steve Jobs invented the iPod, he called it a thousand songs in my pocket:听that was the dream.听听
鈥�Coca-Cola used to have a mission espoused by their leader,听鈥�a Coke within听a听hand鈥�s reach of everybody in the world鈥�.听It’s inspiring, and everybody can work towards that,听from the delivery person to the scientist to the marketeer.听
鈥淵ou stand out by having an amazing product and there’s some great examples right now.听How do you like the last Tesla ad you saw? You’ve never seen one!听They don’t need to advertise their product, it鈥檚 so good.听听
鈥淯ntil recently when they went public, you never saw an ad for Airbnb. At Kayak we didn’t do any advertising at all until we went听public听and our product was just better.听
鈥淚f you can provide an amazing user experience, that’s how you stand out. Word of mouth is much more powerful than word of mouse.鈥�听
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The author of ON Innovation and Disruption OFF, he now delivers speeches on digital disruption and how companies can adapt to the听post-COVID-19 pandemic.听
鈥淧eople are changing, huge numbers of people have changed the way they buy. They’ve gone online, they’ve switched their brand, and 80% of them say they’re going to stay with it,鈥� he says.听听
鈥�You’ve got to be out there with the right product and the right message, doing those things that are required during this pandemic, whether it’s curb–side delivery of food or overnight shipping.鈥�听
Terry听Jones听is part of听The Champions Speakers Agency鈥檚听听and听available to book听now.听