Adam Schwab is co-founder and CEO of Luxury Getawaysgrown from a start-up in 2013 to a global travel brand employing over 400 people across four continents. The Melbourne-founded company is on track to generate total revenue of AUD1 billion (£780 million).
Stocking the shelves of a supermarket was more fun than you think and I am still friends today, almost 30 years later, with the people I worked with.
We didn't have a specific boss and tended to work for five different managers depending on the day. Without today's technology, there was little tracking of employee efficiency and, as a result, almost no motivation for team members to do more than the bare minimum of work.
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As the youngest person there, the best managers I worked with were able to make sure we had fun working but also accomplished a lot. One manager even gamified the role by creating a “shelf stacking competition,” which resulted in me working like crazy for a week until they stopped the competition.
It was the perfect real-life example of the notion that “if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed.” I loved being held accountable for my work and wanted to be the best. Without this brief week of gamification, there seemed little point to anyone going above and beyond.
This little example has always stuck with me: we want to make sure that where we can (and often you can't), we measure the performance of our teams – not to berate someone for not working hard enough. hard, but to recognize and reward where team members go the extra mile to better serve customers.
We once had a manager who was a pretty smart guy – I remember one time he called me and a few other guys and gave us a stern lecture about the need for us to be smart. 'initiative.
Although the delivery was sloppy and the timing was strange, the lesson was absolutely correct and has always stuck with me. The ability to show initiative is one of the most important characteristics, along with courage and empathy, that make a great team member.
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At Luxury Escapes, leadership, at our size, means a few different things: First, you need to build and retain a world-class team, especially in a business like ours that relies almost solely on intellectual property. Second, a leader must be a wise capital allocator – willing to take risks and seek asymmetric returns, but also carefully manage shareholder capital.
