Graham "Skroo" Turner: Building a Global Travel Empire Through People-First Leadership

The Wisdom Of... with Simon Bowen

In this episode of 'The Wisdom Of' Show, host Simon Bowen sits down with Graham "Skroo" Turner, co-founder and CEO of Flight Centre, one of the world's largest travel agencies. From starting with a single bus in Europe to building a global travel empire, Turner shares invaluable insights on leadership, organizational structure, and maintaining relevance in a rapidly changing industry.

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Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introduction and origin story

08:15 Building Flight Centre's organizational culture

15:23 Leadership philosophy and team longevity

22:47 Adapting to technological change

31:16 The future of travel industry

38:42 Advice for young entrepreneurs

45:15 Rapid-fire questions and conclusion

About Graham Turner

Graham “Skroo” Turner worked as a veterinarian in western Victoria before moving to London. In London, he and friend Geoff “Spy” Lomas, both of whom were working as vets, took their first steps into the travel industry in 1973 when they invested the equivalent of $A1300 in an aging bus and started operating budget double-decker bus trips around Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Skroo’s initial involvement with Top Deck ended in the mid 1980s, when he and his colleagues sold the business to management and devoted their full attention to Flight Centre, a business that had less than 30 shops at that time.

As the long serving chief executive officer and managing director of the public company that grew from the small band of Flight Centre shops, Skroo has since presided over a golden era of growth and prosperity for Flight Centre Travel Group Limited.

In 2022, under Skroo's leadership, Flight Centre Travel Group celebrated 40 years of taking off.

Connect with Graham

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkrooTurner/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-turner-295bb6167/
• X: https://x.com/SkrooTurner

About Simon Bowen

Simon has spent over two decades working with some of the most influential leaders across many complex industries and circumstances. His very clear finding is quite simply that thinking is valued less than doing in almost every situation in our modern world. However, Simon has conversely observed that the power and success of any business, project or organization will be in direct proportion to the level and quality of thinking of the people and the quality of the idea or ideas on which it is built. As such, Simon is leading the renaissance of thinking.

Connect with Simon

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonbowen-mm/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsimonbowen/
• Website: https://thesimonbowen.com/

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