“If you sit up in your ivory tower and just look at financial reports, you’re going to make some big mistakes.”
For leadership style, Tony Fernandes adopts a “walk-around” management style. He believes in working with the employees. Every few days each month, Fernandes would work with the crew or staff. When working with his employees, Fernandes claims that he learns new things about the airlines every day.
In one case, Air Asia needed to use belt loaders to move the cargo. However it was really costly. At first, Fernandes refused due to the fact that Air Asia was heavily indebted. However after his next shift, he said that he nearly broke his back while doing it. As Fernandes believe that employees come first, he instantly made the decision of buying the belt loaders, despite the fact that it was very expensive. He said that without the experience, he would have made a bad decision that could affect both his employees and the morality of the airlines.
The fact that Tony Fernandes took the time to work with the staff has already made him one of the best leaders. To be a good leader, one must have at least experience on how the job goes with and without the employees. If Tony did not do this, then he would have a better leader than he is today.
Tony Fernandes as a leader 