Ryanair’s O’Leary – unvarnished | Reputation Management Online

Ryanair’s O’Leary – unvarnished

October 20, 2009 |

Author sholto

Michael O’Leary seems to divide opinion violently between those who love him (“he should be president” ) to those who hate him (“he’s a total prick”). There are two great merits about him: he is supremely entertaining and he is unvarnished (or at least gives that impression).

Compare him to other CEOs of large businesses and there are very few to compare. Not one financial services company has a CEO with real charisma, for example. The only comparative CEO is Steven Jobs of Apple. They have different styles, but both command fierce loyalty and exude charisma.

The reputation of Ryanair for being upfront, cheeky and “take no prisoners” is all O’Leary and noone else. In fact, even more than Apple, the rest of the Ryanair is entirely anonymous. When you hear mid-level executives from Ryanair at conferences, they try to come across as arsy but simply sound adolescent. Only O’Leary can carry it off.

A CEO who actually talks straight is very refreshing even if he rarely seems to actually answer questions directly. However, look how EasyJet has lost its visibility since Stelios left. Anybody know the name of the CEO now?

What Ryanair needs is to look more carefully at the reality of its actions and its rhetoric.

Ryanair – brand and reputation enigma Ryanair is one of the most popular airlines in the...

Tags: Ryanair

http://www.reputationmanagementfor.com Sholto

Where does drive become hubris? Where does clarity of thought become arrogance.

Ryanair shares with Apple passionate advocates and detractors. We know from research that over 50% of company reputation can come from the behaviour and perception of the CEO. This must be the case with Ryanair where O’Leary is such a visible and forthright spokesperson for the company.

For many years General Motors was seen as a motor company when their revenues really came from their financing. In the case of Ryanair, something similar seems to be happening as the value of extra sales such as online check-in, payment fees is worth more than their profits.

He is clearly a powerful driver of Ryanair culture and his disciplined vision is awe inspiring. Unlike Easyjet, he has not lost track of cost control being the driver for his business.

However, classic business theory argues that you cannot build a long term business on low cost and low price, which may or may not be correct. In the end of the day, new entrants emerge without legacy costs who can undercut you.

I sense that the O’Leary “take no prisoners” approach is unsustainable. Many airports have seen Ryanair as a loss leader to attract other operators, many of those are beginning to question this strategy. Other airports are beginning to see that they can replace Ryanair with other operators – witness Manchester Airport refusing to bow to Ryanair demands. For many airports, Ryanair has turned them into monosystems – see Shannon and Ryanair’s threats to reduce services by 75%.

Ryanair has been a remarkable innovator in airline management. They rethought the fundamental narrative of airline travel, they rethought the process from top to bottom, they exploited the existence of under-utilised airports which they rebranded as large airports. They have focused the business on two drivers which impact customers most – price and reliability.

His best qualities – to quote the comment above are “drive, vision and clarity of thought”, but what impact will his worse qualities have. Can he reinvent himself as Ryanair will need to reinvent itself as it hits the end of cost cutting and other airlines continue to copy processes.
http://www.reputationmanagementfor.com Sholto

Where does drive become hubris? Where does clarity of thought become arrogance.

Ryanair shares with Apple passionate advocates and detractors. We know from research that over 50% of company reputation can come from the behaviour and perception of the CEO. This must be the case with Ryanair where O’Leary is such a visible and forthright spokesperson for the company.

For many years General Motors was seen as a motor company when their revenues really came from their financing. In the case of Ryanair, something similar seems to be happening as the value of extra sales such as online check-in, payment fees is worth more than their profits.

He is clearly a powerful driver of Ryanair culture and his disciplined vision is awe inspiring. Unlike Easyjet, he has not lost track of cost control being the driver for his business.

However, classic business theory argues that you cannot build a long term business on low cost and low price, which may or may not be correct. In the end of the day, new entrants emerge without legacy costs who can undercut you.

I sense that the O’Leary “take no prisoners” approach is unsustainable. Many airports have seen Ryanair as a loss leader to attract other operators, many of those are beginning to question this strategy. Other airports are beginning to see that they can replace Ryanair with other operators – witness Manchester Airport refusing to bow to Ryanair demands. For many airports, Ryanair has turned them into monosystems – see Shannon and Ryanair’s threats to reduce services by 75%.

Ryanair has been a remarkable innovator in airline management. They rethought the fundamental narrative of airline travel, they rethought the process from top to bottom, they exploited the existence of under-utilised airports which they rebranded as large airports. They have focused the business on two drivers which impact customers most – price and reliability.

His best qualities – to quote the comment above are “drive, vision and clarity of thought”, but what impact will his worse qualities have. Can he reinvent himself as Ryanair will need to reinvent itself as it hits the end of cost cutting and other airlines continue to copy processes.