CEO of luxury hotel group Four Seasons & CEO of Brazilian airline Azul to feature on BBC's Ideas Exchange

BBC World News’ new eight-part series, The Ideas Exchange, pairs up business leaders from around the world to debate today’s business landscape and their secrets to success. The sixth episode sees founder of Brazilian airline Azul, David Neeleman, meet Kathleen Taylor, CEO of luxury hotel group Four Seasons. What will happen when the man who established the model for affordable air fares in America, Canada and Brazil meets the woman whose clientele expect to have their needs met with every luxury?

 

Kathleen Taylor is only the second CEO of luxury hotel Group Four Seasons, which was founded in 1961 in Canada. What started as a motel in the outskirts of Toronto has, over the last two decades, grown at a dramatic pace to serve an increasingly global clientele in cities from Shanghai to St Petersburg, Beirut to Buenos Aires. It is now one of the world’s most luxurious hotel and restaurant chains, with 90 hotels in 36 countries and over 33,000 members of staff.

 

Kathleen has been with the company for 23 years and became CEO two years ago. Since then she has been behind the company’s rapid expansion into new and expanding markets across China and the Middle East.

 

Kathleen Taylor said:“Today there are over 50projects in various stages of design, construction and development all around the world. We have a major focus on emerging markets – we have a lot of new development coming in China, we’ve opened a number of hotels in China in the last few years, with many many more coming. We’ll have 15 hotels there over the course of the next five years.

 

“For me, the big love in this business – always has been, always will be – are the people. It’s really the energy of the people that drives me and makes me energised every morning when I get up and go to work.

 

“Treat guests the way you would want to be treated if you were them.  Treat your co-worker the way you would want to be treated if you were them.  If you’re the boss, treat your direct reports the way you would want to be treated if you were them. “

 

David Neeleman’s name is synonymous with the North American airline industry. For more than 20 years, he has co-founded and worked with companies including Morris Air, Southwest Airlines and Jet Blue. Born in Brazil, Neeleman has spent most of his life in the USA, but he returned to his country of birth in 2008 to found Azul, an airline which offers a model where the cost of air travel can rival that of coach travel, but in a fraction of the time.

 

David has been an active member of the Mormon Church all his life and he brings those principles of the Church of the Latter Day Saints to his business practices.

 

David Neeleman said: “There was this book written that’s called ‘The Mormon Way of Doing Business’, now I don’t know if there is a Mormon way of doing business but I have learnt a lot from my church. I don’t think I would be in this position today if I wasn’t a member of the Latter Day Saints faith.”

 

One of the decisions David took early on was to source all of his jets from the Brazilian maker, Embraer.

 

David Neeleman said: “Brazilians are so proud to be flying on their own airplane. No airline in Brazil flew Brazilian-made airplanes, so they were so proud, and every time I say, how do you guys like this Brazilian made airplane? They all clap, and so I’m glad it all worked out.

 

Neeleman describes himself as having attention deficit disorder.  He says: “I’m just about ready to blow out of this chair, I’m so excited! I didn’t find out I had it until I was in my thirties –I always had this thing ofwhy aren’t I scholastically as good as other people? I was a little self-conscious about my ability to read and write as well as other people. But when I figured out what I had, I realised there were a lot of positives to it.

 

“If I could take a pill and say you’re cured of it, and I would be like everyone else, I wouldn’t do it, because in a lot of ways I think it’s a real blessing. “