“In AirAsia we consider ourselves basically a dream factory…We
deliberately decided that we wanted a company where people can pursue their
passion and we wanted to make use of all the talent that we have
in-house. The culture that we have stems from the fact that we want
openness and we want people to be creative and passionate about what they do.
In order to do that, we’ve got to inspire them.”
Tony Fernandes
CEO and Founder
AirAsia
CEO and Founder
AirAsia
Credit:
Chris Forrest Harvey
About:
Anthony Francis Fernandes, better known as Tony Fernandes, is the perfect fit as the “ultimate dreamer and adventurer in business”.
About:
Anthony Francis Fernandes, better known as Tony Fernandes, is the perfect fit as the “ultimate dreamer and adventurer in business”.
In October 2001, Fernandes mortgaged his home and
used up his personal savings to acquire a heavily-indebted Malaysian
government-owned airline called AirAsia. Even after knowing that he was buying two
ageing Boeing 737 jets, 200 employees and $11 million debt, Fernandes went
ahead with his “purchase” as he was a risk-taker and a believer of making the
impossible possible. Fortunately, despite
his inexperience in airline operation, the former managing director of Warner
Music Malaysia was able to reform AirAsia into one of the most successful low
fare carriers in the world.
The secret to the success of AirAsia lies in the
recipe of great management style and unique culture which Fernandes has passionately
concocted. He works hard and finds
creative ways to create an environment for his “Allstars” (what AirAsia call
its employees) to continuously improve, learn and most desirably, achieve their
dream.
