The Rebel Instinct

You can’t always avoid a crisis. The secret to a business that survives is the instinct to adapt, defy and rise again.

Play it safe, and you’re one industry shift away from being flattened. For more than 50 years, Flight Centre has done the opposite, leading to one record comeback after another. From a decrepit double-decker tour bus in 1973 to a multi-billion-dollar business operating in over 100 countries today, Flight Centre keeps winning. The Rebel Instinct reveals how founder Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner built a company that ignored the rulebook, creating the adaptability and drive needed to survive even total industry collapse.

What is the secret to Flight Centre’s indomitable resilience in an industry repeatedly rocked by disaster? And how did they rebuild $26+ billion in annual revenue after COVID nearly wiped them out? Mandy Johnson, bestselling author and Flight Centre insider, has tracked the company for decades, rising from travel consultant to its youngest-ever UK director. In this book, she outlines the rebel instinct that sets Flight Centre apart: a bias for common sense over convention and a culture that treats every setback as an opportunity. That includes a maverick approach most businesses don’t have: the willingness to dismantle what’s working now to create a new model for tomorrow.

In The Rebel Instinct, you’ll discover a playbook for a culture that can survive almost anything, including:

• How a founder’s dislike of bureaucracy became the DNA of an industry-leading company, with many hilarious examples of non-conformity
• Flight Centre’s unique world-class systems, now studied in universities, such as the ‘Stone Age’ organisational structure that turbo-charged its growth and profitability
• Why the most damaging crises came from the company drifting away from its own founding principles
• The innovative decision-making process used inside Flight Centre’s COVID-era war room and what enabled them to survive and thrive post-pandemic
• The unconventional people practices that have won ‘Best Employer’ awards around the globe.

The Rebel Instinct is an entertaining Australian success story. This book is the perfect guide for leaders and founders who are looking to build an extraordinary business and would rather defy the odds than play it safe.