The chief executive of Orbitz Worldwide says he likes “T-shaped individuals — people who can go really deep in their particular area of expertise, and also go really broad and have that kind of curiosity about the overall organization and how their particular piece of the pie fits into it.”
Earl Wilson/The New York Times
Q. Were you in leadership roles when you were younger?
A. I grew up in the U.K. I wouldn’t say I was in leadership roles, but I certainly started following my passions pretty early on. I became a freelance photographer, and I would shoot photographs for a bunch of newspapers starting at the age of 13. I did that through college.
Q. And what did you study in college?
A. I studied physics, geology and the history and philosophy of science. I remember how a friend who was a philosophy major said to me, “What are you going to go do?” I really had no idea what I was going to go do. Close to graduation, I interviewed at Mars Confectionery and got to the final selection round. A couple of weeks later, I got a rejection letter.
I followed up to find out why not, and they told me that I asked too many questions, and that maybe I’d be better going into consulting. Which is what I did. I probably worked on 20 different projects in my first three years. At a young age, you get exposed to different strategies, and you learn how different companies and industries work. I think it helped develop my intuition. I’m pretty good at seeing around corners.
Q. What were some early lessons about leadership for you?
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