Inspiring Leader story of David Hughes - Managing Director, Travel Counsellors

Jito loves writing these stories as they help us realise just where in life we can end up if we aspire to greatness. David Hughes, Managing Director of Travel Counsellors, is another amazingly inspirational figure for all those young people in the travel industry who dream of one day having that perfect job at the top of the ladder.

But, as David will tell you, it was no easy ride to the top. Here, he shares the key steps of his journey to the top with Jito, and gives his advice for others with similar aspirations.

David dreamt of being a teacher or an architect growing up but one of his teachers saw a different path for him and talked him out of becoming a teacher, based on his broad range of talents.

His first job was far from glamorous however, flipping burgers at McDonalds at the tender age of 15. But David reminisces about his time under the golden arches with pride, expressing his admiration for the fast food giant.

“After all, what business can manage eighty to 100 15-year-olds and create discipline with them all?” he asks Jito.

“It is a clever business with great discipline and service ethics.”

But David wasn’t destined to stay with the business forever. With a very creative left brain, it seemed natural for him to go to university to pursue architecture as a career.

But he soon discovered that architecture was not really about using your creative brain at all. So two years into his six-year course, much to his parent’s horror, he bravely decided that architecture wasn’t for him and stopped, taking a job in the building supply industry to give him time to decide what he really wanted to do. 

After a couple of years he returned to university switching instead to a business degree majoring in tourism.

“It’s not easy to change course of a life decision but I wasn’t enjoying it,” David tells Jito.

“Imagine coming out of six years of studying and ending up not loving what you do.”

Deep down, David realised that what really sets the fire in the belly was his love for people and great service, so the next phase of his life journey is an interesting one. While still at university, he landed a job at Qantas, but how he got there is a funny story, he tells Jito.

“The girl I was dating wanted to be a flight attendant so I thought I would apply as well. I got accepted and she didn’t – well that relationship ended quickly after that,” he smiles.

But he took the job and kept studying part-time while flying as cabin crew.

“I really enjoyed it,” he says. “I really got a kick out of putting smiles on people’s faces.”

By starting his career with Qantas as cabin crew, David really got to understand the importance of customer service. During his time in this role, he identified his next step - he wanted to follow the urges of his left brain to work in the airline’s marketing department.

So, in David’s final year of university, he had to do a major piece of work as a consultant for a business so he approached Qantas’ marketing department and pitched the idea of a different way of doing customer service measurement which Qantas was not doing well at the time.

The airline loved the idea and got behind the project, surveying customers on board flights all around the world, gaining vital customer feedback that helped strengthen the business.

No great surprise then that David ended up landing a position in the marketing department after completing his degree.

When a position as customer strategy research consultant became available, David was quick to put his hand up and feels he was lucky to get the opportunity.

Even though there were plenty of more senior people that were maybe more capable, David never shied away from applying for roles that were slightly out of his reach. It’s an attitude that has definitely helped shape his career.

So when a customer relations manager position became available, that’s exactly what happened. David had learnt that you should never assume the younger, less skilled guy won’t get considered.

“People often see your potential and you never realise it,” he tells Jito.

Of course, it was a thankless task managing all the customer complaints but David relished the challenge and was grateful for the opportunity to keep growing.

It was his first time in a management position and he was quick to discover he loved mentoring and leading people. He loved helping identify talent and helping others on their own journeys.

The CEO at the time was James Strong who would become his life-long mentor. James would host weekends to get feedback from key customers including their partners because he believed they experienced the company’s values and views at home as much as the person travelling.

In his role David organised and participated in the events from which he learnt first hand about leadership from the master of it. This is something that David has valued ever since.

At the same time David became involved with the Australian Customer Service Association which later became the International Customer Service Professionals. 

Eventually becoming a member of their advisory board and Chairman of Judges of their annual customer service awards. 

He sees this as a parallel career that has enabled him to be involved in improving the delivery of customer service in general in Australia. Something that he is very passionate about.

David then moved into a customer strategy role for Qantas which saw him implement new ideas into the business. As if that wasn’t challenge enough, he also started his MBA at around this time.

He knew he needed to keep investing in himself to further his career - something he recommends everyone should keep doing.

David then got to join a project team that redesigned the structure and operating style of the business working closely with Qantas’ executive committee. He got to see first-hand how stressful it was for the leaders at this level managing a giant the size of Qantas.

David was determined that he learn every aspect of business including operations so when an opportunity arose in QantasLink to run all their customer operations, he jumped at the chance.

This position then took him down a new path to Qantas Holidays where he held the role of general manager operations. By this time, he had also completed his MBA.

Ironically David left Qantas to run QBT (Qantas Business Travel) which had just been sold to the newly formed JTG which went on to become HelloWorld. This gave him full responsibility for the company’s P&L which was the next challenge he was looking for.

He really loved this role even during tough times of change which really saw David put his skills to use turning around a loss-making business priming the company to go onto greater success. It was at this time that he also became a Director of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

After leaving JTG, David tried his hand at some consulting. While successful he missed leading and interacting with people on a daily basis which led to the decision to join his current company Travel Counsellors as managing director.

But he didn’t ease up on the personal development front and continually put his hand up for new opportunities.

He knew networking hard would pay off and it did. According to David, the industry has been kind to him and so he strongly believes in giving back to as many people as have helped him in his career along the way.

So why Travel Counsellors? David chose the company because it strongly aligned with his values. Furthermore, he identified home-based travel consultants as among the fastest growing travel businesses globally because of their offer of lifestyle, freedom, flexibility and a chance to earn more money.

Travel Counsellors ticks all David’s boxes, he tells Jito, highlighting the fact that it also has the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of any business in the world – something they are all incredibly proud of.

?  Create the path for yourself

?  Invest in yourself

?  Believe in yourself

?  Push your boundaries

?  Don’t be discouraged when you don’t get the job you want and never give up trying. Just dust yourself off, pick yourself up and keep going

?  Be true to yourself and don’t make too many compromises. There is no value if you have left yourself behind to get there

?  Be humble and always treat everyone with repsect and in the way you would like to be treated yourself

Most importantly, you really need to align your values to whatever job you are doing. If the values don’t line up, move to a company where they do.