Robin Sharma Articles

We all know that ideas are the currency of success these days. To win in your marketspace, it's mission-critical to outthink, outinnovate and outcreate your competition. The person with the biggest ideas then blended with the best execution will lead the field. Brings me to Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).

Ryanair is a VCC (Very Cool Company). It is Europe's most profitable airline (about $400 million in profit so far this year) at a time when other airlines are sinking with high fuel prices (JetBlue - another VCC that I used to rave about in my leadership presentations - lost money this year for the first time ever). In the past 12 months Ryanair has flown 35 million passengers at an average ticket price of just over $50 USD. And - get this - 25% of its flights are free. Seriously.

Billing itself as “The Wal-Mart of Flying”, Ryanair's goal is to one day (soon) make flying absolutely free. So how does it make money? By charging for other services. Ad revenue comes from commercials on the back of seats. Checked luggage costs $3.50 per piece. Food is always extra.

By reinventing the business model for winning in their industry, Ryanair is doing just that. And showing us what innovation and imagination is all about in the change-crazy economy we find ourselves operating within.