I’m not a fan of Conor McGregor or MMA, I had never even seen one of his fights, until somehow my sons convinced me to stay up until a time my mother wouldn’t approve of, to watch McGregors recent duel with Floyd Mayweather. I did so out of interest to see what all the fuss was about and while on one level I couldn’t care less if he won or not, the patriot in me was hoping that maybe he would. To be honest I was underwhelmed by the whole thing and ultimately resigned myself to this being yet another “generational thing” between father and sons that I had better accept rather than challenge.
A fight of far greater interest to me as an observer has just kicked off in the past week and arguably there is a money prize of similar proportion on offer. In the Blue Corner are Michael O’Leary and Ryanair, and in the Red Corner the Pilots and IALPA Union (sort of!). The build-up so far has seen the business equivalent of the water bottle throwing and thrash talking of MMA. It had O’Leary initially having to contritely apologise for the mess that has been created in rostering, having to cancel flights and discommode his customers. Then, the pilots sensing opportunity are seeking to unionise, get better working conditions and essentially leverage off the company’s weakness at present, real or perceived. To add extra intrigue the company AGM was on last week as well so timing was “perfect”. As the week wore on, an epic battle has started to unfold with O’Leary and Ryanair needing to act humbly but wanting to act aggressively. There’s a suggestion the Pilots have it easy flying c 800 hours a year. The Pilots retort with some factual corrections around their working conditions, citing among other things, some bizarre work practices of having to bring their own tea bags and cups to work. €2 Billion is wiped off the company value, but true to form the company seize on that opportunity to finalise a €600m share buyback, far cheaper that would otherwise have been the case. The pilots are threatening a work to rule which would accentuate the flight cancellations problem for the company. There’s been a fair amount of posturing and positioning and it’s been fantastic “theatre”. While the AGM got significant publicity and airplay, unfortunately but understandably in my opinion, the focus was all on the negative of rostering and pilots dispute, instead of the positive of the yet again superb performance of the company and share price.
In Ireland we like our hero’s to be understated, humble and magnanimous and O’Leary is none of these, therefore, he’ll never get the universal Irish seal of approval for his exploits. He is a divisive character and not to everyone’s liking, we all know that, none more so than himself, but it doesn’t bother him one iota. Whether you like him or loath him, if you don’t admire his achievements then you should certainly acknowledge them. RTE’s Industrial Affairs correspondent Ingrid Miley amongst many others, has felt the full force of O’Learys brand of cynical commentary for what he for one, regards as her somewhat bias coverage of various Public Sector pay disputes earlier this year, particularly those related to Transport. This past week has been payback time as she can hardly contain her enthusiasm or excitement when reporting on the industrial woes facing Ryanair. Many others are enjoying the spectacle of a contrite O’Leary walking a political tightrope at present, under pressure from the shareholders to sort it out, under pressure from the pilots who are leveraging their position of strength at present, under pressure from the media who are enjoying seeing him up against the ropes at present. One can’t blame those who loath him, “enjoying” watching him over the past week grappling with the issues. I’m of the opinion if you go out in the rain dancing between the rain drops sooner or later you’ll get wet, an occupational hazard on his part. That said I find it hard to think of any Irishman who is better equipped to deal with such a situation. I believe that’s exactly what he will do, he’ll deal with the situation, he won’t seek to win any friends along the way, indeed he’ll probably lose a few more in the battle, but deal with the situation he will.
As you will have gathered I’m an admirer of O’Leary. I believe he and the airline have achieved extraordinary things in a relatively short space of time. The airline is in existence 33 years and he’s at the helm 26 years, a length of tenure which is remarkably long in a company which has a relatively short history. I’m not choirboy for O’Leary or the Company but before anyone takes too much pleasure in his current struggles, bear in mind the company carried it’s billionth passenger earlier this year and look at the figures the company and it’s employees under his guidance have achieved in such a short space of time - Current year figures, 1985 figures in brackets.
Planes 383 (1)
Passengers 120m (5,000)
Turnover €6.7 Billion (€100,000)
Profit €1.3 Billion (0)
Value €20 Billion (€1)
Employees 12,400 (25)
Bases 86 (1)
Destinations 205 (2)
Countries 33 (2)
While I admire all of that for what it is - truly remarkable, what I admire O’Leary most for, is something far more personal. In 2013 my son was doing a TY Business Project in School, he had to pick a company and write a report on them. He didn’t get the best of starts as his choices of company Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter were all taken up by other students, one of the disadvantages of a surname beginning with ‘O. He sought my guidance for another choice so I encouraged him to think Irish, support our own, and cited CRH and Kerrygroup as world leaders in their fields and therefore equally if not more worthy of his choice than the Foreign Multinationals. This was probably another example of the aforementioned “generational thing” while my son was thinking IT and Social Media, I was thinking Concrete and Food! In any event he made the inspired choice of Ryanair yet another Irish Company that’s a world leader in its field, and proceeded to create his report over the following weeks. Towards the end of what was a very worthwhile project he asked me to read over it for comment. In doing so I encouraged him to take a gamble and send it to O’Leary, explaining the context and seeking a short prologue for his report. Shortly afterwards he got the report back with a raft of handwritten corrections to statistics my son had gleaned from the internet and a personal letter from O’Leary which included the following “thank you for your interest in Ryanair. What I hope all students will learn from Ryanair is that an Irish Enterprise, if we work hard and remain ambitious and forward looking, can conquer the world. Ryanair has grown from a small turbo prop operator in 1985 to the worlds largest international airline in 2013. I hope you continue to work hard as if you do you will achieve your dreams. Best wishes with your project and your exams”-Michael O’Leary
These are inspiring words for anyone to get from one of the most successful businessmen in the world, let alone a 16 year old boy, and it’s fair to say inspire him it did. The fact that such a busy and important man would take the time to scan and edit his report and send him a personal letter has given him immense encouragement and significantly broadened his horizons. Therefore I admire O’Leary for everything he has achieved yes, but I admire him far more for this humble, magnanimous inspiring gesture towards my son. So to continue the MMA\Boxing analogy, if you’re tuning in watch the long awaited contest in the hope of seeing a “bloodied and injured” O’Leary getting punched out on the ropes, think again. He deserves to take a few punches, absolutely, he’d be the first to stick his chin out for them, but like all Irish hero’s sporting and otherwise we should be willing him to survive, to come back stronger to see out the fight and remain “the undefeated champion”. Ireland would be a far poorer and more isolated place were it not for Michael O’Leary!
