When Does Moving Too Fast Become Too Much?

One of the things David Crossland always encouraged at Airtours was that when somebody moved on, or was moved out of the way, you should never sit around waiting for somebody to decide what happened next. If you thought you could do the job, put your hand up and ask for it.

That attitude suited me perfectly because throughout my career I have always believed that you learn far more by taking on something you are not completely ready for than waiting until you are.

His departure gave me the opportunity to extend my empire again, taking responsibility for contracting and overseas operations alongside my existing commercial responsibilities, supported by Amanda Wills and Janet McNulty.

At first, I thought I'd landed my dream job.

I'd already worked closely with contracting during the brochure pricing cycle, understood how hotel rates and guarantees directly affected our pricing decisions and knew many of the people involved. I also must admit that there was a certain amount of ego involved in suddenly being responsible for such a huge operation, including thousands of overseas staff.

Fortunately, Seamus was doing an excellent job running brochure pricing, which gave me room to take on more responsibility, but I rapidly discovered there is a difference between being capable of doing several jobs and having enough hours in the week to do them properly.

Contracting in particular required me to travel constantly. The biggest hotel commitments couldn't simply be agreed from an office in Helmshore. I needed to visit the major destinations, meet hotel owners and personally sign off some substantial financial guarantees.

It also introduced me to a slightly murkier side of travel contracting.

Everybody who has worked in the industry for long enough knows that hospitality and genuine business relationships are an important part of contracting, but occasionally the line between hospitality and bribery becomes remarkably clear.

Most hoteliers never tried anything with me, probably because I was an unknown quantity, but one Florida car-hire operator spectacularly misjudged the situation. We were holding a meeting aboard his rather impressive speedboat when he casually suggested that the boat could become mine if I signed another three-year contract with his company.

Unfortunately for him, he had backed the wrong horse and immediately lost the contract as I did not trust him further than I could throw him and wanted him nowhere near my team.

I loved those two years because they gave me an incredible education. Pricing taught me how to maximise the value of the stock we owned, contracting taught me how that stock was created in the first place, and overseas operations taught me what happened when the promises made in a brochure finally collided with customers arriving in resort.

However, eventually even I had to accept that running four substantial departments and effectively half of the tour operation was simply too much for one person.

Giving responsibilities away doesn't come naturally when you have spent your career grabbing every opportunity available, but there comes a point in a rapidly growing business where continuing to accumulate responsibilities actually starts holding the organisation back.

More importantly, underneath us we now had an exceptionally strong generation coming through. Seamus Conlon, Amanda Wills, Will Waggott and Kenton Jarvis were developing into a formidable group of deputies who needed opportunities of their own.

That was probably another important stage in my development as a director. Early in your career, success is often about proving how much responsibility you can take on. Later, leadership becomes much more about recognising which responsibilities you should give away.

If you keep collecting jobs simply because you can do them, eventually you stop developing a business and start becoming its biggest bottleneck.