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Alan Lewis, Harriet Lewis
DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES: HOW A BUNCH OF HOOLIGANS BUILT THE BEST TRAVEL COMPANY IN THE WORLD Jefferson City, Missouri. Alan and Harriet Lewis. 2010.268 pages. Paperback. ISBN 0615377823 reviewed by T. Patrick Killough (1) biblio.com 10/11/2010 Would you recommend this book to other readers? PROBABLY. * * * * review: In 1985, Alan Lewis's $9 million bid to buy Grand Circle Travel was far higher than the company was worth. But Mr Lewis won. In those days Grand Circle was grossing $27 million/year selling tours to 16,000 members of AARP. And losing $2 million/year in the process. Today it is vastly larger in customers and has been profitable every year since 1987. Grand Circle now includes more than one travel company and an in-house Foundation that funnels money to needy recipients in countries for which the company organizes tours. Mr and Mrs Lewis have now released DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES: HOW A BUNCH OF HOOLIGANS BUILT THE BEST TRAVEL COMPANY IN THE WORLD. The Lewises sell tours to destinations only outside the United States. Their sole audience is made up of Americans 50 years or older. Their book seems intended for use in college business schools as a case study in how to create a new kind of corporate culture. Like a religious order, Grand Circle's first concern is the well being of its employees, owners and staff. Second comes the work outside the company: winning and keeping customers. Then profits. Then giving back philanthropically to communities where Grand Circle is active. The Lewises, and their free-wheeling, openly communicating employees (aka "associates") scattered about in many countries, have created visions, mission statements and many punchy, jargon-driven, rah-rah, semi-intoxicated ways of telling what they are all about. One more sober passage that I like gets a lot of this across: "Our
associates want career growth, personal growth, income and security,
and the sense of belonging to a fun-loving and winning team."
The passage continues: "Our
travelers want quality, value, a long-term relationship, and
unforgettable experiences" (p. 97).
The evidence is strong that the Lewises have realized both goals -- and quite a few others, too. They revel in being called "Maniacs on excellence" (p. 72), reminding me of young Steve Jobs's attitude toward early Apple ("insanely great"). This may not be a book for everyone. But Grand Circle Travel has thousands of devoted followers (with fervor approaching that of lay men and women who belong to Third Orders of consecrated Benedictines or Franciscan monks and nuns). And they will devour this off-beat book. And who can blame them? -OOO- http://www.biblio.com/first-edition/driving-with-no-brakes -alan-lewis-harriet-lewis~23073~351612527 =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (2) lunch.com 10/12/2010 name of review: The Story of GRAND CIRCLE TRAVEL - "Maniacs on Excellence" rating: * * * * review: Historically, the names that their enemies gave to certain religious groupings have stuck. Not only that, what started out as cuss words became embraced and gloried in by their targets as badges of honor. I think of "Jesuits," "Quakers" and "Shakers" for starters. In 1985 a Bostonian couple named Alan Lewis and Harriet Lewis paid $9 million to AARP's insurance company, Colonial Penn, and bought rather stodgy Grand Circle Travel ("GCT"). A few months ago they published a narrative of their 25 years leading privately owned GCT and offshoots such as OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) and Grand Circle Foundation (GCF). Let me go back at once now and compare GCT/OAT/GCF with certain religious groups that glory in descriptions that others gave them. In more ways than one Alan and Harriet Lewis sound like secular versions of various such groups. For starters: here are some things that others have stated that GCT and/or the Lewises are or revel in: "a
bunch of hooligans from Boston" (said by an executive of rival
British travel firm, SAGA, p. 15);
and "Maniacs on excellence" (said by a team of outside observers), p. 72). As for the book's title, DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES, that seems to come directly from founder Alan Lewis himself. When the brakes went out while he was driving a van on a steep downhill road in Costa Rica in 1994, Lewis said to a colleague: "We've
lost the brakes." The colleague thought this was a metaphor for
a tough business problem they were then trying to solve. But, no, the
brakes were really gone. Later congratulated for his driving skills in
a tight spot, Lewis confided: "I have experience
driving with no brakes. I feel like I've been doing it for years with
Grand Circle" (p. 16).
The authors claim to have built in the last 25 years GCT and related entities into "the leader in providing international travel adventure, and discovery to Americans over 50" (p. 7). FYI: I am 75 and have recently returned from my first GCT small boat cruise on the Rhone and Saone Rivers just before the grape harvest in France. I have found much bragging and self-cheer-leading in DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES. But, based on my first experience with GCT and my wife's third, I sense that the instructive book is largely telling the truth. The Lewises try to stay 2 - 3 years ahead of their nearest competitors in the ever risky, always changing travel industry. They do this through a network of many overseas offices, e.g. Bangkok, where "associates" keep their ears to the ground for political upheavals and advise how to react to such annoyances as early 2010's volcanic eruption in Iceland. But mainly the GCT family of companies stays ahead of the power curve by endlessly querying their customers. "How do you rate your last trip?" "Where do you want to go next?" Low performing offerings get dropped. Excellent-rated tours are made even better. Offer customers travel that is right, affordable, instructive and unforgettable, and they will return for more. For that reason, Grand Circle Tour has learned to spend most of its money serving old faithful clients. It is much less expensive to get them to return for yet another adventure with GCT or OAT than to chase brand new people. Through Grand Circle Foundation (GCF) the Lewises themselves and their willing travelers and associates in Boston headquarters and elsewhere do good works in countries they visit, e.g. Tanzania and Costa Rica. "Hooligans?" No way? "Maniacs for excellence?" So it would seem. -OOO- http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/d/Alan_and_Harriet_Lewis_DRIVING_WITH_NO_BRAKES _HOW_A_BUNCH_OF_HOOLIGANS_BUILT_THE_BEST _TRAVEL_COMPANY_IN_THE_WORLD-1643718.html =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (3) bn.com (digital) 10/12/2010 title of review: How to build a great travel company while "riding with no brakes" and being "addicted to speed" rating: * * * * review: (NOTE: I have read the paperback version of RIDING WITH NO BRAKES, not the eBook.) ***** Grand Circle Travel (GCT) was bought for $9 million in 1985 by Harriet and Alan Lewis. With that New York company, the Lewises also acquired a list of 16,000 AARP travelers (p. 26), for which GCT was the designated travel agent. GCT was, however, losing $2 million on $27 miilion/year in sales. But "we saw the company's potential. It had a recognized brand, global reach, and loyal travelers in the retired American market" (p. 13). In 1985 the travel world that the Lewises had just bought into consisted of 22,000 independent travel agents and a few giants. The big firms were hierarchical and top-down command givers. This was not what Harriet and Alan had in mind. Within a year they had transformed Grand Circle Travel. (1) They moved headquarters from Manhattan
to South Boston.
(2) Losing $5,000/day, the Lewises dropped their 300 worst-performing tours. (3) "We stopped hustling our customers from place to place, slowing the trips down so the travelers could better appreciate the people and cultures in our destination" (18). (4) GCT also slashed prices. (5) It began cutting out middlemen abroad who sometimes cost 50% of local travel. Moving fast, being proudly "addicted to speed" became a GCT trademark. Came 9/11/2001 and the terrorist attacks. Grand Circle Travel reacted days faster than the competiton, buying into hotels and airline reservations being dumped by shortsighted travel companies. ****** Today, in 2010, Grand Circle Travel and its daughter Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) along with many of its Small Ship Cruises, have not known a losing year since 1987. The firm has 38 offices in 31 countries with 2,300 employees worldwide. It owns or leases 60 ships. It serves 119,000 American travelers a year. It offers more than 80 trips in 100+ countries. It donates up to 5% of annual profits through its Grand Circle Foundation. The Foundation channels funds into areas around the world where Grand Circle "associates" work and which Grand Circle travelers visit. Soon DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES may be an MBA case study in graduate schools from the University of Dallas to Harvard. There is no Index but a good Glossary. The book, alas, has a weak sense of history. The Lewises may belong to the Henry Ford school of "History is bunk." They write almost as if the world was created the day they bought Grand Circle Travel in 1985. Yet they built on a legacy of giants. ELDERHOSTEL, started in 1975, is a more
expensive, intellectual and broader travel organization for seniors. It
is not mentioned in Glossary.
Sic transit gloria mundi! AARP is the giant whose list of travelers the Lewises bought .The closest thing to a tribute to that giant comes in the excellent Glossary: "AARP -- American Association of Retired Persons. A nonprofit membership organization for people over the age of 50, founded by Grand Circle's founder, Ethel Andrus." -OOO- recommended reading: G. K. Chesterton - THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY. (for it whirlwind pacing and frantic travel, foreshadowing DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES.) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Driving-With-No-Brakes/ Alan-Lewis/e/2940011102660/?itm=1&USRI= driving+with+no+brakes =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (4) amazon.com 10/13/10 title of review: Pros: "Service Above Self." Cons: weak historical context. rating: * * * * review: NOTE: I write this after having read and written three other reviews of DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES and immediately after reading 15 unusually good reviews on amazon.com. Last month I made my first, very pleasant trip with Grand Circle Travel (GCT) cruising with my wife, her sister and a friend on the Rhone and Saone Rivers in France. I also draw on impressions of GCT gained by my wife and sister-in-law from land trips they made together to Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. END NOTE. SELECTED PROS:
The authors of DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES bought Grand Circle Travel (GCT) in 1985. They promptly turned around a money-losing company that provided trips to 16,000 AARP clients. Alan and Harriet Lewis kept, however, apparently without question, GCT's inherited focus on providing travel only to American travelers 50 years and older. They pruned weak destinations, slowed down the pace so that older men and women would have time to smell the roses, created a new company, OAT, (Overseas Adventure Travel) for baby boomers and younger at heart seniors. They also created an umbrella organization, Grand Circle LLC. And on and on. These are truly impressive accomplishments in the teeth of emergency piled upon emergency (e. g., 9/11, Iceland volcano, etc.). In the process Harriet and Alan Lewis designed a corporate culture resembling Catholic religious orders: for which personal sanctification of members is the starting point and service outside the order is secondary, albeit vital. GCT and OAT intend as priority number one that their employees aka "associates" find personal fulfilment, professional satisfaction, financial security and have fun. In 1992 the Lewises built a new channel for philanthropy: Grand Circle Foundation (GCF). This has since tapped into a natural wellspring of employee and traveler desire to do good things (e. g. build schools) in worldwide locations served by GCT and OAT A COUPLE OF CONS:
The book has an excellent Glossary. This covers much of its, to me, sometimes mildly annoying, a bit hokey, rah rah slogans and jargon such as Extreme Competitive Advantages, Four Product Pillars, GRPI, Hot Issue, Hold the Pole, Takeaways and Ugly Straw Dog. The text lacks, however, that aid to reviewers and researchers that is a Topical Index linking phrases like "Ugly Straw Dog" to the pages where they are mentioned. More troubling to me is the book's weak sense of historical perspective or of grateful indebtedness to earlier pioneers or competitors. Within the world of organized travel, for instance, some but surprisingly little credit (but see the Glossary) goes to pioneering AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons (see The AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad) and its travel company GCT bought by the Lewises in 1985. Yet they took over from AARP and its GCT some pretty innovative ideas, as well as a list of 16,000 AARP travelers (p. 16). And what about ELDERHOSTEL/Road Scholar? (See Elderhosteling. U.S.A.!: An Elderhostel How-To Guide). This group, founded 10 years before the Lewises purchased GCT, is not mentioned in the text at all, so far as I recall. One organization (GCT) is for-profit, the other is not. Yet both provide great educational travel for seniors. Is there no cross-fertilization? Henry Ford would, I fear, give DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES a hearty "attaboy" for exemplifying his belief that "history is bunk." An ironic subtitle of the book might be: HOW THE WORLD BEGAN IN 1985. -OOO- tags: AARP, Grand Circle Travel, Alan Lewis. Harriet Lewis. Elderhostel/Road Scholar, business case study http://www.amazon.com/Driving-No-Brakes-Alan-Lewis/ product-reviews/0615377823/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_4?ie= UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFourStar =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (5) epinions.com 10/13/2010 Review Title: Grand Circle Travel: Becoming "the company that doesn't back down" Product Rating: * * * * PROS: A travel company with no losing years since 1987. Loved by employees and customers alike. CONS: No topical or name Index. Company owners implausibly show little indebtedness to predecessors or competitors. BOTTOM LINE: "Driving with no brakes?" Sometimes. "Hooligans?" Far from it. The Lewis family are gamblers, great to work for, adored by loyal customers. Find out why. No Index. "History is bunk." aohcapablanca's Full Review: I am not at all clear who are the likely readers of DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES: HOW A BUNCH OF HOOLIGANS BUILT THE BEST TRAVEL COMPANY IN THE WORLD. Its author are husband and wife Alan and Harriet Lewis of Boston, owners of Grand Circle Travel (GCT) and related companies. In the first instance, I suspect, a typical reader would be like me: an American 50 or older who has taken a planned, escorted overseas trip by land vehicle or by by boat sponsored by one or other company of Mr and Mrs Lewis. On the other hand the book's authors seem to be casting a bigger net: "We hope
sharing our experiences will help business leaders, social
entrepreneurs, and young people just starting out, and we hope our
travelers will enjoy a peek inside their travel company" (p. 8).
In 1985 the Lewises paid $9 million for Grand Circle Travel (GCT), the tourist arm of AARP. In the process they accepted GCT's already-in-place target audience of American travelers age 50 and up and acquired a list of 16,000 of them. But the Lewises immediately made big changes: -- they moved GCT from Manhattan to South
Boston;
-- they lopped off 300 underperforming tours; -- they slowed the pace of individual trips, giving senior American travelers more time to savor their experiences; -- they opened offices overseas and delegated great authority to their international staff or "associates." In short order, they turned GCT from a money-losing for-profit company into one that has never had a losing year since 1987. Over time they reveled in epithets supplied by themselves and others: -- "Maniacs
on excellence" (p. 72)
-- "a bunch of hooligans from Boston" (said by an executive of rival British travel firm, SAGA, p. 15); -- "driving with no brakes" (p. 16); and -- "... the company that doesn't back down, the company that allows us to keep seeing the world" (said by traveler Jim O'Brien after 9/11/2001 when rival travel companies where canceling hotel reservations and trips to Egypt and other Near East Muslim countrie) - p. 160). The 225-page book has very wide margins that invite readers to scrawl comments, criticisms, happy recollections of cruises on the Rhone and Saone rivers of France or of five mile walks around cities of Viet-Nam. It is rich in photos, both colored and black and white. My wife and I chuckle most over a B&W full page photo of an 80-ish looking woman perched atop a bird much larger than she. The rider's face expresses total terror! The photo's caption says: "Lillian Stoff, a 14-time traveler from Mamaroneck, New York, prepares for her first ostrich derby in Oudtshoorn, South Africa." Its 38 page APPENDIX is rich in both important materials and trivia, including, among others, -- Company Profile (in 2010: 119,000+ travelers, more than 2,200 employees, projected sales of $600 million, projected profit $60 million. Total charitable giving to date $50 million -- targeted to projects in countries visited by GCT travelers. -- Excellence in Travel. Awards from many respected sources. -- A Summary of Crises We Have Faced. For instance, ---- "1989 Tiananmen Square protests," ---- "1996 TWA Flight 800 crash out of JFK, 230 killed," ---- "1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 crash, 54 GCC(orporation) travelers killed," ---- "2008 Worldwide financial crisis; markets plunge around the world curtailing travel for many Americans." -- Editorials and Articles. including USA TODAY, description of a two week "guided tour of the tombs adn dtreasures of acient Egypt" (pps. 206 - 210). -- Glossary. Including insider jargon entries like: BusinessWorks...Extreme Competitive
Advantages...Four Product Pillars...GCF (Grand Circle Foundation,
established 1992)...Gutsy Leader...Harriet's Corner (place on GC
website where Harriet Lewis and readers share stories)...Hold the
Pole... Moment of Truth...OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel, a GCC-owned
corporation for younger-at-heart, more active Amerian
seniors)...Overall Excellence (score passengers give on post-trip
evaluation forms)...Pinnacle Leadership Center (New Hampshire training
facility)...TPP (Travel Protection Plan)...UFes, aka "Unforgettable
Experiences" and Ugly Straw Dog aka "Ugly Straw Puppy (= very rough
sketch of a final plan).
Unfortunately, the APPENDIX lacks an INDEX linking glossary terms and names of places and people to particular pages. DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES betrays little sense of history before the two authors were born. There is inadequate attention as well, I think, to current events other than travel crises or to travel industry competitors. Notably not mentioned, for instance, is ELDERHOSTEL/Road Scholar. This was founded in Boston ten years before the Lewises Grand Circle Travel. Both prepare long education-rich escorted tours for seniors. A curious omission P.S. Thank you dramastef for making this travel book reviewable for epinions. Thank you, texas-swede, in advance for adding this to your "save the travel category" writeoff for epinions. Would I recommend it to friends? Yes, but never for the same reason twice. Recommended: Yes. -OOO- http://www0.epinions.com/review/Driving_With_No_Brakes _epi/content_527663337092 =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= EXTRAS:
--(1) TPK comment on an amazon.com review by "travelor" (sic!) Very well put! I have noticed the similarity of the spiriit behind GRAND CIRCLE TRAVEL et. al. and early Rotary's motto: "HE PROFITS MOST WHO SERVES BEST." Rotary began as, among other things, a group of men of different trades and professions who pledged to raise ethical standards in their hitherto un-self-regulated fields (or lightly regulated, lacking explicit codes of conduct). But it was only a couple of years before Rotary's founder, lawyer Paul Harris, propelled the Rotary Club of Chicago into a new area: hands on local service, initially, just leading a coalition to place public toilets in the Loop. Thank you for implicitly suggesting the "service above self" comparison to me. Cordially, Patrick Killough Black Mountain, NC =-=-=-=-= TPK comment on review by Page Turner "toriaj" Regarding DRIVING WITH NO BRAKES you wrote "It made me wonder what corporate America could be like if all companies used the approach that Harriet and Alan Lewis have with their company." I wonder, too. How many of the authors' ideas fit only the travel industry? How many slogans, priorities, attitudes, etc. can transfer, for instance, to manufacturers? to government entities? to schools? Surely, some features can. Cordially, Patrick Killough Black Mountain, NC =-=-=-==--= http://www.patrickkillough.com/books/lewis_nobrakes.html file: lewis_nobrakes |