I've lived in Jakarta and have seen a lot more by living here, and I understand that there's so much more to Indonesia than just Bali and Jakarta.
— Tony Fernandes
The music and airlines businesses are tough, but I've been successful in them.
In AirAsia, we consider ourselves basically a dream factory. We deliberately decided that we wanted a company where people can pursue their passion, and we wanted to make use of all the talent that we have in-house.
I look for people who have drive, who have ambition, who are humble. I've hired many people at very strange places.
I came from the music business, which reputedly has the biggest egos, but I really think the airline world caps it.
Winning is an amazing feeling. You don't get that in business; you don't get that in many things.
I think airlines have been very much parrots. They'll just follow what everyone else is doing. Why change a model that they're happy in? And it takes someone like myself or Richard Branson who comes from outside the industry to say, 'Hey, let's try something new.'
My whole life has always been about looking for that person that money can't buy in that they've got a bee in their bonnet.
I don't know if every player in the Premier League feels hurt when they lose a game. The right sort is very important. I was naive in thinking that everyone was like me.
I don't care about failing because I do not want to sit down in my older years and say, 'How come I didn't try?'
Good leadership is to know when to go, and you only succeed as a good leader if you've transported someone else in and the company gets stronger. Then you've succeeded as leader.
In Europe, they travel a lot lighter. I always joke that my Indonesian passengers bring their house and their neighbor's house.
My whole life's been stability. People who have worked with me have for a long time. Air Asia is the same people who started it.
When I started my airline business, I didn't know everything, right? If I start up a newspaper tomorrow, I might get ripped off by journalists. You'd be naive to think you know everything from day one.
Aviation is for the common man. My goal is to enable everyone to fly. It shouldn't be only for the rich.
Passion is just something that comes naturally to me.
If you have a great product but no one knows about it, it's history.
When the music business failed to embrace the Internet, I thought it was game, set and match for the industry, and I quit.
Airlines are one of the last things to be liberalized.
Don't kid yourself that anyone in the Premier League is going to do you any favours.
I'm not cynical or bitter in any way. Life's too short; you get ripped off, but if you hold a grudge, it's going to affect you. You take it on the chin, you learn, you try not to make the same mistakes.
