He built a travel empire from a hotel business, but the biggest achievement of Stanley Tollman, founder/chairman of The Travel Corporation, may well be in keeping the family in business together. As Asian families start to hand over to sons and daughters, Raini Hamdi asks Tollman (second from left below) how he does it
How did you manage to get your children and nephews to be in the business?
I had always hoped the business would grow and develop into something that Brett (son, now president/CEO of The Travel Corporation) could take over. At the time, we were running a hotel and restaurant business. From a little boy, he’s shown an aptitude for the hotel business. So we sent him to Cornell (University).
In the mid of my career, in the late 60s, I bought Trafalgar Tours and, through different life times and places, the business grew organically: retail travel, wholesale travel, bus companies, river cruising, all the various aspects.
We bought Contiki 20-odd years ago, needed a captain for it and offered Michael (nephew, now executive chairman, Cullinan Holding, which owns Thompson Gateway Africa) the job. He had just graduated. Then Gavin (nephew, now president, Trafalgar) came in when his father retired and we offered him Trafalgar. My wife (Beatrice Tollman) developed a hotel company, Red Carnation Hotels. It just happened. As I grew older, I didn’t even contemplate succession. You think you live forever.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having family members holding all the top jobs?
I suppose the advantage is total commitment. It’s not a job; it’s a lifestyle, a passion. One has an attitude that it’s your life and soul, it’s everything you breathe, it’s everything you do. Nothing is too much trouble – if you walk into a restaurant and see a dirty cup, you pick it.
The next generation, generally, if they come from a successful base, they become more ‘ivory tower’. But the service business is hands-on.
Brett, Gavin and Mike also grew up seeing my wife and I washing plates, waiting on tables, cooking. They all showed the attitude that no job is too big for them or too small.
I think our business is in better hands. They’ve taken it to different levels. They’ve had more education than we had, they’ve applied it better in a now technocrat world – social media, IT, all these things.
What are the disadvantages?
You have to tread softly, not hurt feelings. In normal business, you say what you want to say.
When things go wrong – sibling rivalry and all that – they can go on awfully and destroy business. We’re fortunate our business is big enough that everyone has lots of space. Our two daughters are also in the business, one’s doing design, the other sales & marketing, but they all work together and do their own thing.
When I talk to all of them, I would give the example of a box of matches. Put matches together and try and break them. They won’t. But if you separate them, each is easily broken. The biggest thing is when the founder passes on, families have to learn that the most important thing is sticking together and not allowing feelings to destroy the business.
The children’s attitude of nothing is too small or too big for them – how much of that is nature, how much of it is nurture?
All of them had a kind of an upbringing that nothing was given to them. I don’t think any of them were over-spoilt. They grew up watching us work. So all of them grew up with strong work ethics.
I don’t think you can teach them. What you can do is to be a strong ‘steering committee’, show them the pitfalls, set the rules, create well-rounded people that have a sense of responsibility. Part of our business is dedication to foundation (conservation, charity) and our family motto is the pursuit of excellence.
How hard is it to let go? How much are you still involved in business?
I haven’t let go. Everyone said to me they’re surprised. It’s gratifying that everyone comes to me all the time for ideas. I still am involved in any purchase. Because we are in so many countries and we’re always building or acquiring new companies, there is just so much to do. So I’m fully employed, but no longer in the day to day.
But it is not hard at all, because I’ve been teaching Brett, Michael and Gavin over 20-25 years and in that long process, I’ve made them all do more and more.
How do you get together as a family?
We all get together three to four times a year, because Brett lives in the US, we live in three to four places, Gavin is in Geneva, Michael in Cape Town. And the joke always is, let’s try and have a meal and talk about other things than business. But the business is so intertwined with our lives!
But we also make business fun. If I look back on 60 years in business, besides the normal things – application, dedication, devotion to your business – the most important ingredient is enjoying what you do. I remember the first restaurant my wife and I opened when we were married. I was in the front, she in the kitchen, and the wonderful thing about the service industry is this pure enjoyment in making things happen. I’ve always said, our business is pure theatre. If you create the stage for what you doing, you will create a great play.
Some said the industry, which has grown so much, is not a lot of fun.
Yes, good point. Everything is all mechanised now, everything is a system, that it destroys an awful lot of entrepreneurial spirit and individuality.
Look at the airline business, since deregulation, there’s no airline service. Getting on a plane used to be an adventure.
That’s why we stick to niche businesses, not regimented ones, where we can still be creative. Customers are a lot more demanding, but it’s a lot easier to deal with smart people because they understand effort you are making.
There was a period when inclusive tours were disappearing. Everyone came up with the idea you buy an airline ticket, hire a car, find a room and off you go. Now they are coming back all over to inclusive, because the world became insecure after 9/11. Inclusive is security and it’s gone to a much higher level now; it’s not about eating rubbish for seven nights but taking people to different restaurants and trying to bring the adventure back to travel. That requires us to be innovative and creative. That’s where the fun is.
