Many companies have navigated recent economic and geopolitical uncertainties — but the CEO of travel conglomerate Booking Holdings has faced a steady stream of crises over the last two decades.
To name a few: the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the 2008 market crash, SARS-1, volcanoes, tsunamis, the pandemic, tariffs, and various wars. CEO Glenn Fogel told Business Insider there’s something happening in the world every day.
“Every day something’s coming down the pipe,” Fogel said.
Part of dealing with a crisis involves planning in advance whenever possible. For example, Fogel explained that when tensions started to heat up between Russia and Ukraine, a region where the company operates, they began to prepare contingency plans “just in case.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became public just hours after the company’s earnings call in February 2022. As the situation developed, Booking Holdings supported employees abroad and navigated expected sanctions. That led to the company’s decision to suspend travel services in Russia and Belarus in March 2022, the company said.
Fogel, who’s been with the company for over 25 years, isn’t a stranger to navigating complicated situations. He outlined his crisis response approach, starting with the people he keeps on speed dial to how he manages stress.
Responding in a crisis
When a crisis arises, Fogel said the first people he contacts are the company’s executive officers, including the general counsel, chief financial officer, and chief HR officer.
Next, he works to identify the problem and which part of the business it affects. As a global travel conglomerate, Fogel said issues can impact different regions in different ways.
The CEO added that the company’s long history of navigating challenges has helped it respond effectively when new problems arise. He said he reminds himself that there is an end to every crisis. For example, with COVID, he said he didn’t know when a vaccine would come out, but he knew one eventually would.
“It helps you’ve already been through a lot before,” Fogel said. “It’s not the first rodeo.”
When it comes to managing the stress of the job, Fogel said he practices meditation.
“I’d like to do it every day,” Fogel said.
He said his other non-negotiable is exercise, which he always does before work nearly every day. Fogel does light weightlifting year-round and swims in the summer.
Even when he’s traveling — which is more often than he’s home, he said — he makes time for a workout at his hotel, squeezing in email responses during lower-intensity sessions.
