In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Azim Barodawala, CEO of Volantio (formerly referenced as Elantio). Azim shares a personal story about joining Volantio when it was financially distressed, emphasizing the value of taking calculated risks over playing it safe. He explains the complexities of the airline industry, advising travelers to be kind to airline staff, noting that courtesy often leads to better outcomes. Azim offers broader business leadership advice, highlighting the need for leaders to adapt their style to different environments and to engage in uncomfortable conversations with their leadership teams. He reflects on career lessons, stressing that a strong brand on a résumé can open doors, even if one ultimately follows personal passion. He discusses his definition of happiness as honesty with oneself and following one’s heart. Azim recommends two books—"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" (team honesty and conflict) and "Endurance" (Shackleton’s perseverance)—and shares a favorite quote from Barack Obama about pressing on despite challenges. He concludes by directing listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Azim Barotawala with us. He's the CEO of Elantio. So welcome to the show, man.
Thank you, good to be here.
Of course, pumped to have you on. Uh, we'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Azim, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Sure, I guess for me it was just joining Volantio. The financial situation of the company was not really that great at the time. There's a lot of debt and not a lot of revenue at the time that I joined the company, but I really believed in the Chief Technology Officer who was there at the time. And, you know, when I looked at the company, it really wasn't the safe path.
There was a other options that might have been better.
But I took a chance and I joined the company back then. And it was almost 5 years ago to the day that I actually joined. So, and things have actually worked out fairly well. So I think the underlying message for me is really, you know, for me to the folks that are listening is that, you know, sometimes you can take the safe path, and that might seem like the best course of action. But when you overthink things, you end up potentially missing out on some really great opportunities.
And If I had overthought at the time, I would have probably missed out on a really amazing opportunity.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so I mean, this is maybe, uh, well, I'll just, I'll just provide it.
Hopefully it's useful for folks.
But, you know, we focus on the airline business, uh, primarily, and we are—
our main customers are airlines. So Airlines, it's a very, very complicated industry. It's very difficult, lots of players, lots of things that can go wrong. And I think from a customer standpoint, we tend to focus every day on all the things that go wrong for airlines and that go wrong for customers. And that's true.
And you know, airlines sometimes are to blame, but a lot of times it's factors that are actually out of their control.
So my piece of advice is this for, for folks is, you know, a lot of folks out there travel and I'm sure a lot of your listeners do as well. And when things go wrong, my single biggest piece of advice to folks is to be nice, honestly.
Remember that the people on the other side of the counter there that are trying to solve your problem are just doing their best. And I've often had amazing outcomes just by being really nice. I've gotten upgraded to business class on 14-hour flights just by being very nice. I've gotten my situations resolved very quickly by being nice. So never hurts to be nice. Doesn't cost anything. I mean, particularly in the airline industry, I would say it's a very good piece of advice and in general as well.
Yeah, I think that is big. I think they have some of the toughest jobs out there because people do, they just get so mad at the airports. So next question I have for you is what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Yeah, so I have two points.
Hopefully I'm cheating a little bit here, but one is a more general one, one, the second one's a little bit more specific. But the general point that I would say is that success really depends in my mind on adapting to, for your environment, you know, success as a leader. When I think back to my career, what made me successful at a place like the Boston Consulting Group is not what makes me successful today as the CEO of a startup company, Volantio.
You know, you really have to adapt.
And when you think about it, it actually makes sense. You know, if a sports team used the same exact strategy regardless of what game they were playing and, you know, and the specific game situation, they wouldn't be very successful. And similarly, as a leader, you have to adapt your own style to be successful.
And I know that, and it's something I've kind of learned the hard way a little bit, but it's a really, really important lesson, I think. And it's not just one style fits all. And that's my general point.
The second point that I would just say on a very specific level is, as a leader of a business, you can't shy away from uncomfortable conversations with folks that are on your leadership team.
In my mind, that is one of the most important and valuable things that you can do as a leader is to foster tough discussions and at times ones that may be very uncomfortable.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Ah, yeah, it's kind of a funny one as well. I mean, it's probably not a message that a lot of folks like to hear, but I would tell myself that brands matter. I think sometimes when folks are younger, they tend to think to themselves somewhat idealistically, well, the brands on your resume don't matter. But I would go back and tell myself that they actually do matter a lot. And that's just the reality of life. So, you know, when I was right out of college, I had the chance to join a startup or to go work for, you know, a fairly known, well-known company.
I chose to go work with a startup and I really enjoyed that experience.
But there's a lot to be said for working for a company that has a big brand in terms of, especially early on in your career, to help open doors for opportunities that might otherwise not come to you later on.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
So the flip side of my last question, I guess, is being honest with yourself and following your heart. So while brands matter, in that example that I gave you, I did follow my heart and I went to go work for the startup because that's where I really wanted to go. And I think at the end of the day, you—
it's, it's very hard to do at times for people.
To give up what seems like the more safe pathway. And it's easy to get distracted by things like money, big offers and stuff, but I've always— the happiest folks that I've ever come around are the ones that have actually followed their heart, both personally in their personal life and also in their professional lives.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, so again, I'm gonna cheat here. There's really— 2 books that I'm gonna throw out there. One is a book that's been around for, I think, about 16 years. It's called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
It's one of the best business books that I've read.
The author, I think, pronounce his last name, Lencioni, Patrick Lencioni, just really talks about how, you know, especially as a leader of a company or, you know, as anybody within a company, you can drive better performance from your team.
And one of the key lessons there again is really that idea of being very honest with one another and breaking through some of the more typical reservations that people have in interpersonal relationships.
And it's only once you break past that, in my mind, that you can really be successful when you're very honest with one another and are willing to embrace conflict. So when I think about our company, I think that, you know, if we don't, we're not going to be successful, because things will always be left unsaid. The second book, which I think is just more of a great life story, is Endurance, about Shackleton, who I'm sure many of your readers know was the British explorer who got stranded with his team in Antarctica and spent almost 24 months down there, and his story of survival and how they actually managed to get out of what was one of the most treacherous situations ever. I think the real key lesson there was just the importance of being focused even when it seems like all the odds are stacked against you.
It's a really amazing book and I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't read it to read it. I don't know if you've read it, but— No, I haven't.
What is your favorite quote and why?
Yeah, so one of my favorite quotes is actually a quote by Barack Obama, and he said, "The future rewards those who press on.
I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on." I find that's an incredible quote, particularly for those who are running a startup or who are, you know, in any type of a situation that presents challenges. It's not about feeling sorry for yourself.
It's not about complaining.
You got to find a way to press on to be successful. And in my mind, that's really the most important, you know, one of the most important quotes and best quotes that I've seen.
And dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
Yeah, I would say LinkedIn is probably the best place. Um, uh, that's the one that I use the most.
So, uh, you know, folks can find me on LinkedIn.
Okay, perfect, man. Thanks again for joining us. Really appreciate it.
Yeah, take care.
Bye-bye.
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