There aren’t many people better qualified than corporate CEO turned entrepreneur Jeannette Linfoot to give leadership lessons – and she’s now presenting the travel industry with an affordable way to share in those.

If her life had followed a different path, who knows, Linfoot might have been a high-standing political figure by now. But she confesses that two years as a government economist at the start of her working life was enough of the civil service, and she was hungry for a more enterprising career.  

Thomson Holidays’ graduate scheme gave her a launchpad into travel, and as a product manager in her mid-20s, she had her first experience of leading a team and being set clear KPIs. While head of product at Thomas Cook, she was inducted in the Travel Industry Hall of Fame as a Young Manager winner, before being headhunted by First Choice for her first director role.

First Choice’s merger with Thomson’s owner Tui in 2007 gifted Linfoot a golden opportunity to shine, by leading on a strategic priority for the business, tied to an emerging market. You’ve got to admire the backbone of a person who uproots their life to Russia, in order to integrate the businesses and relaunch the rebranded Tui Travel to the Russian and Ukrainian markets. Meetings, she reveals, often relied on interpreters.  


In the spotlight, in Russia

“That was a real deep breath, can I do this moment for me?” she admits. “It was a vertical learning curve, both culturally and in the business environment. Russia couldn’t be more different from the UK, and the spotlight was on me and my team.”  

A wider brief for emerging markets followed, which expanded Linfoot’s area of responsibility to cover China, India, and South America. Then a fresh challenge arose – leading Saga’s travel division. “That was a really big turnaround in terms of brand position at the time,” she says.

At the top of her corporate game, she took another bold leap, setting up on her own as a portfolio business owner, supporting businesses and individuals to achieve their full potential.

“I’m very proud of that transition because it is very different,” she says. “I loved my corporate roles. I was good at dealing with the board and standing in front of the city and presenting financial results to analysts. So, it felt brave to jump out and set up on my own.”

Personal experience put to use

All the leadership experience she has gathered over the past 30 years, she’s distilled into a new training course, Rise Academy, which she bills as the “ultimate leadership programme”.  


“I can say this with great confidence,” she explains. ‘It brings all my learning of 30+ years in business in a very practical way that I know works on the ground. It’s not theory, it’s reality. My experience is very much a lived experience, having dealt with all kinds of situations and made lots of mistakes along the way. I can help other people avoid those.”

Although Linfoot’s career played out in board rooms around the world, Rise Academy has been conceived as an accessible course for all managers and aspiring managers in any size of business. It’s a digital programme, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and a one-time fee buys lifetime access to its material. 

Designed to be followed at your own pace, it’s a modular course structured under three main pillars.  

Three pillars of leadership

“In my experience, a leadership roadmap always has three things,” explains Linfoot.  “The first is leading yourself. Have you got the right mindset for the challenge and growth that needs to come with leadership?  

“The second is leading your teams – how do you create the right environment for a high-performing team, how do you deal with poor performance, and how do you stretch and grow your team?


“The third element is leading the business – what’s the strategy, the financials, the brand positioning, the customer journey?”  

Linfoot believes that we all have the potential for the growth and development that turns us into great leaders – although she does acknowledge some people have a more natural desire to lead than others. 

What can hold us back, she says, is a lack of support from employers, who fail to support managers and leaders in developing the skills they need. “You tend to get promoted because you’re good at your job, but what does that mean when you get to the next level?”  

“I’m a big believer in not living a life less than you are capable of, but you do need to learn from people who’ve been there and got the scars to prove it.”  

Unlock your 'superpower'

Particularly for the benefit of travel agents and other small business owners, she describes self-belief as a “superpower”, and encourages managers to really work on themselves: “Build your self-belief with positive influences in your life, learn something new, listen to empowering podcasts, include meditation or a walk in your daily morning routine. You have to put your own oxygen mask on first, because you cannot be the best leader for your teams, if you’re not in good shape, physically and mentally.”  


She also recognises how lonely it can be at the top, and advises travel agent managers to looks closely at their support network, which needs to be more impartial than their family members will be, however supportive they are. 

“When you’re the manager of a small agency, with a handful of staff, you’re not going to necessarily find that support network in your day-to-day environment,” she says. 

“You need someone on your side, outside of your organisation, who acts as a sounding board. Get yourself a mentor or a coach, informally or formally. Carefully select who is in your eco-system and surround yourself with the right people. Spending time with negative, risk-averse people will bring you down.”

What's your purpose?

It's also important to have a purpose, she says. When you have a strong compelling reason, either personally or professionally, as to why you are doing what you are doing, that can help pull you through the tough times, whether that be a slump in trading or curve balls like the pandemic travel shutdown.

“Have a strong purpose, and then take action. It can be baby steps. As long as you’re moving forward, that’s a good day, right? And sometimes we have to go backwards to move forwards, and that’s OK as well.”

She adds: “My purpose now is to help as many people as possible unlock the greatness that’s in them. It sounds slightly twee because it’s our [Brave Bold Brilliant] brand, but I really believe that by being brave and bold, you can unlock that brilliance.”  

'We are in your corner'

“And in order to do that, you need people in your corner, and that’s what we’ve created [with Rise]. We’ve got your back, you’re not on your own.”

Businesses leaders can identify high potential individuals for Rise Academy and roll it out within their teams, and Linfoot is also keen to encourage individuals who are ambitious for their own careers to fast track their development using her knowledge.  

“Knowing how to navigate financials is going to put you in a strong position. Learning communication skills, how to become a master networker, public speaking, how to deal with imposter syndrome. All of that is relevant whether you’re early in your career, you lead a small team, or you’re the CEO of global corporation.”  

“We all have challenges in life we have to deal with, things that knock us off track, and while Rise Academy is absolutely perfect for building your career, it’s going to strengthen you as a human being in so many ways.”