5 leadership lessons from KAYAK CEO Steve Hafner ’97 MBA
Seated in a packed room full of MBA students at the Global Hub, Steve Hafner ’97 MBA generously imparted insights and perspective into what it takes to grow startups, lead small teams to large-scale operations and why soft skills become more important as your career progresses. As one of the first team members at Orbitz, Hafner later went on to become the CEO and co-founder of KAYAK.
Here’s what Hafner had to say about leadership being an ongoing quest for improvement and inspiration:
1. Surround yourself with curious people
Raised in a self-described “nomadic” family, Hafner had lived in 10 different countries by the time he was 12 years old. Although he wasn’t always fond of moving, those experiences taught the future travel company CEO important lessons about the value of curiosity and diversity of thought.
“Traveling gives you perspective and allows you to interact with folks who are just as smart as you are but come from a different place,” explained Hafner. “You appreciate that you only see one little, small part of all the potential outcomes and ways things can get done. In a business setting, that means that people feel more comfortable coming up to you with an idea or suggesting there’s something that you’re doing wrong.”
2. Be likeable — it opens more doors than you can imagine
His unconventional upbringing also taught Hafner about the importance of likeability and how important it is to get along with others. It’s not just good advice for your next trip, he says. It’s also paramount for building a successful team and business.
Why? Because likability will influence how comfortable people are communicating with you, and that will ultimately help you avoid blind spots. Business leaders who are approachable have a better chance of fostering transparent communication that can uncover opportunities or reveal issues that need to be addressed.
3. Pack light and embrace simplicity
Hafner also emphasized the advantages of simplicity, especially for organizations wanting to innovate quickly. He compared personal belongings to an organization’s cultural baggage — the longer you’re in one place the more “stuff” and routines you acquire. “The longer you’re in business the more bureaucracy there is, the more process there is and the slower you move,” he explained. “The KAYAK style is to run very lean and fast — I’m always looking for ways KAYAK can do less and other things we can do more of that we haven’t tried yet.”
Focusing on one simple adjustment is actually part of KAYAK’s founding story, he said. After graduating from Kellogg, Hafner took a job at travel site Orbitz, where he spent four years helping the company grow from a three-person operation to 1,600 employees. But, he says, “I quit to reset with the idea to do KAYAK, which was the follow-up to Orbitz, with just a simple nuance to the original idea — to be a search engine,” said Hafner. "It turned out to be a very subtle change but a very meaningful one.” KAYAK was acquired by Booking Holdings in 2013 for $2.1 billion, which goes to show that sometimes less is (much) more.
4. Understand that leading doesn’t always mean doing it all yourself
As the rare founder who has grown with his company from day one through explosive growth and a high-profile exit, Hafner commented on how lucky he feels to still be there. That journey, he said, taught him when to lean in, when to get out of the way and how to stay aware of his blind spots.
“Part of being a founder is understanding what you’re good at and what you’re not. I’ve complemented myself with team members who are far superior to my skill set and that’s allowed me to stay with the company,” he shared.
Staying true to a high-impact, low-ego perspective that characterizes Kellogg Leaders, Hafner embraces humility when it comes to leadership because, “Ultimately it’s not the loudest voice in the room or the smartest person in the room that gets to the right position. It’s the collective wisdom of the team you have around you,” he shared.
5. Never underestimate the power of soft skills
“Soft skills become more important as your career progresses because you stop being an individual contributor,” he said.
In addition to his role at KAYAK, Hafner serves on the leadership team at Open Table, where his soft skills are one of the biggest assets he brings to the table. “I make sure that we have the right team in place and that everyone’s voices can be heard so we don’t have blind spots,” Hafner shared. "Then I make sure that we execute with precision — and those are all soft skills.”
Hafner explained that when he stepped into his role at the online restaurant-reservation company, he ended up selecting some of his best team leaders from KAYAK to help guide the management team at Open Table. This business move has helped the company prosper in ways that it didn’t used to — all thanks to his ability to trust in those around him.
Read next: Kellogg Leaders in action: It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers