Glenn Fogel says the best leadership advice that he has ever received was from Priceline Group’s former CEO Jeff Boyd. Fogel recalls Boyd telling him, “You don’t have to try and prove how smart you are. You should listen more.” Fogel, who is now the new CEO of Priceline, confesses, “He was right. I was wrong.”
Speaking to Fortune’s Susie Gharib, Fogel says listening is critical to getting things done and getting employees to tackle new, innovative projects. “The way you get them to want to do it,” says Fogel, “is by having a true discussion—a true conversation—and listen to what they say.”
A Harvard Law School graduate, Fogel joined Priceline 17 years ago, after spending the early part of his career on Wall Street. He brought Priceline his investment banking skills and eye to spotting great acquisitions that have contributed to the company’s explosive growth.
Based in Norwalk, Conn., the online travel company owns Kayak.com, Booking.com, OpenTable, Rentalcars.com, Asia’s Agoda, and Cheapflights in addition to the Priceline platform. It has revenues of $10 billion and operations in 225 countries. Priceline is ranked at 268 on the Fortune 500 list of America’s biggest companies.
What’s the key to keeping up that growth? “Making sure that you’re hiring the right people,” answers Fogel. “If you don’t do that—in technology especially—you’ll lose faster.”