A gripping tale of corporate resilience
A Bus to Billions
For 50 years Flight Centre has broken the rules of business….and kept on winning. Despite disaster after disaster, they’ve bounced back every time, turning global shockwaves into opportunities for growth. This entertaining and often outrageous story is an essential read for leaders, entrepreneurs, travellers and anyone with an audacious dream.
PRE-ORDER A COPY AND BE IN TO WIN $10,000 IN FLIGHT CENTRE GIFT CARDS & MORE - T&CS APPLY
A COVID FIGHT FOR SURVIVAl, an attempt to start their own airline, plus some award-winning people practices - THE REBEL INSTINCT COVERS IT ALL.
TURNING REBEL INSTINCT INTO A CONSCIOUS STRATEGY.
When Flight Centre started, the founders led by Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner broke rules and even a few laws, defiantly opposed dumb bureaucracy, and experimented with whatever seemed like a good idea at the time. In the process, they built a company on instinct, rather than planning - a kind of ‘rebel instinct’.
Bestselling author Mandy Johnson has tracked Flight Centre’s wild ride for decades. She reveals what sets the company apart: a culture that favours common sense, treats setbacks as opportunities and dismantles what's working today to build a model for tomorrow. Now operating in over 100 countries, with billions in annual revenue, this book is the first time the whole 50-year story has been told in full.
ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST ICONIC BUSINESS TALES
10 TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS BOOK……
The loathing for bureaucracy that shaped Flight Centre’s core principles.
How to turn disaster into business opportunity, and bounce back better than ever.
The ‘Stone Age’ organisational structure that turbo-charges growth and profitability.
Unconventional and award-winning people practices.
The catastrophic screw-ups when the company strayed from its roots.
The strategies that turned its COVID-era collapse into an incredible recovery.
How to apply counterintuitive thinking to every challenge.
Other maverick business systems, studied in Australian universities.
How to have fun, and turn business into a game.
The key rebel lessons learnt from each period.
PLUS: CORPORATE DRAMA
Monthly revenue dropped from $2 billion to near zero in just two weeks at the start of the COVID pandemic.
Leaders had to axe their own family members and many friends - one 176-store business shut down in just three days.
ENTERTAINING STORIES
How a dog became one of the company directors – see picture of Director’s Bill ‘Barking’ and Bill ‘Speaking’ (James) on left.
How the CEO served customers dressed in a garbage bag and wore flip-flops to walk the Milford Track.
The many adventures of Flight Centre’s fibreglass captain, including his kidnapping and ransom.
GO INTO THE DRAW FOR THESE BONUSES WHEN YOU PRE-ORDER A BOOK:
PRE-ORDER 1 COPY
Enter to win $10,000 in Flight Centre gift cards.
PRE-ORDER 5 COPIES
Plus win VIP tickets to the book launch - 1 Dec.
1
STEP 1
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY
Pre-order your copy of The Rebel Instinct through your local bookseller in Australasia or by clicking on the Booktopia or Amazon Australia icons below:
ONLY USE THE BELOW LINKS IF YOU ARE PRE-ORDERING OUTSIDE AUSTRALASIA (and therefore not eligible for the competition). Click on the name to go through to the pre-order page.
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
2
STEP 2
1 copy – Enter the competition
Once you’ve bought a pre-ordered copy, you are eligible to enter the competition to win the $10,000 in Flight Centre Gift Cards (Australia/NZ only)
Enter your contact details and submit a 25-words-or-less answer as to why you are excited to read The Rebel Instinct. The most creative and original entry wins the competition and the $10,000 in gift cards.
5 copies - enter the gift card competition PLUS receive a VIP ticket to The Rebel Instinct book launch if you are one of the first 10 purchasers – 1 ticket per 5 copies.
To be held at Flight Centre’s head office rooftop bar and terrace, Brisbane 1 Dec 2026, 5.30pm (travel not included).
3
STEP 3
KEEP YOUR PROOF OF PURCHASE
You will be required to show it to claim your prize.
General conditions:
- Contestants must be aged 18 years and over and be residents of Australia or New Zealand.
- Only 1 entry per person
- The winner of the $10,000 Flight Centre gift cards will be drawn at the official book launch on 1 Dec 2026.
The first 10 purchasers of the 5 copies, will be notified of their VIP book launch tickets by 1 November 2026.
Mandy Johnson is….
Mandy is the bestselling author of Family Village Tribe and Winning the War for Talent, and a former UK director of Flight Centre. Over the years she has spoken at Fortune 500 companies and growing start-ups about how to apply rebel strategies to run more effective businesses and build better workplaces.
A sought-after keynote speaker at events such as the Asia/Pacific Talent Conference she has been interviewed about her innovative ideas on many programs such as Sky Business News, ABC Radio’s Conversation Hour and in the Australian Financial Review. As an executive educator and MBA guest lecturer at UQ Business School and Bond University, Mandy has shared many tools and techniques and her ‘Future of Work’ essay is now included in the introduction to several of Wiley’s Australasian university textbooks.
REBEL STRATEGIES, REMARKABLE OUTCOMES
“
We have been working well with your systems and have seen our employee turnover almost half and are seeing positive growth in the profit in the business.
Stewart Silk HR Leader, Michael Hill Jewellery Limited
“
Mandy, your presentation at the UQ Exec.Ed Virgin Leadership Program was inspirational and stimulating. They were talking about it long after you left.
Peter Ferreira Director - Virgin Leadership Program
“
Mandy's Winning The War for Talent seminar that she ran for us at Bond University's Centre for Executive Education was the highest-rated program of the year. The content and workshop process was world class.
James Carlopio Director, Bond University Executive Education
Interested in learning about more rebel tools and techniques that transform workplaces?
If you enjoy The Rebel Instinct, you might also like:
Winning The War For Talent
How to attract & keep the people who make your business profitable
Can't fill vacancies? Staff turnover skyrocketing? Profits plunging? Or just on a quest to make a good company great?
These were the challenges Mandy faced as the UK director of Flight Centre. In a bid to save her career she threw away the HR textbooks, experimented with new techniques and created an unconventional people system that produced astonishing profit results.
"To say this book is excellent is an understatement. It contains a clear and concise solution to one of the greatest business and leadership challenges of our time.” Mike Parsell, ex-CEO Michael Hill Jewellery