Executive Travel : This Executive Wrote the Book on Travel

Mark McCormack’s itinerary should carry a warning sticker.

In a recent two-month period, for example, the chairman of Cleveland-based International Management Group, one of the largest sports marketing companies in the world, was in London; Geneva; Zurich; Singapore; New York; Cleveland; Chicago; Los Angeles; St. Andrews, Scotland; Tokyo; Mexico City; Williamsburg, Va.; Orlando, Fla.; Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

And he did it all without suffering travel burnout. “I like to travel,” he said during a pause in Orlando. “If I didn’t, I’d be a nervous wreck by now.”

Indeed, McCormack has averaged 200,000 miles a year for the last 25 years. Although he now has homes in New York, London, Cleveland and Orlando, half his time is still spent in places where he has no home.

This qualifies him as something of an expert on executive travel, which is why Chapmans Publishers of London approached him about writing an executive travel guide.

The book, “Hit the Ground Running; The Insider’s Guide to Executive Travel,” is currently available only in England. But McCormack, who also wrote the popular books “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School” and “The Truth About Lawyers,” said he expects the travel book to be in stores in the United States later this year.

So how do you make working on the road work for you instead of wearing you out? Here is some road-tested advice from McCormack’s latest book.

Fly the Flag Carriers

This means taking the international carrier that is based in your destination country. These airlines tend to have better, more convenient facilities, McCormack said.

Fly Against the Hub

In the United States, airline hubs frequently have too many flights landing at one time for the personnel to handle traffic efficiently. McCormack recommends picking an airline the doesn’t have a hub in the destination city.

Negotiate Fares

One of the big changes in recent years is that airlines now will negotiate with you if you bring them enough business, McCormack said. “You can practically negotiate the ticket price if you have 12 family members coming for Christmas,” he said. To do so, however, you must go through a business development executive who works for the airline in question, not a ticket agent.

Beat Up Your Baggage

Don’t carry luggage that advertises affluence. The less assuming it looks, the better. This can discourage baggage thieves, who sometimes work behind the scenes at the airport. Most baggage thefts involve someone taking something out of a bag, not taking the bag itself, he said. Usually the passenger is too preoccupied to check the contents of the bags before leaving the airport. By the time the theft is discovered, it’s too late.

Be Creative

Consider asking your hotel to set up a business luncheon meeting in an unoccupied suite, for example. A suite provides more atmosphere than a hotel restaurant’s banquet room, and, since the suite is vacant, the hotel may not charge you for it.

Plan

It sounds obvious that you should know something about where you are going before you get there, but executives often ignore this bit of wisdom, McCormack said.

He advocates keeping files of information about places you know you will visit, as well as a library of up-to-date travel guides. When planning a trip, include time for fun or personal enrichment. Keeping some enjoyment in the travel enhances your ability to work effectively.

Bring Water

Drinking lots of water during a flight prevents dehydration, a common complaint among travelers. Bringing your own water makes sense because quality varies, particularly on international flights, which may fill their tanks in cities with less than desirable water supplies.

Eat Lightly, Avoid Alcohol

Eating and drinking just slow you down at the other end. Also, keep to a regular exercise schedule if possible. If nothing else, McCormack recommends, do some brisk walking, feasible in just about any part of the world.

Master the Art of the Tip

Give the curbside baggage handler a good tip before he takes your bags, and they will get more attentive treatment, he said. Tip the “invisible” people who can make a big difference in your stay. Telephone operators, for example, are mostly forgotten when it comes to tips, but tipping them can help ensure you will get important messages or won’t be disturbed.

Don’t Fight Jet Lag

Accept that your schedule will be thrown off and don’t worry about it. If you wake up in the middle of the night in Tokyo, use that time to get some work done.

McCormack does not expect to slow down. And although electronic communications may make it easier to conduct business without global travel, he expects that many business people will keep flying.

“I’m one of those people who thinks it’s very hard to improve on personal contact,” he said. “People appreciate it when you come to them.”