Helen Cannon on how being 10% braver built Ison Travel

After nine years out of the workforce raising five children, Helen Cannon faced a choice. “I either had to get back to work or have another baby,” she says. She had wanted six children. Instead, “I actually decided that my next venture, the company that I started, was going to be my baby.”

That next chapter is Ison Travel. Cannon spotted that corporate clients in travel were being pushed towards online booking tools and the human element was disappearing. She set out to build a business for people who “wanted tech, but they really wanted humans as well.”

She founded the company in 2013 with a laptop and one member of staff. Today, the B2B travel business turns over close to £70m and operates in five countries. Speaking to Sir Richard Harpin on the Business Leader podcast, she explains why she chose to grow through a pandemic that stalled her industry, what she learnt about leadership after the passing of her husband and much more, including:

• Why Cannon says a crisis is the moment to grow, not retreat
• How clients shaped Inos Travel's international expansion plans
• How to keep company culture alive when everyone is remote
• Why the best CEOs are not afraid to ask for help

When Covid-19 hit the UK n 2020, Ison Travel had about 12 staff. Cannon had deliberately run the business lean, with her team already working remotely and no expensive offices to pay for. While competitors were cutting back, she saw an opening.

“We made the bold decision, probably within a few weeks,” she says. “That actually this is our chance to grow, our opportunity.” She points to the Chinese symbol for crisis, which she describes as two brushstrokes. “One symbolises danger and one symbolises opportunity. So in every crisis you’ve got those two sides, and that’s how we positioned it to the business.”

Cannon and her husband, who had joined the business by then, worked out exactly how much they could spend before running into trouble. They diversified into private jet travel, a bet that demand for expert advice would surge. It did. With traffic light lists, changing visa rules and vaccine requirements, “it was a minefield and it was a minefield that an online booking tool could not answer.”

From June 2020, Ison hired at least one person a month, taking advantage of the downturn to absorb displaced talent. Turnover went from around £4m in 2020 to £32m by 2022.

That instinct has stuck. “You absolutely have to be a risk-taker, that’s a given, but it’s balancing that risk,” she says. “I talk a lot about being 10 per cent braver, whatever shape or form that may be, even just getting out of bed that day, but just taking that first little step is what you need to do.”

How Inos Travel expanded overseas

The company now operates in the UK, India, the Philippines, Dubai and the US. India came first, giving the 24/7 business a model that Cannon describes as following the sun. Rather than putting UK staff on night shifts, the India team picks up when the UK signs off. The approach also helps during sickness, holidays and in times of high demand, such as the recent air traffic control failures which caused significant delays to travellers.

In 2024, Ison Travel lived its ethos of being 10 per cent braver by expanding into the US with the acquisition of Rhode Island-based Global Excellence Inc. This followed a lengthy search and discussions with brokers and companies on the ground to find the right cultural fit. Cannon says that it grew 150 per cent in 12 months following the takeover.

This international move, along with Ison Travel's expansion into Dubai, was led by the company's customers. UK clients with operations in those locations asked the company to follow them. Wherever it goes, Ison hires locally. Only in Dubai did someone from the UK go out to set things up, before local staff were recruited. “It’s making sure that culture travels too,” Cannon says.

How Ison shapes its culture without an office

Ison’s four values are authority, integrity, bravery and empathy. Underneath them sits a simple hiring philosophy. “We hire really good people because they make really good decisions,” says Cannon. Staff are not micromanaged, and the company attracts entrepreneurial people with new ideas.

Everyone works from home, with core hours and a grown-up approach to flexibility. That makes culture harder to build and Cannon admits it. “If we were all in one building in one place,” says Cannon, “some things would absolutely be easier, without a doubt. But I wouldn’t have the amazing staff we have.”

So the company gets everyone together twice a year, runs in-person team activities and keeps people connected online through quizzes and an annual competition to grow the tallest sunflower. Across every country sits “one Ison”, built on three pillars: enable, empower and engage.

An age-inclusive culture matters too, Cannon says, “Five per cent of our workforce is over 65 and 25 per cent is over 55. We've actively recruited people who are older and we've done it because of their experience and knowledge. When you put that with our younger apprentices coming in, it's really quite magical what you see.”

Helen Cannon on asking for help

In 2025, Cannon’s husband, Matt, a key member of the management team, passed away. She got through it with “a lot of deep breaths and an amazing support network,” and threw herself into work, “my safe, normal, happy place.”

“I think as a CEO,” she says, “that is one of the things that is really important: that you’re not afraid to ask for help. You don't need to profess to knowing everything. I think that's good because that's what your team are there around you for: to fill in those gaps and support where you need it.”

Her advice to anyone in crisis is to take it step by step, something her late husband was brilliant at.

Cannon says that life is more of a juggle than balance: “There's always someone you feel like you're letting down, whether it's yourself or whether I wasn't there that day to pick the children up. But I think you have to be kind to yourself as well.

"We are all only human; there's only so much we can physically do. As a founder CEO, you mustn't forget yourself at all. You've got to allow that time for yourself, too.”

Ison turned over £68m last year and could approach £80m this year, edging towards the £100m BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) her late husband originally set. Missing it would not be failure, she says.

“The role as the CEO is to challenge your team, but also inspire them, and by having that BHAG goal, that's where that inspiration is coming from. Another role that I really see that I have is getting the very best out of all my staff. If I can get the very best and more, then I feel like I've done my job.”

Helen Cannon’s four lessons for leaders

Be braver than feels comfortable. Ison grew from £4m to £32m in two years by hiring while rivals retreated. Cannon’s advice is to weigh the downside, then take the leap if the opportunity outweighs it.

Bring in help when you reach your limits. Cannon set up a board when she realised there were parts of the business she did not know. Her non-executive director brought governance and cadence, and Cannon says you should change NEDs as the business changes stage.

Build a network you can trust. From finding acquisition targets to surviving grief, her network has been decisive. “You can’t do this alone,” she says.

Make the call. When gut and data disagree, weigh both, but decide. “It’s worse to make no decision at all than to make a bad decision.”

You can watch the full conversation with Helen Cannon on the Business Leader YouTube channel.