How Delta’s People-First Culture is Powering the Next 100 Years

Michael C. Bush:

Hello everyone. Very happy to bring to you today, Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Airlines. And Ed, thank you for taking this time to zoom in with about 10,000 friends.

Ed Bastian:

That's awesome.

Michael C. Bush:

Really, really appreciate it. And just want to start out by congratulating you.

Ed Bastian:

Thank you.

Michael C. Bush:

Going from 2023 to 2024, your scores went up higher on the 100 Best than any company in history.

Ed Bastian:

Wow.

Michael C. Bush:

And your move from number 94 to number 15, that's 79 point improvement is the largest improvement in history.

Ed Bastian:

Wow.

Michael C. Bush:

So in a tough year, somehow Delta kept climbing. So congratulations. And because of that, I wanted to bring you to these remarkable people.

Ed Bastian:

That’s incredible.

Michael C. Bush:

So in January, probably seems like a long time ago, I saw you on stage at CES at the sphere letting people know about the vision for Delta for the next 100 years. So up to the 100 years right now, largest airlines in the world, most profitable airlines in the world. But you weren't satisfied. You were talking about the next 100.

Michael C. Bush:

And what I loved about it is you talked about people and technology while putting people first. So can you share with the people some of the vision for the next 100 years, how you're going to do those two things that are going to affect their flying experience?

Ed Bastian:

Well, first of all, thank you, Michael. I apologize I couldn't be here with you at the session, but I am so excited for the recognition of the Delta people. It's all about people at Delta and Great Place To Work is I think the top benchmarking survey company strategy that all of us look to try to figure out how we can do better and what we can learn from each other to get better. And so having that level of recognition, that climb as you refer to, is really, really a great honor for the Delta people to receive. CES was amazing. Doing it at the sphere, 14,000 people launching our centennial year, first airline in the U.S. to turn a hundred and having that celebration was a thrill. It was a real honor for me to be able to deliver.

Ed Bastian:

As we talked about the next 100 years, for us, it's really building on all the things that got us to this point. First and foremost, it's always about people. Our founder, Mr. Woolman, in 1925, when he founded the company had a saying and he would go everywhere with it. “If you take care of your people, they will take care of your customers, who will reward you with their loyalty.” It goes in that direction. Most people today always start, it's about the customer. At Delta, we always start, it's about the people and the better job I do, taking my leadership team does taking care of our people, that frees them up to do what they're great at, which is serving and caring and providing that welcomed excellence that customers come to expect from Delta. And that just cascades over the decades and over the years, and we're going to use that as our secret sauce as we launch into this next decade. And that's what we talked about at CES. So technology is critical to our future. It's our lifeblood, but it has to be served by humans. It has to be served with the Delta Care and the Delta touch. And yes, there will be opportunities to continue to provide more technology efficiency, but it can never replace the individual.

Michael C. Bush:

A lot of people can say, put your people first, most say it quietly. They don't say it as boldly all the time like you do. And I just get a sense that because of your experiences, including some of the toughest moments in any CEO's history, that you learn some things through those that just enable you to like 10x your belief in that. So if you could share with our great people a couple of tough moments, how you got to the other side by putting people first.

Ed Bastian:

Sure. Well, we are in a tough industry. The airline industry, historically, it is very cyclical. It's not just our planes go up and down. Our business model goes up and down, as fuel prices go up and down or weather challenges in the geopolitical environment across the board. Almost anything that happens in the world somehow has some knock on effect to the airlines. And as a result of that, trying to drive consistency and throughput and stability in that turbulence, that's the challenge. And that's where our people make the difference. We didn't lay off a single employee during Covid. We were determined not to. Now we were financially healthy enough and we'd minded our financial discipline, our balance sheet. So we were able to raise $20 billion during Covid, but we were determined to do it differently. And by doing it differently, I reached back out to our employees, said, would you do something for the company?

Ed Bastian:

Would you take voluntary leaves of absence? And over half the people of the company, over 50,000 people took up to a year off without pay. We kept their benefits, we gave them some travel privileges, and the company immediately shrunk from like 75,000 down to 25,000 almost overnight. I had that idea and I shared it with the team, and even my team said, that's impossible. And they did it. They cared about this company. And then as the business came back, all those people came back to work for the company. So if you take care of your people, they'll do amazing things. They will take care of you. And we have emergency savings plans and financial wellbeing and wellness, which you're familiar with. We spoke together at Operation Hope with John Bryant this past December. There's so much power in putting people on stage. They're the stars of the show. I'm just the beneficiary of what they do, maybe the ringleader at times, but watching them take care of people, it brings tremendous value to us. And as a result of that, we were privileged this year to be named 11th most admired company by Fortune Magazine in the world. I mean, how does that happen, right?

Michael C. Bush:

Yeah. Well, you just explained it's your people. It's your people. So congratulations, Ed.

Ed Bastian:

Thank you, Michael, thank you for the work you do with us. It's a privilege to be able to be here with you on camera, and I look forward to being in person next year. We'll see you next year.