Ed Bastian quotes: the Delta head honcho drops some game.
“The future is just beginning.”
“You can’t figure out where you’re going unless you know where you came from.”
“There is a focus. We touch the world; we connect the world.”
“The world is moving fast. We need to be more dynamic.”
“I say you have to grow. You’ve got to take scale, you’ve got to provide new opportunities for your people and your customers.”
“I think growth is really at the core of what it takes to be a great a company.”
“Trust is incredibly important. It takes years of working together to build that level of experience and trust within an organization and you need to bake it into your DNA at every level.”
“If I’m giving my team the tools to do their job, supporting them in what they do, and always listening to their feedback, I’m fulfilling the highest obligations as a leader. Our greatest achievements come when we craft our strategy, position our people to be successful and then let them do what they do best: take care of our customers.”
“Surround yourself with great people and put them first. If you get that part right, you can accomplish anything.”
“My schedule is based around our people, which occupies an enormous part of my time. One of the most important things, if not the most important thing I do, is spend quality time with our people—not just at the management level, but with our frontline personnel.”
“My most important role has been to take care of our people, so that they can continue to take great care of our customers.”
“It really starts by putting the people that you work with, that you affiliate with and the values that you carry in common to work.”
“Put your people at the foundation of what you do. We call it the ‘virtuous circle.’ When you take care of your employees, they will take great care of your customers, who then reward you with their business and loyalty. Every major business decision is based on that philosophy, and it has been very successful for us.”
“That’s where the loyalty in business starts; by providing customers what they really need: dependable, reliable service. So loyalty is the right thing to do to take care of customers. And they in turn do the right thing by rewarding us with their loyalty and their business.”
“When you put money in people’s pockets for what they’re doing, that helps.”
“We have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of our customers, every day.”
“Let customers lead the way.”
“This is not just a job. This is a passion. Connecting people, connecting the world, making a difference. How many jobs can say I made the world better today? We do that every single day.”
“I think when you think about the reason why people are traveling, is that they’re more adventurous, they will explore the internet, social media. Our society now has more awareness of what’s going on around them than any time in our past.”
“While we are encouraged by the progress we are making, we are still in the early stages of our turnaround efforts. We need to remain focused to ensure flawless execution of all elements of our business plan.”
“We have a variety of tools to share; values among our people, including a booklet called Rules of the Road. But most importantly, we work hard to hire people who already are steeped in these values so we know they will fit in with our culture on their very first day.”
“We look for the best of the best—those who have strong skills and experience but also those who we know will be a good fit. If someone is brilliant at their job but doesn’t fit our values or culture, they won’t be successful here.”
“Once you are committed to bringing everyone forward in an equitable manner, I don’t think there’s another path.”
“Crises don’t build character, they reveal character. And these ongoing crises have revealed the strength, the power of strong leadership and the importance of a values-led culture.”
“This year has been the biggest challenge of our careers. It’s been really, really hard. Brutal. But for myself personally, I look at it as a real honor to be in the position of leading this company through it.”
“The experience taught me to move fast during a crisis and to focus on protecting the company’s workforce and liquidity.”
“I’ve been accused of being optimistic.”
“Leadership is not a popularity contest. You’ve got to make tough decisions, got to look at the cold facts at times, you’ve got to give people information they don’t want to hear, and you have to be able to separate your personal emotion from your business. If you’re a good leader, you’re going to be liked, you’re going to be loved. But you don’t start there.”
“We can teach people about the airline business, but you can’t teach people to serve unless they have a real passion for it.”
“I grew up in a large family in upstate New York and my mom was always my hero in life. I was one of nine kids, and she taught us the importance of character, the importance of being true to one’s word and taking good care of each other. And she was a role model in our family for doing that. As a result of that, the confidence that she instilled in me that by doing things the right way, by looking where you can bring value, will create value for you in ways you don’t even begin to understand was something she always taught us at a very young age. I really attribute that to her.”
“My mother is my leadership hero, there’s no question about that. She never was a business person. She taught me everything I needed to know about business.”
“I do find that I’m regularly recommending the classic text on business and leadership, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, to my colleagues who haven’t read it. It has some great lessons and case studies that can apply to almost any organization.”
“If I wasn’t a chief executive I’d be a baseball player. I grew up thinking I could be a baseball player. I could field really well; I couldn’t hit. I got as far as high school and realized I wasn’t going to make any money doing this.”
“People are ready to reclaim their lives.”
“I remind our team all the time that because of the pandemic, more than ever, it causes everyone to reflect on purpose and what we do and the importance of what we do. This is very difficult on all of us on so many different dimensions. Our world has never needed our leadership more than it does right now.”
“And this is our moment to show up and to stand up and be the force for change, the force for good in society, because people are paying attention. And because the world has slowed down a little bit, the world can hear and see more than they could in the past. It’s our time to really let the values and the character shine through the darkness of these days. And we’re going to come out of this in a much, much better, much more resilient way because of that.”
“As we recover, we hope to be more resilient and more appreciative of the life around us and the meaningful work we all do for each other.”
“There are still challenges ahead, but I remain incredibly hopeful and expect 2021 will be a year of reconnection with the people and places we love.”
“Please continue to take all necessary steps to keep yourself, your family and your community safe and healthy.”
“Keep climbing.”
