Featured Insights
The Latest Operator Insights
-
Larry Culp’s Grey Matter: Prioritizing Focus Over Synergy
-
Scott Strazik | CEO, GE Vernova
Shaping The Future of Global Energy
-
Ed Bastian | CEO, Delta Air Lines
Personalizing The Passenger Journey at 30,000 Feet
-
Sir Sajid Javid | Senior Advisor
How Global Business Can Excel Given Shifting International Norms
-
Heidi Andersen | Senior Managing Director
How AI is Rewiring the Enterprise
-
John Herlihy | Executive Chairman, Consello Ireland
How the Best Organizations Design for Speed From the Inside Out
-
Elaine Coughlan | Senior Advisor
Getting Ahead of the Next Technology Evolution
-
Alice Breeden | Managing Director, Consello Talent
Cultivating Your Leadership Ecosystem for Today and the Future
Grey Matter: Inside the Minds of the People Who Move the World
Ed Bastian: CEO, Delta Air Lines
The Grey Matter That Redefined an Industry
Ed Bastian embodies a rare kind of leadership, the ability to balance empathy with a deep sense of conviction when the stakes couldn’t be higher. In 2005, he stood alone in bankruptcy court when 180 airlines had filed before him and only a few survived.
At the height of COVID, with Delta’s business literally grounded, he refused to furlough a single employee. He blocked middle seats for over a year because protecting his people mattered more than the economics.
Under his leadership, Delta is now the most admired airline in the world. As Ed said himself, it’s not just a byproduct of their planes or technology, it’s because of a culture obsessed with taking care of its employees, knowing they’ll take care of their customers.
This conversation is about what happens when leaders trust something deeper than data or convention and how the hardest moments don’t build character, they reveal it.
