How CEO Ed Bastian Is Transforming DEI at Delta Air Lines

In December 2020, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and his leadership team were deciding whether or not to commit to recruiting, hiring, training, and advancing one million Black Americans into stable, well-paid jobs over the next decade, as part of the OneTen coalition. But if Delta joined, Bastian faced a key challenge: how could he make the airline truly inclusive and create systemically equal access to career opportunities?

In this episode from 2023, Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill explains how Bastian shifted Delta’s talent architecture to prioritize skills over four-year degrees and how he created new apprenticeship programs to recruit entry-level employees.

Hill studied Bastian’s efforts to transform Delta for a case study. She also explains why Bastian prioritized front-line employees for internal promotions, instead of recruiting new talent externally.

Key episode topics include: leadership, hiring and recruitment, diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility, airline industry, talent, recruiting, career.

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· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Building a More Equitable Culture at Delta Air Lines (2023)

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