Blogs from the Corner Office – Delta Air Lines
By Beth Johnston, senior vice president of human resources

SUCCESS IN THE C-SUITE DEMANDS NOT SPENDING ALL YOUR TIME THERE
Posted on January 10, 2008

I recently joined the inaugural flight to Lagos, Nigeria. It's an 11-hour flight from Atlanta to Lagos and almost 13 hours back home. We spent 26 hours on the ground meeting customers, governmental officials and airport personnel, and I got to spend 24 hours with the same crew, as my flight schedule matched their rotation.

When the opportunity for the trip came up, it was hard to say "yes." Two full days out of the office meant more work on the back side. But staying connected to the pulse of the company, I have found, requires being in the operation, maintaining a link to the day-to-day business and touching the people who touch the customer. Doing that often requires leaving the comfort (or chaos) of a chief officer's life behind.

Leaving the C-suite builds and sustains my gut capability to understand the current concerns of employees, the realities of the operation and the customer's perspective of who we are. Only then can I return to the C-suite with a realistic point of view, allowing me to trust my gut – or internal gyroscope, as I like to call it. I don't how many of you rely on your internal gyroscope, but over my 30 years in business, experience has taught me to trust it again and again. Clearly it cannot replace the facts and hard data I use in decision-making, but I don't typically reach the best decision without listening to it.

On this trip, I heard from local community leaders that they had serious doubts about Delta's long-term commitment to the Lagos market, and some had doubted we would ever arrive. Without making time for this trip, I would have missed out on gaining this important perspective that happens to be quite contrary to our desire to grow flights in this market. The field operations and local sales team were passionate about maintaining our presence to support future growth, even though hard data might have suggested slowing down frequency for a short time. Upon my return, I spoke with the network executive responsible for our market decision and shared the personal contacts, perspective and information I gathered. Sharing information that was not plainly apparent in the C-suite made the whole trip worthwhile. By the way, since the landing of the first flight, point of sales in Nigeria have grown by more than 1,000 percent. That commitment is paying off.

Spending time with the flight crew also gave me information to take back to the C-suite. Experiencing the operation with the people who deliver the service gave me an insight to blend with the data we use to make decisions that impact our customers and employees. For example, the pasta dish wasn't appealing to the native flyers on this flight. "Africans don't eat pasta," some of our passengers told us.

This trip once again reminded me that spending time out of the C-suite is critical to maximizing my value when I'm there.

Beth Johnston is senior vice president of human resources for Delta Air Lines.

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