November 20, 2025 • 41 mins
Christian Muche sits down with Alicia Tillman, CMO of Delta Airlines, to pull back the curtain on what it takes to lead a century-old brand into its next chapter. From transforming loyalty beyond points to reimagining travel as a deeply human experience, Alicia shares how Delta is evolving into a lifestyle brand—while staying rooted in its soul—people. If you’re curious about how brands stay iconic and relevant, this one’s a must-listen.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Possible Now, Stories of Possibilities. I am Costermuchrol
Global President and COFOUNA and hosts of Possible Now, where
we explore bold ideas and meet the leaders who are
challenging convention and listen to the innovative inspirational minds reshaping business,
creativity and technology. They are leaders who manage brands, and
then there are those who redefine what a brand can mean.
(00:25):
Alisia Tillman belongs to the latter. She's led some of
the most respected global organizations through transformation from American Express
to SAP and now as Chief Marketing Officer of Delta Alliance,
one of the most iconic brands in the world. She's
been named one of the world's most influential seamhos five
times by Forbes, and this year was inducted into the
(00:47):
Forbes Simo Hall of Fame. But what's most striking about
Alisia isn't just her resume. It's the way she talks
about leadership, creativity, and purpose, not as buzzwords, but as
forces that move people. Under her guidance, Delta isn't just
celebrating its hundreds anniversary, it's reinventing what loyalty, experience, and
(01:07):
trust look like for the next one hundred years. From
bold cultural partnerships like the WNBA Power Forward campaign to
reimagining the airline app as a personalized travel companion, Alisha
is helping to transform Delta into something far bigger than
an airline, a human experienced brand, and today we are
diving into what it means to lead with purpose, to
(01:30):
build a culture that thrives on curiosity, and to find
growth not in comfort but in challenge. Alisha Tilman, Welcome
to Possible Now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Qustian, thank you so much. I am humbold by your introduction,
definitely blushing, but thank you. Thank you for having me
and I am looking forward to our conversation here together.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Absolutely absolutely. Let's get the important stuff out of our
way first. Alisha, are you a window seat, an aisle seat,
or a middle seed person?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I love it. I am an aisle seat person. Why
is that I'm probably gonna fear too much information because
I just get wrapped them in my mind if I'm
sitting in the window, that I have to go to
the bathroom the entirety of the flight, even if I
don't have to. So I'm always afraid of disturbing the
person next to me and having to wake them or
(02:23):
interrupt them as they're in their laptop. So I prefer
the convenience aspect of being able to get up and
down when I may need to.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I shall tell you what is exactly the same reason
why I would like to sit on an isild as well.
And also it's a kind of clausophobic feeling sometimes for me,
you know, if it's a really smaller plane, so we
are definitely in the same role then on the same seat.
Let's talk about you know what I've mentioned already in
my introduction, Delta just turned hundred years old, which is amazing.
But you already work for another brand, you know, American Express,
(02:55):
which I think it's also older than one hundred years old,
so you have some experience with those brands. So what
does it mean to your personally to be leading a
brand with such a history and still so much relevance.
Do you feel if it's an even bigger challenge or
burden or is it an even bigger motivation to lead
such a brand.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I would say it is a mix of all of
the above. Because an SAP certainly as well, it's over
fifty years old, Amex well over one hundred and fifty,
and then of course Delta this year celebrating one hundred.
And it's an interesting challenge which I also find incredibly
(03:34):
inspiring and motivating because one of the things that I
have always recognized and certainly how I've led in each
of these companies, is you have to have a tremendous
respect and appreciation for why you were founded. I often
say I do what a lot of executives don't typically
(03:55):
do when they first take on a new goal. But
I spend my immediate months looking backwards and going way
back to the founding or the origins of our existence
to understand why every company started with the vision, and
that's to either change something, create something, and prove something.
(04:18):
And there's always such a beauty in that story of
how a company was founded, and I spend a lot
of time working to understand that. And this one hundred
years that we're celebrating this year at Delta, it is
both a celebration of our paths and where we came
from and what we aimed to achieve in the world,
(04:41):
and also a look towards the future. I mean, one
hundred years, many of us will not be around for
the next one hundred years, certain leaning, which is sad
and crazy to think about, but at the same time
it's amazing to envision the difference of what aviation can
look like. And so it's just a balanced Christian it's
(05:02):
how do you preserve and how do you talk about
the past as almost this foundation for how we begin
to think about what the next one hundred years will
look like.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Can you think about Delta's soul that you feel must
never change despite all the evolution you know which the
brand went through, and of course currently as well, is
that something you would say, Okay, no, this has to
be there forever.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Beyond anything else. And we live in this world of
rapid technology growth. And one of the things that we've
said time and time again, and certainly when we stood
on the stage at the Sphere during CEES earlier this year,
we said, there is one thing that is at the
core of who we are, and it's our people. We
(05:49):
are in a service business, and we believe that it
is the one aspect of our brand that truly steps
us apart. You can feel the authenticity, the care, the
elevated experience that our people bring time and time again
to the five hundred thousand passengers that step on board
one of our aircraft each day.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Greet it with a smile, Greet it with a hello,
greet it with conversation, to learn about the stories that
people are bringing with them as they step on board
one of our brains. And it will never get old
to receive a letter from a customer who simply was
just amazed by the kindness and the level of service
that they've received from a Delta person. And that's everything Christian,
(06:34):
from someone they spoke without the phone, to someone who
greeted them at the gate, to the flight attendant that
helped them during their journey. It is no doubt what
has enabled us to lead with such strength that we
are able to sit at today, and it will be
what leads us into our next one hundred years as well.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That's amazing actually, you know because in such a complex
world and also business, being a customer as well, of
course you know if something goes wrong, because if you're
missing luggage or whatever, and then that counts more than ever, right,
how you were treated in those situations as well, I
totally agree. So you described Delta as a consumer experience
(07:20):
brand under your leadership this would mean the big shift
from the former loyalty model built on points and perks.
What does building loyalties who experience mean to you? Can
you provide some examples or one examples you know for listeners.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
We're living through a pretty significant transition in terms of
how consumers think about driving loyalty, meaning what is it
that they need from a brand today that will enable
them to come back time and time again. And look,
we just certainly remember the times when it was all
(07:58):
about the product. It was about the sophistication of your product,
it was about the consistency in the experience around your product,
and it was about how well your products stacked up
against your competition. Today it's almost as if that product
is table stakes. And so more and more we find
(08:21):
that this notion of experiences. And what do I mean
about that? Because I know a lot of people do
talk about experiences and that overall in the business of today,
and I talk about it in two ways. Obviously, when
you think about a travel journey, that in itself is
an experience, everything from booking a ticket to a riding
(08:42):
at the airport, to boarding a plane to your journey
on the plane. So then what happens after you complete
your journey. That in itself is an experience, and we
invest heavily in making sure that we are offering the
most premium experience and we've been at this for a
(09:02):
very long time, more so than any of the other
domestic airlines that are in our category, and we're very
proud of that. But beyond that, what we hear more
and more from customers today is they want to experience
our brand even beyond their travel journey. So, for example,
(09:24):
what are we taking them too? And in a lot
of cases, we're taking them to vacations, and we're taking
them to sporting events to spend time with friends or family.
There's loads and loads of things that we can list,
and they want to be able to see the brand
in those places as well. They want to see us
(09:44):
ardering with other brands that are helping to support either
their travel journey or where they're going, and so that's
led us to very unique partnerships that go beyond the
category of or travel. So, for example, are partnerships that
we've created and just announced with YouTube, which is exclusive
(10:08):
onboard content and access to all of what you do
pass to deliver for our partnership with Paramount Plus as
another example, to get exclusive content through what they're offering
and so content they want to see on and offer
claim and so we want to be able to make
that accessible. But then we also created what we call
(10:29):
sky Miles experiences and these are unbable, very exclusive experiences
and things like as we approach the holiday season, private
dance lessons with the radium, music hall rockets, or court
(10:49):
side seats at an LA Lakers game, things that would
take them into this destination space that they can use
their miles to be able to purchase these packages, expanding
what Ecosystem Christian is exactly what our customers are asking
for of us, and as we do that, it starts
(11:12):
to ridge our category into much more of a lifestyle
or a consumer experience brand that both our customers are
asking for and then also feels very nutural as an
extension for the business that we're in as well.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
That's a good point because you've mentioned already some recently
announced partnerships and you have another big and very important
partnership in place, which is the Power Forward campaign together
with the WNBA Stars. It's such a strong culture statement.
So how did you know this was the right story
to tell. How did you develop this?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's a great question and we are so proud. So
we're the official airline of the WNBA, and we are
the first airline to support a charter experience for these
athletes in the WNBA, which is equory fantastic. We really study,
and we spent a lot of time, as you can
only imagine, studying our customers, what their needs are, what
(12:13):
they're after. So a few things. Forty two percent of
WNBA fans have taken at least one round trip trip
biplane in the last twelve months. So think about that,
over forty two percent of travelers are WNBA fans. They're
also roughly a third of WNBA fans belong to a
(12:34):
frequent flyer program, so they're also loyalists. The other thing
when we look at organizations, we think about how can
we help them. We don't need to build our brands
right after one hundred years, we have a tremendous amount
of brand equity. But what we do want to do
is we want it deep in our brands exposure where
(12:56):
our customers are, and so our data tells us that
our customers are traveling to WNBA games. We also know
that the WNBA is really trying to build its awareness
and can benefit from one hundred years of brand equity
that we've built here at Delta. And then similarly, we
always look at organizations that have a shared sense of values,
(13:20):
driving towards excellence, relentlessly focused on connecting the world through
passion and interest, all the things that we taugh repeatedly
about at Delta. We also want to make sure that
we're finding organizations that speak the same and so when
we put all of those pieces together, we identify them
as not just a sports league, but it's really an experience.
(13:42):
It's an experience that by us becoming part of it,
it allows us to engage with our customers who are
also consumers of the WNBA, but doing it through what
is a much more combined platform when we think about
the bring together both of these organizations, and so that's
why it felt right and it felt very exciting for
(14:04):
us at the same time.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So this is all about the specific partnership. But are
there any reasons when you think about where to show
up in culture as a brand? Are you then guided
more by irrelevance, by reach by resonance or is it
all what you've already mentioned in regards to the WNBA partnership.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No, it's many things. Yeah, when we spend our time
really looking at our customer base, we do a lot
of understanding of the various customer segments that the research. So,
for example, if we look at the gen Z population
that is coming into the marketplace and beginning their send
journey right now, they are very attached to culture and
(14:45):
they're very attached to purpose. So they want to invest
in brands that feel like them, and they're attaching themselves
to things in culture that matter to them. So TV
shows Inflow and Serve celebrities like those are things that
really resonate. But at the same time, we find that
(15:05):
gen Z is also a very purpose trevent generation. They
care about the environment, they care about making a difference,
and so if we were to sort of just use
that as an example, we think about how do we
attract them to become a customer, but then also how
do we drive engagement and loyalty with them, And so
(15:26):
attaching ourselves to these cultural moments is something that we
absolutely focus on. We think about some of our social
posts from the summer in partnering with some of the
participants on Love Island or Jumping into the Summer I
turned pretty one of the biggest shows of the summer
(15:47):
for the gen Z population in particular. We posted about
that on social and some may say, well, what does
that have to do with selling airline tickets, But if
you actually look at the comments associated with us posts
stating about both of those cultural moments, we saw things
like this is why I fly Delta, This is why
Delta is going to be the next airline I choose
(16:09):
to like this is how you drive loyalty to me
and my generation because this is what I'm interested in.
So there's this paradigm shift in terms of what that generation,
as an example, is looking for from brands, and so
we're looking to jump on board. And then also one
of the things that we did this year as well,
(16:31):
we donate one percent of our net profits back into
our community every single year, and so we have over
six hundred organizations that we partner with in our communities,
organizations like Habitat for Humanity or ka Groom, and we've
now opened it up. Those used to be primarily volunteer
opportunities for Delta employees, but we've heard time and time
(16:55):
again from our customers that they would like to participate
in our unity efforts as well. So for the first
time this year, we opened up our community efforts for
Steymiles members to also join in helping to be part
of their communities through this effort that Delta is organizing
and that's all Christian. Based on what we've heard, these
(17:18):
are the assets we have and how do we think
about them differently to drive to our next customer will
be or drive that engagement that we're looking for amount
of customers as well.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Alicia, no conversation these days without talking about technology, and
I try to avoid AI specifically, but of course technology
is reshaping every corner of the travel experience and it
includes AI to personalization to the Delta app. I don't
know if you would agree if I say specifically about AI.
(17:50):
This is not really hard to understand, but it's hard
to talk about this clearly. I feel that that technology
in general moves faster than the language to describe it,
and which leads to misalignment and sometimes gives me, maybe
others as well as feeling you know, this is waste
of time. So when we think about tech innovation for
(18:11):
your industry and for delta, where do you spend most
of your attention and time to get up to speed
and to decide okay, this is relevant for us.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I have certainly made an investment in my team to
make sure that we have a group of technologists who
are in fact looking at the evolution of technology and
where it can best play a role for us in
our business. We have a great marketing technology team that
(18:42):
is constantly focused on this and where we think the
biggest opportunities for us. Certainly we live in this world
of AI, and what are some of the more immediate
use cases. We really see two ways in particular, Yeah
is process. How can AI work to help improve our
(19:04):
way of operating? How can it improve our speed to market?
How can it help blue the various integrated aspects of
our team together in a more cohesive way. So that's one,
and then the second is measurement, insight analytics, And I
think that on the second part that is so exciting.
(19:29):
We were one of the first companies to run a
pilot with a company called Alembic, which is the first
company to debut AI around measuring above the line marketing.
So if we think about our above the line marketing
it's often where the bulk of our budgets sit because
(19:53):
it's where our big media budgets, our awareness campaigns, etc.
It's also the most difficult I think the below the
line types of marketing investments that of what you're driving demand,
there is more attribution capabilities that exists to be able
to support measurement and impact and really understanding that journey
(20:15):
a bit more. But measuring the effect of awareness marketing
has often been a big challenge, and this is all
based on artificial intelligence and near real time opportunities, but
the ability to process large quantities of data in near
real time cadence to be able to look at a
(20:37):
variety of data sources to show the effect of media.
When we ran a pilot against our Olympic efforts last year,
we are Team USA official airlines, so for the Paris
Games to be able to show the effect, is there
any effect between these broadcast spots that we had premiering
(21:00):
all throughout the games on sales activity. We're people buying
tickets and so we were able to see that journey
of showing a broadcast spot and whether or not it
led to any type of a buying action, and it
did in fact, we showed millions of dollars of sales
(21:21):
that was being transacted on our digital platforms as these
broadcast spots were premiering, And to me, I think that
that is game changing. It's game changing to be able
to defend such large quantities of spend that we historically
haven't had an ability to. I think technology being able
(21:42):
to enable that I get so inspired and motivated by
and my team does as well, and so I think
embracing it to really tackle some of the things that
we just historically as marketers haven't had the ability to do.
That's exciting. But making sure Christian, you know, as we've
talked about, every technology has its pluses and minuses, and
(22:03):
so we also want to walk, we don't want to run.
We need to make sure that we're seeking to understand
first before we jump in, and so the process of
learning is very deep in my organization today. We've got
many use cases that are in the works, measurement analytics process,
(22:25):
which I feel very excited about because I do think
it can help us run faster and be more efficient
in the future, and we're running towards it for sure.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I've heard you talking about tech as a bridge between efficiency,
which you've just mentioned, but also in motion right. Is
there a recent innovation that actually made travel feel more human?
Maybe the recently launched generative AI powered virtual assistant as
it goes into the.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
We actually this week just released what we call our
Digital Concierge, and we released it to a small number
of our Skymiles members and we debuted it during the
Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. It's an agentic technology
(23:21):
that really works to anticipate opportunities to improve the travel experience. So,
for example, there's so many different aspects of a traveler's journey.
Imagine a world where you're in your home and you're
packing your suitcase, getting ready to travel to the airport,
(23:42):
and you get a message from the Delta concierge that says,
traffic is very heavy for your route to the airport.
It's going to take you forty five minutes longer than usual.
I have identified a joby which we have a partnership with,
(24:03):
which is a small aircraft that transports you to places
that you want to go to. We've identified a joby
for you that will get you to the airport in
fifteen minutes. Should I book this for you? Yes or no,
and then the traveler said yes, go ahead, and so
then next thing you know, that challenge was overcome. And
(24:25):
that's all because you have Delta Concierge that is anticipating challenges.
Or when you arrive at the airport and it says
there is a lot of congestion at this route through
the airport, I'm going to reroute your walking patterns to
save you five minutes on your transfer time. And then
(24:47):
all of a sudden, the GPS appears on your handheld
device to get you there in a faster method. And
that's the future of how this agentic capabilit is going
to work in the favor of our travelers to be
able to anticipate and help drive an even more seamless
(25:08):
travel experience, which I think is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I need immediate access to this new app experience because
you couldn't come up with a better experience. I'm sitting
here in our New York office. It's raining, like hell,
I hear it. The traffic stands still. I have to
go to JFK right after and I just received the
LA notification that my flight will be delayed by two
hours or more. So this exactly is a perfect example.
(25:34):
You are now in the c suite. For a long
time you was chief revenue officer, but most of the time,
if I'm right, chief marketing officer. What surprised you or
what impressed you most about moving from a marketing leader
role into the C suite? Was it the pressure? Was
it the power you could feel? Was it the additional
(25:55):
creativity you have access to? What is it?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Always say that I love the profession of marketing. The
early part of my career, I started in finance, was
part of a lot of merger and acquisition types of
activity early in my career, and led an acquisition of
my first company that I was at. And it was
really interesting sitting in that role, and when I was
(26:21):
sitting across the table from potential partners for our company,
potential acquirers of our company, bankers, lawyers, you name it, it
was really interesting to recognize that the single biggest thing
that could make our break a decision to invest or
(26:43):
even a decision on how much to invest, was how
well you had an ability to tell the story of
your company. And you could be the most brilliant person
and have created the most brilliant product. But if you
couldn't tell a story about that in terms of why
this product is needed, and who your target audience is,
(27:08):
and why this matters to them, and what it's going
to either change or improve for them, and why you
are differentiated from any brand who perhaps claims to do
the same thing. It could single handedly make or break
so much. And that is when Christian, As I went
through those first seven years of my career, I realized
(27:32):
the power of storytelling, and I also realized that that's
the career that I wanted, and so then began a
journey of my next twenty years. And I've had the
great privilege to move through the ranks of marketing and
being in the C level. What I've realized is what
(27:54):
I knew about marketing then is exactly what I know
about marketing today, and that is is we live at
the intersection of art and science. We talk about this
certainly as marketers. Budgets are getting smaller, and we have
to really demonstrate time and time again that marketing is
(28:15):
a true asset in the ability to grow our business
and grow our business by way of the customers that
we're trying to attract or the engagement and loyalty that
we're trying to create, and so when I use an
example of delta, you know, it's very easy for me
to say that I'm in the business of helping people
(28:37):
understand how well we enable our customers to get from
point A to point B. But to me, that's too simple, right,
I mean, obviously we need to do that, and we
need to do that well and consistently, time and time again,
and safely most importantly, but really my role is to
celebrate why they're going and where they're going. And every
(28:59):
person walk onto our plane with a story every day.
And you know, there's often a fair bit of convincing
at senior levels of why a story matters, because some
may think brand is expensive and do we need to
invest in it? And yes we do, and we need
to continuously do so. But it is because it's the
(29:20):
most powerful thing that we have. It's to remind people
that travel isn't about miles, it's about meaning. Brand isn't decoration,
it's strategy, and it's the difference between a company people
tolerate and a company people actively choose. And as marketers,
(29:43):
in my role, we give meaning to motion, we give
purpose to products, and we give humanity to business, and
that is my job. Living in the C suite. It's
less to convince those that I work with because everybody
gets that, But it's more how do you drive that
and how do you empower a marketing organization to deliver
that every single day?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
For me, that sounds like a perfect summary and description
how you live your job every day. But part of
this is, I mean for all of us, at some stage,
you have also moments of discomfort. And I've read an
article where you said you learn the most when you
feel uncomfortable. Let us know what you mean by that.
What's the recent moment you know that really pushed you
(30:26):
out of your comfort zone and where you get a
positive momentum out of this because of the learning factor.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Well, I mean, I think anytime you take on a
new role or you join a new company, it's uncomfortable.
You know. When I had the great privilege to become
part of Delta two and a half years ago, as
excited as I was, I also was uncomfortable because I
hadn't had years and years of experience in the industry
(30:58):
and Delta is one hundred your old brand, and whether
or not I could fit in and make a difference
I'm sure everybody can relate to having that feeling when
you take on a new role, no matter how excited
you are, I mean, there's also feelings that you have
of you know, am I the most qualified for this role?
(31:19):
And am I really going to be able to make
a difference. And luckily many of us are blessed to
have people in our corner that convince you that you
are that good or you can do it, and you
are a quick learner, and you love people and love
to learn from people, and those are all the attributes
(31:42):
that often a person needs to possess to get them
going from uncomfortable to comfortable. And it's interesting and even
when I say the word comfortable, I've always been a
believer too that the more comfortable you are, often the
more stagnant you often be. And I love to wake
(32:02):
up every single day thinking about what I can do differently,
how do I make this day different from yesterday. Every
day there's something we come across that makes us uncomfortable.
I think that that's just life. But I've always found
that when you're uncomfortable, if you push yourself and you
(32:24):
run towards it, that's when you're most learning and if
I put that as my lens to view discomfort in
a positive way, it helps bring that motivation and inspiration
to me to recognize and embrace discomfort. Look, we live
(32:46):
in a really, really complicated world, and every day it
feels like it's getting more complicated than less complicated. And
in some ways it's inspiring to me because the world
as it evolves can be uncomfortable, but to believe that
you can do something differently, And even as I think
about my role as a marketer as it relates to storytelling,
(33:08):
if we can help our passengers, our customers every day,
when our brand finds its voice and when purpose comes alive,
it feels like the world shifts and it starts to
become a little closer to what it could be. And
I think we have real power in that. And the
more we embrace discomfort and run towards it and think
(33:29):
about possibility, to me, that's what's always been a motivator
of mine.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
And at the end, there are moments you have to
go through these uncomfortable situation and then not just the learning,
but also when you made it through that provides a
good feeling, right, and also if it wasn't perfect in
this moment. It always provides you a sense of comfort,
you know when you made it when you look back.
(33:55):
What is one piece of advice you would give emerging
leaders that you wish someone had told you early in
your career. I'm sure you had mentors, advisors, people who
wanted the best for you and gave all the advice
of the world. But nobody can foresee the future all
the time, so maybe there was some missing pieces. What
(34:15):
would you give somebody as an emerging media what kind
of advice?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I think everybody comes into their careers with an incredible
level of energy and spark and belief in themselves and
excitement for what they can do. I spend a lot
of time with early graduates from school or those who
are about to graduate. We have a beautiful internship program
(34:43):
here at Delta, and it's often where I love spending
my time is talking with the kids that go through
this program or that are about to come into the marketplace.
And every single one of them has energy, they have sparked,
they have emotion. And I say this because someone very
early in my career said the same to me when
(35:05):
they saw my energy. Do not ever lose your spark,
don't lose your energy because the world is tough and
the world's in many ways going to try to take
that away from you, and that happens in many forms.
Knock you down, you fail, people don't help you up.
You got to help yourself up. There's hurdles, there's obstacles,
(35:29):
there's challenges, there's all of these forces that are going
to come at you. And life's not easy. But the
energy that you can maintain from within, do not ever
let anybody take that away from you. That is something
that someone told me twenty five years ago, and it's
(35:54):
what I carry with me every single day because I
think energy is infectious. I think energy is what leads
to innovation and passion, and I think the world needs
so much more than that. I think it helps you
to overcome obstacles, overcome discomfort. I think all of it
is just a source of just enabling you to believe
(36:15):
that you can do big things. And the more you
can cite to protect that, the more I think you
lead this life of happiness and being able to believe
that you can overcome anything. And so that's advice that
I got and it's advice that I love to pass
on and to share every single day to others that
(36:36):
are around me.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
That's great advice. And I'm sure many of our listeners
will take this away from this conversation. So may I
ask another personal question. Because we are all measured and
it's all about success when we do our jobs, et cetera,
what about you personally? How do you measure success for
your personally, not for Delta, but for yourself as a leader.
When do you go home and say that was not
(36:59):
just a good day, but you know that was a
successful day.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Well, I will tell you I am a proud wife
and a mom first beyond anything else, I live for
the happiness of my family. I live for the comfort
of my family, and I live to be a role
model for my family as well, especially my sixteen year
(37:24):
old daughter who when she was seven years old, I
witnessed her playing with her imaginary friends, as little kids
often do, and I realized that she had set up
a mock boardroom in her playroom and she was conducting
a meeting. And it was one of the most wonderful
(37:47):
moments because I said, she got that from her mom.
And I listened to how she was conducting this meeting
and talking with her team and with her business partners,
and I thought to myself, Okay, me being a leader,
I truly believe helps me be a better mom, and
(38:09):
me being a mom helps me be a better leader.
And I will tell you Christian that beyond anything that
we do at work, it's how do these all come together?
And do I work well enabling all of those things
in my life to coexist? Because if I can, then
(38:30):
I have this ability to just leave together the most
beautiful fabric on earth. And I work hard at that.
I work hard to be that role model at home
and in the office. And my ability to do that
when I go home every day and look, it's hard.
The juggle is fierce. It's real. I don't have it
(38:51):
figured out. But if I know that I was able
to help somebody at work one day, or if I
was equally able to help someone at home, to me,
that's the judge of a great day, and that's the
judge of success.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Awesome. Thank you for sharing this, Alicia. A final question
and if you would agree, I would like you to
finish this sentence. The future of travel will belong to brands.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
That the future of travel will belong to brands that
recognize that you have to build a product that caters
to people's emotions, and that the more emotional you are
as a brand, the more you will be relevant to
(39:37):
what our customers of today and tomorrow must expect.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
What a great summary for our conversation today, and I
feel we could go on and go on for hours
for sure. I hope you welcome you at Possible in April, Alicia.
This has been a masterclass and how to build brands
that fly higher, not just in market share, but also
in mean And this was all about our conversation from
(40:02):
reimagining loyalty as an experience. We talked about blending technologies,
combining with humanity, and you've shown us what it takes
to lead a century old brand into the next one
hundred years with curiosity, with courage, and with purpose. Thank
you so much for joining us here at Possible now,
Alsia Tillman, thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Christian, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Thanks for tuning in everyone once again. I'm your host,
Christian Mohre. If you have a question or suggestion to me,
reach out, send me the M on LinkedIn. If you're
courious to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsletter,
or if you want to join us at the Possible
Show in Miami, visit possibleevent dot com. Possible Now is
a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive producers
(40:51):
are Ryan Marx and Yasmin Melendez. Our supervising producer is
Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from our
programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Ketcoli.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This is Possible Now, Stories of Possibilities. I am Costermuchrol
Global President and COFOUNA and hosts of Possible Now, where
we explore bold ideas and meet the leaders who are
challenging convention and listen to the innovative inspirational minds reshaping business,
creativity and technology. They are leaders who manage brands, and
then there are those who redefine what a brand can mean.
(00:25):
Alisia Tillman belongs to the latter. She's led some of
the most respected global organizations through transformation from American Express
to SAP and now as Chief Marketing Officer of Delta Alliance,
one of the most iconic brands in the world. She's
been named one of the world's most influential seamhos five
times by Forbes, and this year was inducted into the
(00:47):
Forbes Simo Hall of Fame. But what's most striking about
Alisia isn't just her resume. It's the way she talks
about leadership, creativity, and purpose, not as buzzwords, but as
forces that move people. Under her guidance, Delta isn't just
celebrating its hundreds anniversary, it's reinventing what loyalty, experience, and
(01:07):
trust look like for the next one hundred years. From
bold cultural partnerships like the WNBA Power Forward campaign to
reimagining the airline app as a personalized travel companion, Alisha
is helping to transform Delta into something far bigger than
an airline, a human experienced brand, and today we are
diving into what it means to lead with purpose, to
(01:30):
build a culture that thrives on curiosity, and to find
growth not in comfort but in challenge. Alisha Tilman, Welcome
to Possible Now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Qustian, thank you so much. I am humbold by your introduction,
definitely blushing, but thank you. Thank you for having me
and I am looking forward to our conversation here together.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Absolutely absolutely. Let's get the important stuff out of our
way first. Alisha, are you a window seat, an aisle seat,
or a middle seed person?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I love it. I am an aisle seat person. Why
is that I'm probably gonna fear too much information because
I just get wrapped them in my mind if I'm
sitting in the window, that I have to go to
the bathroom the entirety of the flight, even if I
don't have to. So I'm always afraid of disturbing the
person next to me and having to wake them or
(02:23):
interrupt them as they're in their laptop. So I prefer
the convenience aspect of being able to get up and
down when I may need to.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I shall tell you what is exactly the same reason
why I would like to sit on an isild as well.
And also it's a kind of clausophobic feeling sometimes for me,
you know, if it's a really smaller plane, so we
are definitely in the same role then on the same seat.
Let's talk about you know what I've mentioned already in
my introduction, Delta just turned hundred years old, which is amazing.
But you already work for another brand, you know, American Express,
(02:55):
which I think it's also older than one hundred years old,
so you have some experience with those brands. So what
does it mean to your personally to be leading a
brand with such a history and still so much relevance.
Do you feel if it's an even bigger challenge or
burden or is it an even bigger motivation to lead
such a brand.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I would say it is a mix of all of
the above. Because an SAP certainly as well, it's over
fifty years old, Amex well over one hundred and fifty,
and then of course Delta this year celebrating one hundred.
And it's an interesting challenge which I also find incredibly
(03:34):
inspiring and motivating because one of the things that I
have always recognized and certainly how I've led in each
of these companies, is you have to have a tremendous
respect and appreciation for why you were founded. I often
say I do what a lot of executives don't typically
(03:55):
do when they first take on a new goal. But
I spend my immediate months looking backwards and going way
back to the founding or the origins of our existence
to understand why every company started with the vision, and
that's to either change something, create something, and prove something.
(04:18):
And there's always such a beauty in that story of
how a company was founded, and I spend a lot
of time working to understand that. And this one hundred
years that we're celebrating this year at Delta, it is
both a celebration of our paths and where we came
from and what we aimed to achieve in the world,
(04:41):
and also a look towards the future. I mean, one
hundred years, many of us will not be around for
the next one hundred years, certain leaning, which is sad
and crazy to think about, but at the same time
it's amazing to envision the difference of what aviation can
look like. And so it's just a balanced Christian it's
(05:02):
how do you preserve and how do you talk about
the past as almost this foundation for how we begin
to think about what the next one hundred years will
look like.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Can you think about Delta's soul that you feel must
never change despite all the evolution you know which the
brand went through, and of course currently as well, is
that something you would say, Okay, no, this has to
be there forever.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Beyond anything else. And we live in this world of
rapid technology growth. And one of the things that we've
said time and time again, and certainly when we stood
on the stage at the Sphere during CEES earlier this year,
we said, there is one thing that is at the
core of who we are, and it's our people. We
(05:49):
are in a service business, and we believe that it
is the one aspect of our brand that truly steps
us apart. You can feel the authenticity, the care, the
elevated experience that our people bring time and time again
to the five hundred thousand passengers that step on board
one of our aircraft each day.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Greet it with a smile, Greet it with a hello,
greet it with conversation, to learn about the stories that
people are bringing with them as they step on board
one of our brains. And it will never get old
to receive a letter from a customer who simply was
just amazed by the kindness and the level of service
that they've received from a Delta person. And that's everything Christian,
(06:34):
from someone they spoke without the phone, to someone who
greeted them at the gate, to the flight attendant that
helped them during their journey. It is no doubt what
has enabled us to lead with such strength that we
are able to sit at today, and it will be
what leads us into our next one hundred years as well.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That's amazing actually, you know because in such a complex
world and also business, being a customer as well, of
course you know if something goes wrong, because if you're
missing luggage or whatever, and then that counts more than ever, right,
how you were treated in those situations as well, I
totally agree. So you described Delta as a consumer experience
(07:20):
brand under your leadership this would mean the big shift
from the former loyalty model built on points and perks.
What does building loyalties who experience mean to you? Can
you provide some examples or one examples you know for listeners.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
We're living through a pretty significant transition in terms of
how consumers think about driving loyalty, meaning what is it
that they need from a brand today that will enable
them to come back time and time again. And look,
we just certainly remember the times when it was all
(07:58):
about the product. It was about the sophistication of your product,
it was about the consistency in the experience around your product,
and it was about how well your products stacked up
against your competition. Today it's almost as if that product
is table stakes. And so more and more we find
(08:21):
that this notion of experiences. And what do I mean
about that? Because I know a lot of people do
talk about experiences and that overall in the business of today,
and I talk about it in two ways. Obviously, when
you think about a travel journey, that in itself is
an experience, everything from booking a ticket to a riding
(08:42):
at the airport, to boarding a plane to your journey
on the plane. So then what happens after you complete
your journey. That in itself is an experience, and we
invest heavily in making sure that we are offering the
most premium experience and we've been at this for a
(09:02):
very long time, more so than any of the other
domestic airlines that are in our category, and we're very
proud of that. But beyond that, what we hear more
and more from customers today is they want to experience
our brand even beyond their travel journey. So, for example,
(09:24):
what are we taking them too? And in a lot
of cases, we're taking them to vacations, and we're taking
them to sporting events to spend time with friends or family.
There's loads and loads of things that we can list,
and they want to be able to see the brand
in those places as well. They want to see us
(09:44):
ardering with other brands that are helping to support either
their travel journey or where they're going, and so that's
led us to very unique partnerships that go beyond the
category of or travel. So, for example, are partnerships that
we've created and just announced with YouTube, which is exclusive
(10:08):
onboard content and access to all of what you do
pass to deliver for our partnership with Paramount Plus as
another example, to get exclusive content through what they're offering
and so content they want to see on and offer
claim and so we want to be able to make
that accessible. But then we also created what we call
(10:29):
sky Miles experiences and these are unbable, very exclusive experiences
and things like as we approach the holiday season, private
dance lessons with the radium, music hall rockets, or court
(10:49):
side seats at an LA Lakers game, things that would
take them into this destination space that they can use
their miles to be able to purchase these packages, expanding
what Ecosystem Christian is exactly what our customers are asking
for of us, and as we do that, it starts
(11:12):
to ridge our category into much more of a lifestyle
or a consumer experience brand that both our customers are
asking for and then also feels very nutural as an
extension for the business that we're in as well.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
That's a good point because you've mentioned already some recently
announced partnerships and you have another big and very important
partnership in place, which is the Power Forward campaign together
with the WNBA Stars. It's such a strong culture statement.
So how did you know this was the right story
to tell. How did you develop this?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's a great question and we are so proud. So
we're the official airline of the WNBA, and we are
the first airline to support a charter experience for these
athletes in the WNBA, which is equory fantastic. We really study,
and we spent a lot of time, as you can
only imagine, studying our customers, what their needs are, what
(12:13):
they're after. So a few things. Forty two percent of
WNBA fans have taken at least one round trip trip
biplane in the last twelve months. So think about that,
over forty two percent of travelers are WNBA fans. They're
also roughly a third of WNBA fans belong to a
(12:34):
frequent flyer program, so they're also loyalists. The other thing
when we look at organizations, we think about how can
we help them. We don't need to build our brands
right after one hundred years, we have a tremendous amount
of brand equity. But what we do want to do
is we want it deep in our brands exposure where
(12:56):
our customers are, and so our data tells us that
our customers are traveling to WNBA games. We also know
that the WNBA is really trying to build its awareness
and can benefit from one hundred years of brand equity
that we've built here at Delta. And then similarly, we
always look at organizations that have a shared sense of values,
(13:20):
driving towards excellence, relentlessly focused on connecting the world through
passion and interest, all the things that we taugh repeatedly
about at Delta. We also want to make sure that
we're finding organizations that speak the same and so when
we put all of those pieces together, we identify them
as not just a sports league, but it's really an experience.
(13:42):
It's an experience that by us becoming part of it,
it allows us to engage with our customers who are
also consumers of the WNBA, but doing it through what
is a much more combined platform when we think about
the bring together both of these organizations, and so that's
why it felt right and it felt very exciting for
(14:04):
us at the same time.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So this is all about the specific partnership. But are
there any reasons when you think about where to show
up in culture as a brand? Are you then guided
more by irrelevance, by reach by resonance or is it
all what you've already mentioned in regards to the WNBA partnership.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No, it's many things. Yeah, when we spend our time
really looking at our customer base, we do a lot
of understanding of the various customer segments that the research. So,
for example, if we look at the gen Z population
that is coming into the marketplace and beginning their send
journey right now, they are very attached to culture and
(14:45):
they're very attached to purpose. So they want to invest
in brands that feel like them, and they're attaching themselves
to things in culture that matter to them. So TV
shows Inflow and Serve celebrities like those are things that
really resonate. But at the same time, we find that
(15:05):
gen Z is also a very purpose trevent generation. They
care about the environment, they care about making a difference,
and so if we were to sort of just use
that as an example, we think about how do we
attract them to become a customer, but then also how
do we drive engagement and loyalty with them, And so
(15:26):
attaching ourselves to these cultural moments is something that we
absolutely focus on. We think about some of our social
posts from the summer in partnering with some of the
participants on Love Island or Jumping into the Summer I
turned pretty one of the biggest shows of the summer
(15:47):
for the gen Z population in particular. We posted about
that on social and some may say, well, what does
that have to do with selling airline tickets, But if
you actually look at the comments associated with us posts
stating about both of those cultural moments, we saw things
like this is why I fly Delta, This is why
Delta is going to be the next airline I choose
(16:09):
to like this is how you drive loyalty to me
and my generation because this is what I'm interested in.
So there's this paradigm shift in terms of what that generation,
as an example, is looking for from brands, and so
we're looking to jump on board. And then also one
of the things that we did this year as well,
(16:31):
we donate one percent of our net profits back into
our community every single year, and so we have over
six hundred organizations that we partner with in our communities,
organizations like Habitat for Humanity or ka Groom, and we've
now opened it up. Those used to be primarily volunteer
opportunities for Delta employees, but we've heard time and time
(16:55):
again from our customers that they would like to participate
in our unity efforts as well. So for the first
time this year, we opened up our community efforts for
Steymiles members to also join in helping to be part
of their communities through this effort that Delta is organizing
and that's all Christian. Based on what we've heard, these
(17:18):
are the assets we have and how do we think
about them differently to drive to our next customer will
be or drive that engagement that we're looking for amount
of customers as well.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Alicia, no conversation these days without talking about technology, and
I try to avoid AI specifically, but of course technology
is reshaping every corner of the travel experience and it
includes AI to personalization to the Delta app. I don't
know if you would agree if I say specifically about AI.
(17:50):
This is not really hard to understand, but it's hard
to talk about this clearly. I feel that that technology
in general moves faster than the language to describe it,
and which leads to misalignment and sometimes gives me, maybe
others as well as feeling you know, this is waste
of time. So when we think about tech innovation for
(18:11):
your industry and for delta, where do you spend most
of your attention and time to get up to speed
and to decide okay, this is relevant for us.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I have certainly made an investment in my team to
make sure that we have a group of technologists who
are in fact looking at the evolution of technology and
where it can best play a role for us in
our business. We have a great marketing technology team that
(18:42):
is constantly focused on this and where we think the
biggest opportunities for us. Certainly we live in this world
of AI, and what are some of the more immediate
use cases. We really see two ways in particular, Yeah
is process. How can AI work to help improve our
(19:04):
way of operating? How can it improve our speed to market?
How can it help blue the various integrated aspects of
our team together in a more cohesive way. So that's one,
and then the second is measurement, insight analytics, And I
think that on the second part that is so exciting.
(19:29):
We were one of the first companies to run a
pilot with a company called Alembic, which is the first
company to debut AI around measuring above the line marketing.
So if we think about our above the line marketing
it's often where the bulk of our budgets sit because
(19:53):
it's where our big media budgets, our awareness campaigns, etc.
It's also the most difficult I think the below the
line types of marketing investments that of what you're driving demand,
there is more attribution capabilities that exists to be able
to support measurement and impact and really understanding that journey
(20:15):
a bit more. But measuring the effect of awareness marketing
has often been a big challenge, and this is all
based on artificial intelligence and near real time opportunities, but
the ability to process large quantities of data in near
real time cadence to be able to look at a
(20:37):
variety of data sources to show the effect of media.
When we ran a pilot against our Olympic efforts last year,
we are Team USA official airlines, so for the Paris
Games to be able to show the effect, is there
any effect between these broadcast spots that we had premiering
(21:00):
all throughout the games on sales activity. We're people buying
tickets and so we were able to see that journey
of showing a broadcast spot and whether or not it
led to any type of a buying action, and it
did in fact, we showed millions of dollars of sales
(21:21):
that was being transacted on our digital platforms as these
broadcast spots were premiering, And to me, I think that
that is game changing. It's game changing to be able
to defend such large quantities of spend that we historically
haven't had an ability to. I think technology being able
(21:42):
to enable that I get so inspired and motivated by
and my team does as well, and so I think
embracing it to really tackle some of the things that
we just historically as marketers haven't had the ability to do.
That's exciting. But making sure Christian, you know, as we've
talked about, every technology has its pluses and minuses, and
(22:03):
so we also want to walk, we don't want to run.
We need to make sure that we're seeking to understand
first before we jump in, and so the process of
learning is very deep in my organization today. We've got
many use cases that are in the works, measurement analytics process,
(22:25):
which I feel very excited about because I do think
it can help us run faster and be more efficient
in the future, and we're running towards it for sure.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I've heard you talking about tech as a bridge between efficiency,
which you've just mentioned, but also in motion right. Is
there a recent innovation that actually made travel feel more human?
Maybe the recently launched generative AI powered virtual assistant as
it goes into the.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
We actually this week just released what we call our
Digital Concierge, and we released it to a small number
of our Skymiles members and we debuted it during the
Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. It's an agentic technology
(23:21):
that really works to anticipate opportunities to improve the travel experience. So,
for example, there's so many different aspects of a traveler's journey.
Imagine a world where you're in your home and you're
packing your suitcase, getting ready to travel to the airport,
(23:42):
and you get a message from the Delta concierge that says,
traffic is very heavy for your route to the airport.
It's going to take you forty five minutes longer than usual.
I have identified a joby which we have a partnership with,
(24:03):
which is a small aircraft that transports you to places
that you want to go to. We've identified a joby
for you that will get you to the airport in
fifteen minutes. Should I book this for you? Yes or no,
and then the traveler said yes, go ahead, and so
then next thing you know, that challenge was overcome. And
(24:25):
that's all because you have Delta Concierge that is anticipating challenges.
Or when you arrive at the airport and it says
there is a lot of congestion at this route through
the airport, I'm going to reroute your walking patterns to
save you five minutes on your transfer time. And then
(24:47):
all of a sudden, the GPS appears on your handheld
device to get you there in a faster method. And
that's the future of how this agentic capabilit is going
to work in the favor of our travelers to be
able to anticipate and help drive an even more seamless
(25:08):
travel experience, which I think is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I need immediate access to this new app experience because
you couldn't come up with a better experience. I'm sitting
here in our New York office. It's raining, like hell,
I hear it. The traffic stands still. I have to
go to JFK right after and I just received the
LA notification that my flight will be delayed by two
hours or more. So this exactly is a perfect example.
(25:34):
You are now in the c suite. For a long
time you was chief revenue officer, but most of the time,
if I'm right, chief marketing officer. What surprised you or
what impressed you most about moving from a marketing leader
role into the C suite? Was it the pressure? Was
it the power you could feel? Was it the additional
(25:55):
creativity you have access to? What is it?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Always say that I love the profession of marketing. The
early part of my career, I started in finance, was
part of a lot of merger and acquisition types of
activity early in my career, and led an acquisition of
my first company that I was at. And it was
really interesting sitting in that role, and when I was
(26:21):
sitting across the table from potential partners for our company,
potential acquirers of our company, bankers, lawyers, you name it, it
was really interesting to recognize that the single biggest thing
that could make our break a decision to invest or
(26:43):
even a decision on how much to invest, was how
well you had an ability to tell the story of
your company. And you could be the most brilliant person
and have created the most brilliant product. But if you
couldn't tell a story about that in terms of why
this product is needed, and who your target audience is,
(27:08):
and why this matters to them, and what it's going
to either change or improve for them, and why you
are differentiated from any brand who perhaps claims to do
the same thing. It could single handedly make or break
so much. And that is when Christian, As I went
through those first seven years of my career, I realized
(27:32):
the power of storytelling, and I also realized that that's
the career that I wanted, and so then began a
journey of my next twenty years. And I've had the
great privilege to move through the ranks of marketing and
being in the C level. What I've realized is what
(27:54):
I knew about marketing then is exactly what I know
about marketing today, and that is is we live at
the intersection of art and science. We talk about this
certainly as marketers. Budgets are getting smaller, and we have
to really demonstrate time and time again that marketing is
(28:15):
a true asset in the ability to grow our business
and grow our business by way of the customers that
we're trying to attract or the engagement and loyalty that
we're trying to create, and so when I use an
example of delta, you know, it's very easy for me
to say that I'm in the business of helping people
(28:37):
understand how well we enable our customers to get from
point A to point B. But to me, that's too simple, right,
I mean, obviously we need to do that, and we
need to do that well and consistently, time and time again,
and safely most importantly, but really my role is to
celebrate why they're going and where they're going. And every
(28:59):
person walk onto our plane with a story every day.
And you know, there's often a fair bit of convincing
at senior levels of why a story matters, because some
may think brand is expensive and do we need to
invest in it? And yes we do, and we need
to continuously do so. But it is because it's the
(29:20):
most powerful thing that we have. It's to remind people
that travel isn't about miles, it's about meaning. Brand isn't decoration,
it's strategy, and it's the difference between a company people
tolerate and a company people actively choose. And as marketers,
(29:43):
in my role, we give meaning to motion, we give
purpose to products, and we give humanity to business, and
that is my job. Living in the C suite. It's
less to convince those that I work with because everybody
gets that, But it's more how do you drive that
and how do you empower a marketing organization to deliver
that every single day?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
For me, that sounds like a perfect summary and description
how you live your job every day. But part of
this is, I mean for all of us, at some stage,
you have also moments of discomfort. And I've read an
article where you said you learn the most when you
feel uncomfortable. Let us know what you mean by that.
What's the recent moment you know that really pushed you
(30:26):
out of your comfort zone and where you get a
positive momentum out of this because of the learning factor.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Well, I mean, I think anytime you take on a
new role or you join a new company, it's uncomfortable.
You know. When I had the great privilege to become
part of Delta two and a half years ago, as
excited as I was, I also was uncomfortable because I
hadn't had years and years of experience in the industry
(30:58):
and Delta is one hundred your old brand, and whether
or not I could fit in and make a difference
I'm sure everybody can relate to having that feeling when
you take on a new role, no matter how excited
you are, I mean, there's also feelings that you have
of you know, am I the most qualified for this role?
(31:19):
And am I really going to be able to make
a difference. And luckily many of us are blessed to
have people in our corner that convince you that you
are that good or you can do it, and you
are a quick learner, and you love people and love
to learn from people, and those are all the attributes
(31:42):
that often a person needs to possess to get them
going from uncomfortable to comfortable. And it's interesting and even
when I say the word comfortable, I've always been a
believer too that the more comfortable you are, often the
more stagnant you often be. And I love to wake
(32:02):
up every single day thinking about what I can do differently,
how do I make this day different from yesterday. Every
day there's something we come across that makes us uncomfortable.
I think that that's just life. But I've always found
that when you're uncomfortable, if you push yourself and you
(32:24):
run towards it, that's when you're most learning and if
I put that as my lens to view discomfort in
a positive way, it helps bring that motivation and inspiration
to me to recognize and embrace discomfort. Look, we live
(32:46):
in a really, really complicated world, and every day it
feels like it's getting more complicated than less complicated. And
in some ways it's inspiring to me because the world
as it evolves can be uncomfortable, but to believe that
you can do something differently, And even as I think
about my role as a marketer as it relates to storytelling,
(33:08):
if we can help our passengers, our customers every day,
when our brand finds its voice and when purpose comes alive,
it feels like the world shifts and it starts to
become a little closer to what it could be. And
I think we have real power in that. And the
more we embrace discomfort and run towards it and think
(33:29):
about possibility, to me, that's what's always been a motivator
of mine.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
And at the end, there are moments you have to
go through these uncomfortable situation and then not just the learning,
but also when you made it through that provides a
good feeling, right, and also if it wasn't perfect in
this moment. It always provides you a sense of comfort,
you know when you made it when you look back.
(33:55):
What is one piece of advice you would give emerging
leaders that you wish someone had told you early in
your career. I'm sure you had mentors, advisors, people who
wanted the best for you and gave all the advice
of the world. But nobody can foresee the future all
the time, so maybe there was some missing pieces. What
(34:15):
would you give somebody as an emerging media what kind
of advice?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I think everybody comes into their careers with an incredible
level of energy and spark and belief in themselves and
excitement for what they can do. I spend a lot
of time with early graduates from school or those who
are about to graduate. We have a beautiful internship program
(34:43):
here at Delta, and it's often where I love spending
my time is talking with the kids that go through
this program or that are about to come into the marketplace.
And every single one of them has energy, they have sparked,
they have emotion. And I say this because someone very
early in my career said the same to me when
(35:05):
they saw my energy. Do not ever lose your spark,
don't lose your energy because the world is tough and
the world's in many ways going to try to take
that away from you, and that happens in many forms.
Knock you down, you fail, people don't help you up.
You got to help yourself up. There's hurdles, there's obstacles,
(35:29):
there's challenges, there's all of these forces that are going
to come at you. And life's not easy. But the
energy that you can maintain from within, do not ever
let anybody take that away from you. That is something
that someone told me twenty five years ago, and it's
(35:54):
what I carry with me every single day because I
think energy is infectious. I think energy is what leads
to innovation and passion, and I think the world needs
so much more than that. I think it helps you
to overcome obstacles, overcome discomfort. I think all of it
is just a source of just enabling you to believe
(36:15):
that you can do big things. And the more you
can cite to protect that, the more I think you
lead this life of happiness and being able to believe
that you can overcome anything. And so that's advice that
I got and it's advice that I love to pass
on and to share every single day to others that
(36:36):
are around me.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
That's great advice. And I'm sure many of our listeners
will take this away from this conversation. So may I
ask another personal question. Because we are all measured and
it's all about success when we do our jobs, et cetera,
what about you personally? How do you measure success for
your personally, not for Delta, but for yourself as a leader.
When do you go home and say that was not
(36:59):
just a good day, but you know that was a
successful day.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Well, I will tell you I am a proud wife
and a mom first beyond anything else, I live for
the happiness of my family. I live for the comfort
of my family, and I live to be a role
model for my family as well, especially my sixteen year
(37:24):
old daughter who when she was seven years old, I
witnessed her playing with her imaginary friends, as little kids
often do, and I realized that she had set up
a mock boardroom in her playroom and she was conducting
a meeting. And it was one of the most wonderful
(37:47):
moments because I said, she got that from her mom.
And I listened to how she was conducting this meeting
and talking with her team and with her business partners,
and I thought to myself, Okay, me being a leader,
I truly believe helps me be a better mom, and
(38:09):
me being a mom helps me be a better leader.
And I will tell you Christian that beyond anything that
we do at work, it's how do these all come together?
And do I work well enabling all of those things
in my life to coexist? Because if I can, then
(38:30):
I have this ability to just leave together the most
beautiful fabric on earth. And I work hard at that.
I work hard to be that role model at home
and in the office. And my ability to do that
when I go home every day and look, it's hard.
The juggle is fierce. It's real. I don't have it
(38:51):
figured out. But if I know that I was able
to help somebody at work one day, or if I
was equally able to help someone at home, to me,
that's the judge of a great day, and that's the
judge of success.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Awesome. Thank you for sharing this, Alicia. A final question
and if you would agree, I would like you to
finish this sentence. The future of travel will belong to brands.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
That the future of travel will belong to brands that
recognize that you have to build a product that caters
to people's emotions, and that the more emotional you are
as a brand, the more you will be relevant to
(39:37):
what our customers of today and tomorrow must expect.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
What a great summary for our conversation today, and I
feel we could go on and go on for hours
for sure. I hope you welcome you at Possible in April, Alicia.
This has been a masterclass and how to build brands
that fly higher, not just in market share, but also
in mean And this was all about our conversation from
(40:02):
reimagining loyalty as an experience. We talked about blending technologies,
combining with humanity, and you've shown us what it takes
to lead a century old brand into the next one
hundred years with curiosity, with courage, and with purpose. Thank
you so much for joining us here at Possible now,
Alsia Tillman, thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Christian, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Thanks for tuning in everyone once again. I'm your host,
Christian Mohre. If you have a question or suggestion to me,
reach out, send me the M on LinkedIn. If you're
courious to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsletter,
or if you want to join us at the Possible
Show in Miami, visit possibleevent dot com. Possible Now is
a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive producers
(40:51):
are Ryan Marx and Yasmin Melendez. Our supervising producer is
Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from our
programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Ketcoli.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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