Visionary Executives Ed Bastian and Ken Frazier

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, is UCLA Anderson’s 2023 John Wooden Global Leadership Award recipient. Bastian was chosen in recognition of his visionary leadership of the nation’s oldest continuously operating airline. In a conversation with Ken Frazier, 2021 John Wooden Global Leadership Award honoree and former chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., Bastian expressed admiration for Coach Wooden’s confidence and power as a leader, while he still remained humble — the ultimate combination. Bastian has navigated Delta through the most challenging periods of its history, including 9/11 and bankruptcy, but he called the COVID-19 pandemic “the granddaddy of all of those crises.” Leading with values, Bastian did in 2020 what other airlines did not: He swore off furloughing and laying off employees. With his team, he persuaded half of Delta’s 100,000 employees to volunteer for leave with benefits but no pay, thereby saving hundreds of other jobs at Delta. Committed to the team culture, he offered employees a profit sharing agreement, which paid them back. Learn more about UCLA Anderson’s John Wooden Global Leadership Award: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/news-an... #WoodenAwards #deltaairlines #businessleadership