Delta CMO Alicia Tillman explains how learning more about Delta's history and company culture guided her in her role, and in her strategy for the brand, Tillman was intervewed at Cannes Lions 2024.
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00:00So the company's been around for 99 years and so you can imagine the richness of the culture that exists.
00:13The best advice I got when I first started in my role with Delta was to take my time.
00:22And oftentimes when you come into an executive role, that's sort of the last bit of advice you get.
00:27Often it's think fast, operate fast, and really start to make your mark.
00:33And the advice I got was opposite.
00:36And so at first it sort of took me back for a bit.
00:40But then when I really unpacked the true meaning behind that,
00:45any great brand in the world is steeped in a beautiful culture.
00:50A culture that has often taken years and years to build and nurture.
00:57And Delta, we're about to celebrate our centennial anniversary next year.
01:03So the company's been around for 99 years and so you can imagine the richness of the culture that exists.
01:11And that's not something that you can learn overnight.
01:14And you need to learn it because while you're typically brought into a company because they want some outside perspective
01:22and there's generally a feeling that they want to evolve something or try something new,
01:29you have to do that out of great respect for the culture of the company.
01:33And the only way that you can build something meaningful enough
01:39so that it attaches itself to the culture is to spend the time to really immerse yourself in it.
01:44And so I spent the better part of the first half of my tenure over the first year
01:50really going deep to understand the legacy of the company,
01:55what our customers value the most from our brand, and what makes our people so good.
02:01Time and time again when I tell people that I work for Delta,
02:05immediately people respond with just a great service interaction that they had with one of our Delta people.
02:12And I wanted to spend the time to really get underneath that some more.
02:16And so that's the greatest advice that I've had that I'd pass on to anyone who is starting a new role.
02:24Don't run too fast because you want to make sure that when you do start to go fast,
02:31you're doing it in unison with what makes that company so great.
02:36Because those are not the things that you want to change.
02:40You want to help to punctuate that even more and also think about how to even capitalize it even further.
02:48And so really taking the time to learn and immerse yourself in all the things that are great about your company
02:54and figuring out how best to support that, that's the best way you can think about.
02:58And certainly how I did when I started my new role at Delta.