ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2021 - 14

PERSPECTIVES
for our commercial business, Stan and
his team are spending a lot of time
with customers thinking about what's
the next iteration of product offering
that's going to help the customers, the
airlines, win in their business. Getting
that right will also go a very long way
to our positioning in the marketplace.
At the enterprise level, our discipline
and our energy are around this
capability mindset and ensuring that
we lead with a capability mindset, and
that we have the winning capabilities
in place even before we launch the
next product.
Jetrader: For young people, and
especially those from diverse
backgrounds, considering going
into aviation, what advice would you
give them for how to approach their
careers in what has traditionally
been a very white, maledominated
industry?
MA: The advice that I give is to just
jump right in. It's easy to get caught up
in the reality of barriers. There will be
barriers, but you just can't get caught
up in the reality of it. You've just got
keep your eye on the road; you've got
to drive. And then what will happen
is you'll find that the passion of the
business and your own commitment to
excellence and hard work will pull you
further than you could ever believe, at
which point you have a real opportunity
harder to break out of the rut of my
own homogenous network, because
we all have a homogenous network -
wherever we are, wherever we come
from; we all do. So, I have to work
harder, we all have to work harder, to
break out of the comfort zone of our
If we want to be a continuous learner, we have to
be a continuous listener. And curiosity is something that
just speaks for itself - inside of an organization, inside
of a team, and it's always rewarded by growth.
and responsibility to be part of the
continued improvement of the industry
through the attraction, motivation and
retention of diverse talent.
I've described it before as being
a heat-seeking missile for talent. You
just can't build a great team if you
haven't built a diverse team for the
simple reason that there are all kinds
networks and go find talent wherever
it is and bring it in. Probably the most
important ingredient to success is that
we have to be incredibly good listeners,
marked with just huge levels of
curiosity. Listening is how we learn. If
we want to be a continuous learner, we
have to be a continuous listener. And
curiosity is something that just speaks
for itself - inside of an organization,
inside of a team, and it's always
rewarded by growth.
to instead really focus on the work
and your contribution. I think if you do
that, if you adopt a bit of a conscious
obliviousness to the barriers, you'll find
yourself even more successful. If you
focus on the barriers, it's like staring
at the windshield instead of staring at
the road in front of you. You've got to
14 * THE OF F I C I AL PUBL I CAT I ON OF ISTAT
of talented people all over the universe
who are every shade of color, every
gender, and every cultural, ethnic
background. If your whole team looks
the same, you have to assume that
you're not actually looking everywhere.
So, to me, as a hiring manager, the
most important thing is to just work
Jetrader: Any final thoughts?
MA: We have to get international
travel going again. We have to get
the world opened back up. It's going
to require the governments working
with one another to do that. The G7
this past June was the first, right step
for our industry. But we need all of
us with a continuing, collective voice
to talk about the confidence we can
have in air travel. Our Confident Travel
Initiative has invested a lot of time and
resources with partners across the
industry, universities and governments
demonstrating how incredibly safe
travel in the airplane is amid any
COVID-19 concerns. We've got to tell
that story collectively as an industry, to
our families, to ourselves - we've got
to get the world moving again.
ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2021

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