JESSICA TYLER, VICE
PRESIDENT, STRATEGY
AND DEVELOPMENT,
AMERICAN AIRLINES CARGO
“I’ve only been in the industry
seven years, but seven years
is long enough for me to see
some patterns. I feel really
good about American Airlines
and what we do around
diversity. We have very specifi c
leadership in place thinking
about our strategy around
that. And it’s not just about a
corporate strategy, it’s part of
our DNA as a global airline:
our whole world exists to help
people on their life’s journey
and every one of us is different,
has different values and comes
from different backgrounds.
“Saying that, seven years
ago when I stepped in to this
world from a very different,
progressive industry, it was
a shock to me, to sit in a
meeting of 50 people and be
one of two women. I didn’t
used to notice things like
that – I was surrounded by
people of all different shapes,
sizes, colours, genders, ethnic
backgrounds, everything.
“Since then I’ve had the
pleasure of being in our
international development
programme. I serve as a
steering committee member
internally on how to identify
and develop rising stars from
our frontline team members
around the world. It started
out as an international female
development programme,
but it was so successful that
we dropped the ‘F’. It became
about developing diverse talent
from anywhere that we needed
to invest in and provide
support and sponsorship for
within American.
“Diversity to me is not
about quotas and numbers
of a certain race or gender,
it’s about whether you have diversity of thought around a table.
It really needs to be about making sure you have perspectives
represented.”
Tyler says she sees evidence of efforts to put female leaders
in front of audiences at industry events. “There’s defi nitely
recognition at an industry level that we need to be identifying,
developing and holding up female leaders to show it’s possible.”
More women are found in front of house, operational roles
now, rather than just in marketing and HR roles as has been
the custom, she continues. “We had some new leadership
opportunities within cargo in the last six months or so and just
named two female leaders for our Phoenix operation and our LA
operation. Out of three openings, two were fi lled with females.
I think if you look at our leadership team, there’s always been a
fairly good balance of females, but I think we have a long way to
go – in general, not just in our industry.”
Tyler stresses that it’s not just about a male/female imbalance
but about perspectives, and different age groups are also important
to achieving true diversity of thought. “I read an article about a
university that has kept two spots on its Board of Directors for
recent graduates. I think age is another huge gap in leadership.
You have huge gaps in perspective if you are not listening to
certain generational groups.”
While there are still no women at the CEO-level for cargo
airlines the industry is on the upward trend, and efforts to address
this imbalance are apparent, she concludes.
“And I’m not just speaking about gender. When I look at
American’s leadership we are really represented by global talent
and global perspective. And I think it’s healthy for us to be
looking at those things all the time. Adapt or die. If you’re not
listening to all the voices that matter to being relevant, you’re not
going to last long. While there’s a lot of positive energy going into
this, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
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