When Allison Ausband was a rookie flight attendant, she found herself growing frustrated with a customer in seat 4B. The woman was curt, demanding, and impossible to please. Moments later, Allison learned that the plane was carrying the woman’s deceased son in the cargo hold. “It hit me at that moment,” she said, “that every person who crosses the threshold of our plane is on a journey. It might be their worst day, it might be their best day.”
That moment became a lesson in emotional intelligence (EQ) that Ausband has carried with her for more than 40 years, rising from flight attendant to E.V.P. and Chief People Officer at Delta Air Lines. Her learning from that day reflects a truth researchers have confirmed: employees with higher emotional intelligence deliver better, more empathetic customer experiences.
Why Caring Is a Core Value at Delta
Delta’s culture of caring begins on every employee’s first day, known internally as their “birthday” or “B-day.” The onboarding program introduces Delta’s four core values—integrity, resilience, care, and servant leadership—alongside their brand behaviors—welcoming, caring, and elevated. Notice that “caring” is the only word to appear on both lists.
“For a hundred years, caring has been the foundation of who we are,” Ausband explained. “It’s how we treat our customers. And it’s how we treat each other.” She likes to remind new hires of founder C.E. Woolman’s philosophy: anyone can buy the same aircraft or serve the same meal, but no one can replicate Delta people.
EQ in Action: Programs That Build Empathy
For Delta’s more than 100,000 employees, emotional intelligence is practiced daily, from the gate to the flight deck to the corporate office.
Managers begin with L365, a leadership workshop built around Delta’s core values. The focus is simple: turn those values into on-the-job behaviors. “Not everything can be in a rule book,” Ausband says. “You have to make decisions based on values and what you know is right for the customer and our people.”
Delta brings this philosophy to life through a series of creative and unconventional programs. One standout is Delta’s Team Playbook with Tom Brady, a digital learning series created with the seven-time world champion that covers teamwork, empathy, and inclusion. The modules are made available to every employee with separate tracks for leaders and individual contributors and pair sports metaphors with lessons in communication and composure under pressure.
Frontline teams also receive ongoing de-escalation training, where they learn to manage tense emotions, maintain eye-level connection, and know when to call in Delta’s iconic Red Coats, a specially trained support team in red jackets. In their Behind the Wings program, corporate employees including senior leaders volunteer at airports to help check in customers or move bags. “It’s our ‘walk-a-mile-in-your-shoes’ program,” Ausband says. “It builds empathy for both our employees and the customers we serve.”
Each initiative looks different in practice, but all share a single aim: To learn emotional intelligence by doing.
Recognizing and Reinforcing Care
Rather than leaving “caring” as a poster on a wall or a slide in a training deck, Delta reinforces and recognizes care daily and at every level.
The Unstoppable Together Platform: Employees can use their Unstoppable Together platform to send digital thank-yous to peers who exemplify Delta’s values. Those gestures add up to real rewards, from Apple AirPods to hotel stays. “It’s about putting chips in the bank,” Ausband says. “You build trust with every act of care.”
The Chairman’s Club Honor: Each year, Delta honors its top 100 employees through the Chairman’s Club, a peer-nominated recognition program that celebrates those who live the company’s values every day. Winners walk the red carpet in Atlanta, attend a gala at the Delta Flight Museum, and even deliver a new Airbus aircraft from France, flown home by Delta leaders who serve them on board.
Signature Velvet Events: Delta holds 15 large-scale meetings annually that extend recognition across the workforce. Employees fly in from across the world to connect, share stories, and hear directly from CEO Ed Bastian and the executive team. During each event, Bastian recognizes an employee on stage for an extraordinary act of empathy or service. Ausband recalls one Delta gate agent who had learned that a frequent flyer of Delta needed a kidney transplant. After weeks of seeing him struggle, she got tested and donated her kidney to him. “You can’t write that in a policy manual,” Ausband says. “That’s who our people are.”
From small gestures to life-changing acts, Delta’s obsession with caring fuels something deeper: resilience.
Why Emotional Intelligence is Foundational to Resilience
Despite being in an industry known for change, and being in it for 100 years, Delta has kept one thing steady: its commitment to people. And the research backs this approach, showing that emotional intelligence is linked to greater resilience, improved stress management, stronger teamwork, and better decision-making.
Their people-first mindset is reflected in the company’s open-door policy: Employees can come to any leader at any level with suggestions or concerns, including CEO Ed Bastian, who keeps his email open to every employee. As Ausband puts it, “Life is all about relationships. If you’re people-first, you start by listening.”
Even as the company embraces artificial intelligence to streamline operations and personalize customer experiences, Ausband says the goal is never to replace human connection. “AI should free our people to build deeper relationships,” she explains. “It has to fit our mission and culture.”
The Human Engine Behind a Century of Flight
Delta’s people-first philosophy, carried out one caring act at a time, proves that emotional intelligence drives tangible results. It’s a competitive advantage measured in caring, resilience, and customer loyalty.
