12 Dec Highlighting Ethiopian Airlines and Its Corporate Culture

I recently produced a short video highlighting the extraordinary corporate culture of Ethiopian Airlines (ET) that enabled it to become Africa’s #1 Airline. Since then, I have gotten some feedback that drew my attention. Let me share two:

1. Most Ethiopians don’t know the full story of ET. In the clip, I shared a couple of historical decisions that saved the airlines from staying mediocre or even crippled. Sadly, these and many other intriguing stories aren’t known to the general public.

2. Many customers of ET don’t see it as an agile and innovative multinational corporation. They seemed surprised when I shared that ET is one of the global companies I use as an example whenever I talk about adapting to change and creating a robust culture to improve performance, collaboration, and creativity. Many have the image of an airline with clean offices and beautiful hostesses alone. Though these are true, few recognize ET as a New Spirit of Africa that functions like a well-oiled machine because of its unique and vibrant corporate culture.

Two things I’d like to suggest humbly:

1. The current leadership of ET should consider profiling the company’s history and highlight its corporate culture, especially those that aren’t known by the public. Yes, on ET’s website, there is a history page. However, it’s not complete. A few MILESTONES in the 40s and then the latest milestones in recent years. Rather than sharing what it has DONE and ACHIEVED alone, why not share some STORIES to give the public and its African and global customers and fans the full and colorful picture of ET?

2. We should all be thankful to all past and current ET leadership. We’ve to honor not just national heroes/heroines who fought for the country’s freedom. But we should also celebrate the heroes/heroines who are winning in the corporate world (where the new and crucial battles are waged in the 21st C) by raising the image of Ethiopia and Africa. We shouldn’t just honor them, though. We should tap into and leverage their insights and wisdom to duplicate the same success they’ve achieved in the aviation industry to other industries so that we could create more multinational companies in various sectors that serve the Horn, Africa, and beyond.

Here is the clip:

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