Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry

The $8+ Billion Partnership: How Delta and Amex Redefined the Business of Flying | Titans and Disruptors

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:30:00 -0000

From one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history to leading the industry in market capitalization and premium customer satisfaction, Delta Air Lines has rewritten the business of flying in the last two decades.

In this episode, Fortune's Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sits down with CEO Ed Bastian at Delta’s Atlanta headquarters to discuss the strategic maneuvers behind the airline’s resurgence. Bastian details his 'people-first' leadership philosophy, the evolution of the lucrative American Express partnership, and his vision for the future of travel, from AI-powered concierge services to the launch of flying taxis.

00:00 Intro

01:36 Advertisement

03:05 Bastian’s personal background

04:21 Executive training at Pepsi

06:14 Uncovering fraud at J. Walter Thompson

07:23 Delta files for bankruptcy

8:08 Bastian’s return to Delta

09:43 Delta’s turnaround playbook

11:37 Delta’s post-bankruptcy restructuring

13:55 Billion-dollar profit-sharing program

15:36 Sharing wealth with employees

16:21 Bastian’s people-first commitment

16:48 Becoming a CEO

17:45 Transitioning from CFO to CEO

19:04 Becoming comfortable as a CEO

19:45 Shifting communication styles as CEO

21:40 Staying in the know

22:13 Leading employees through down times

24:32 Bastian’s no-furlough strategy

26:06 Delta / AMEX partnership

29:14 Credit card interest rates

30:25 Creating brand trust and loyalty

33:39 Delta’s next 100 years

34:14 Balancing AI with people

36:56 Staying updated on AI

38:13 AI’s impact on air travel

39:15 Sustainable travel

40:08 Flying taxis

40:57 Delta’s five-to-ten year strategy

42:04 Bastian’s leadership advice

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The end of work: Vinod Khosla's bold AI prediction | Titans and Disruptors

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:30:00 -0000

What if AI made your paycheck optional? Vinod Khosla, one of the world's greatest venture capitalists and an early backer of AI, believes the technology will take over 80% of labor, freeing humans to live on passion instead.
His track record backs up the boldness, as early bets on OpenAI, DoorDash, Instacart, and Square have made him one of the most consequential investors of our time.
In this episode of Titans, Khosla sits down with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell to unpack his abundant vision for the AI future, what government policy should tackle for a more equitable 2040, and what the U.S. needs to do to win the global AI race.

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Google’s AI boss made OpenAI issue code red. Now he wants to solve disease. | Titans and Disruptors

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:00:00 -0000

Google DeepMind founder and CEO Sir Demis Hassabis is a master chess player, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and - as of 2024 - a Knight. Today, as a leader within Google’s booming AI team, Hassabis wants to make AI the “engine” driving the entire company.
In this episode of Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry, Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sits down with Hassabis at the World Economic Forum in Davos to talk about how he and his companies are using AI to cure cancer, build universal agents, and move the world towards a future of “radical abundance.”

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Pfizer CEO took on COVID. Now he wants to cure cancer | Titans and Disruptors

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:30:00 -0000

Dr. Albert Bourla became Pfizer’s CEO months before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the US. Under his leadership, Pfizer manufactured 3 billion doses of the first FDA-approved vaccine in the first year, which led to record-breaking earnings. Yet over the past few years, post-pandemic sales slumps, patent cliffs and vaccine skepticism have driven down Pfizer’s earnings. In this episode of Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry, Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sits down with Bourla to talk about how he is answering this new set of challenges with science, innovation and optimistic leadership.

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Kamala Harris says the ‘Glass Cliff’ Suggests Finality: “I’m Not Into That”

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:42:00 -0000

It’s been one year since Vice President Kamala Harris and then-Democratic nominee was coming down to her final days of the 2024 presidential campaign against Donald Trump. She spent 107 days on the road in a bid to earn their vote, but it wasn’t enough. Almost one year later, she’s had time to reflect. In a wide-ranging conversation at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit, Harris joined Fortune’s Editor in Chief Alyson Shontell at the Washington National Cathedral to discuss the growing divides between Republicans and Democrats, how the government is not meeting Americans’ basic needs, and why not inviting Elon Musk to the White House was a “mistake”.

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Jamie Dimon on What Kills Companies and the Key to Business Leadership

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:10:00 -0000

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has led the nation's largest financial institution through times of disruption for two decades. As Dimon navigates today's world of generative AI, President Trump's policies, and the effects on the global economy, Dimon sat down with Fortune's Editor-in-Chief, Alyson Shontell, to discuss these topics at the Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C. Dimon shares his thoughts on Washington, as the government is currently shut down, and Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist leading polls in the New York City mayoral race.

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How Ramp's Eric Glyman Built a $22.5 Billion Startup in 2,367 Days

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0000

Ramp CEO Eric Glyman has helped build one of fintech’s fastest-growing startups — hitting $1 billion in annualized revenue, serving 45,000 businesses, and soaring to a $22.5 billion valuation in just 2,367 days. In this episode of Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry, he sits down with Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell to break down Ramp’s meteoric rise, the business model flipping corporate cards on their head, and why he believes speed and focus are the keys to scaling.

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Julie Sweet’s Path From Lawyer to Leading 770,000 People

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 10:00:00 -0000

AI is rewriting the rules of business — and Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says reinvention is the only way Fortune 500s will survive. In the debut episode of Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry, Sweet sits down with Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell to reveal how she’s nearly doubled Accenture’s value, grown its workforce to 770,000, and kept the company thriving through disruption.

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