Why Companies Should Reevaluate Their DEI Strategies

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of the Korean Air crisis in the 1990s, when the airline faced a series of catastrophic crashes that made it one of the least safe airlines in the world. The issue, it turned out, wasn’t about technical expertise or equipment—it was rooted in communication and cultural hierarchy. The airline’s cockpit culture was stifled by rigid authority dynamics, where co-pilots felt unable to challenge captains even in critical moments. Korean Air’s transformation into one of the safest airlines in the world came only after it restructured its internal dynamics, dismantling barriers to communication, and building a culture of mutual respect and inclusivity in decision-making.