Business leaders look everywhere for inspiration, from eyeing their peers’ successes to tapping industry vets for insight. But Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, chose to form a close relationship with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to shape the airline giant’s leadership—and Brady’s wisdom is revamping the company’s playbook.
“He’s a great leader,” Bastian recently told Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on the Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast. “He’s got a great mind. He’s [got] a way of continuing to push the envelope.”