✈️Beyond the Flight Deck - June 24, 2025
Dana Kirchmar
Aviation & Aerospace Expert | Avionics & Autopilot Systems | Program & Product Management | Applications & Sales Engineering | Customer Operations | Advocate for Women in Aviation & Aerospace
The Profitability Pipeline: How Gender-Diverse Leadership Drives the Bottom Line
There’s a lot of noise in leadership circles right now about what companies “should” be doing when it comes to gender diversity.
But in aviation and aerospace, I want us to ask a different question: What’s it costing us not to act?
Because here’s the truth: Gender-diverse leadership isn’t a social program. It’s not a PR strategy. It’s a profitability pipeline.
We’ve known this for years.
But despite the data—and despite the business case—many organizations still treat diverse leadership like a “nice to have” instead of a competitive advantage.
🚧 So What’s Getting in the Way?
In my experience, it’s not usually overt resistance—it’s something subtler. It’s the belief that the status quo is neutral. That leadership pipelines are naturally meritocratic. That “if women wanted those roles, they’d go for them.”
I’ve been in rooms where promotion decisions were made based on visibility, not capability. Where a single stretch assignment determined who moved up and who plateaued—without ever asking who got tapped for those roles in the first place. And where a woman’s input in a technical debate was sidelined, not because she was wrong, but because she was alone.
The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as it was designed. That’s the problem.
🧭 Culture Is More Than Climate
At one company I worked with, a junior woman engineer spotted a system anomaly that others had missed. Her quiet insistence to investigate further uncovered a failure mode that could have caused a multimillion-dollar field issue. Her voice was heard because her team had cultivated psychological safety—not just for her, but for everyone.
It wasn’t a coincidence. It was culture—built intentionally.
And that culture didn’t just protect the product. It protected the business.
✅ What’s Working Now
Some of the most effective leadership shifts I’ve seen didn’t come from top-down mandates. They came from small, repeatable behaviors.
One executive I know made a personal policy:
“No high-visibility assignment goes out without at least considering a woman.”
Not a quota. Not a spreadsheet. Just a mindset shift. And within months, his team saw more women gaining visibility, credibility, and promotion-readiness.
Sometimes the barrier isn’t competence—it’s being seen.
🎙️ Join the Conversation
That’s why our next Elevate Executive Exchange will focus on The Profitability Pipeline: How Gender-Diverse Leadership Drives the Bottom Line.
It’s not a webinar. It’s not a lecture.
It’s a candid conversation with other aviation and aerospace leaders about:
If you’re a leader in this industry—and you want to build high-performing, future-ready teams—this conversation is for you.
🗓️ Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 12:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am CDT / 9:00 am PDT
Let’s not just talk about change. Let’s lead it.
—Dana
Aviation Practice Leader - Aerospace & Defense Insurance
2moIn all respect, there are still more men tied to aviation than women, and while I applaud the companies who share an equality perspective in management, women are still outnumbered in the aviation industry. For example, I’m an introvert, but that doesn’t mean I have no power. I have great ideas, and the few I share them with, take them up their ladders, finding new ways of doing business. I’m proud of the contributions I’ve made toward innovation and safety for all aviation/aerospace industries, but I do not boast. Rather I celebrate within my own group of like-minded women and men who see partnership, relationship, accountability, steadfastness, and commitment as our number one goal.
Helping Women Build Legacy Brands That Survive & Thrive | Blending LinkedIn Authority with AI Insight | LinkedIn Learning Author | Keynote Speaker | Book Author | Coach
3moThanks for sharing, Dana. Keep sharing - one day we'll hit the tipping point. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Global Strategist for Meth Toxins Prevention | Founder, Meth Toxins Awareness Alliance | Speaker | Author I CE Instructor | Policy Advisor | Health & Property Safety Strategist I Home Zone Magazine Editor/Founder
3moThe system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as it was designed.’ That line stopped me in my tracks because it’s true. Facts don’t lie, and real change requires intentional conversations, just like the one your Executive was brave enough to have. Now it’s time to multiply that courage and commitment exponentially. I applaud you Dana, and your mission and movement keeping the momentum going. Bravo!
Holistic Metabolism Coach | Clinical Insight Meets Lifestyle Strategy | Board Chair at The Starr Institute
3moWe talk so much about visibility in leadership...but what about the women who become less visible the more experience they gain? I see it all the time. Brilliant, capable women in midlife, overflowing with wisdom hard-won from real life and real work, getting passed over or overlooked because the system wasn’t built to recognize them. They come to me, crushed. The emotional and psychological toll recruits the physical, and that's when internal systems shut down. We don’t need more programs. We need more people willing to see what’s already here. That shift? It starts in small, intentional moments—just like this one. You're a leader amongst leaders Dana Kirchmar. 💜
I help extraordinary minds elevate their Brain Boss with a 🧠FITBRAIN framework⚡️Surpass your plateau with better sleep, focus, and mindset . RESULT: more energy and increased mental capacity WITHOUT overwhelm.
3moThis is really interesting. I have often wondered why the resistance remains despite the statistics. Lack of visibility sounds like invisibility. How can women become present in the conversation when the statistics also say we are mentally muted almost immediately when we speak? I am so glad you are pulling away the blinders here Dana Kirchmar