Women With Impact #44 - Caroline Drischel
Welcome to Women With Impact, a newsletter all about the journeys of mission-driven women and how they have a positive impact in our world.
I’m Clara Richter and this is the 44th edition of Women With Impact. If you enjoy this issue, please share it with a friend and like it above.
For this edition, I interviewed Caroline Drischel, Head of Customer Journey at Lufthansa Group where she oversees the entire end-to-end journey of customers from all airlines. Moreover, she is Member of the Supervisory Board at Eurowings and Lufthansa Technik. Prior to her current roles, Caroline was the Head of Corporate Responsibility, leading the strategy and implementation towards sustainable travel, across all airlines of the Lufthansa Group. She has been at the Group for almost a decade, and her previous experiences entailed Brand Strategy and Management, among others at Swiss International Airlines.
Wishing you a pleasant read!
Best,
Clara
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The Journey
Who are you and how do you most like to spend your time?
I am Caroline and I would describe myself as a collaborative and motivated individual, who likes making things happen. My family and friends are my top priority, and their happiness fuels my own. This positive outlook allows me to thrive in all areas of my life.
Congratulations on recently being appointed to Head of Customer Journey at Lufthansa Group. What scope does your role entail?
In July, I was appointed to Head of Customer Journey. As Head of Customer Journey, I oversee the entire customer experience, from booking to post-flight services, and more. My focus is on enhancing customer loyalty by delivering exceptional service across all touchpoints. My previous experiences in Brand Strategy and Management certainly help me in this new role, as now it is about delivering the brand promise we initially set. I am very much looking forward to shaping the customer journey forward.
In your previous role as Head of Corporate Responsibility at Lufthansa Group, what is a recent success you are proud of?
I was Head of CSR for the past two years. Sustainability really is a topic everyone should be aware of and contribute to. It needs to be in the hearts of everyone because we of course want our families and friends – as well as the generations to come – to live in a world that is less impacted by global warming than it is today.
Being part of an airline group, we of course know that aviation is part of the bigger issue. We know the importance of being solution- and execution-oriented and thinking long-term is undeniably the way forward. Part of my role was to look at solutions not only in making the actual flight more sustainable, but also motivating every single employee to engage and reflect on the topic. Thinking about every single guest, and making them part of our sustainability journey, to reduce emissions. Overall, I would see it as transitional work, as well as engaging work. Everyone can contribute to conscious travelling, me included - this was my main motivation in working in that role. Valuing everyone’s contribution is equally important in order to achieve the ambitious targets the Group has set itself: to halve CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and to become CO2 neutral by 2050 - all while connecting people, cultures and economies.
One important lever to achieve the environmental goals you set at Lufthansa Group is the increased use of sustainable aviation fuel. Only very small quantities of it are available so far and to my knowledge, Lufthansa Group is one of largest buyers. Could you share a little more about your current approach of using sustainable aviation fuel?
Sustainable travel requires a multifaceted approach. One big part of the work - or even the biggest - is the aircraft itself: so, thinking about how to fly the aircraft using less unsustainable fuels, and at the same time, thinking about routing the aircrafts differently, at different altitudes for example, and in how to make the take-off and landing strategies sustainably more efficient. At the Group, we invested heavily into operational efficiency, trying everything to make the aircrafts 0.1% lighter in construction and thereby emit less. What I am trying to say is that sustainable aviation fuel is only a small element of the bigger picture. We do use it and aim to use is increasingly, however because the resource is finite, it makes it more difficult.
Engaging customers for making travel more sustainable can be a big lever you mentioned. Have you observed that green fares work particularly well in certain markets over others?
Initially, we believed green fares would be more popular in certain markets like the Nordics. However, we've found growing interest across Europe. Some highlights for us are for instance that for certain routes within Germany, business flights had a higher adoption (around 30%) of green fare flights compared to economy flights. Moreover, that the route Zurich-London we would see a green fare participation of 12% compared to the rest of Europe, where the rate lies at 3%. This indicates a growing willingness among customers to contribute to sustainable travel. But we are still learning, it’s an exciting journey where we aim to provide more tailored offers and reward those which are choosing the conscious green flights.
The Lessons
What, for you, is the most rewarding in your work?
The most rewarding aspect of my work is advocating for a cause I deeply believe in. Choosing a cause and repeatedly delivering for that cause can be challenging at times, because not everyone you interact with, might align with it. You must stick to what you believe in is right and fight against internal or external stakeholders, when the opinions differ too extremely. It might be different to how others do it, but being persistent and achieving your goal is the most rewarding for me.
What activity outside of your professional life have you recently picked up? What does it teach you about life?
I used to play basketball in a high league, and after pausing for a while, I recently picked it up again. In my opinion, it’s great to do a team sport as it teaches you a lot. For instance, it lets you reflect what your role in a particular setting is, and what skills you have and could potentially build out. Being part of something bigger can give you unique perspectives about yourself. These experiences can be applied to other areas of life, fostering personal growth and perspective.
The Inspiration
What situation in your life have you most grown from?
I think that any person always learns most from the defeats one experiences. It can be a mistake you might have done or something unexpected which came your way. Something my very first boss told me, was to expect the unexpected. And I think this absolutely still holds true. Being mentally prepared that things you never would have imagined will one day come your way. Accepting that things are not a given and changing your behaviour accordingly, is what helps me.
What resource do you think people should make most use of?
Just recently, I was invited to a breakfast for young talents and something I shared was that everything you need, you already have within yourself. All the skills and strengths that you think you might not have, in fact are present within yourself. However, most are not aware of them. Therefore, my first recommendation would be to become more aware of your own strengths and use them.
Secondly, knowing what brings you into an equilibrium is equally significant. For me for instance, that is going to the mountains as regularly as possible. Spending time there allows me to recharge fully. We all have two or three things in our lives through which we can fully be ourselves and regain the energy we might sometimes be missing.
And thirdly, be open with those around you. Human connection is a large part of the human experience. There are individuals which might not know the hobbies of the other team members for example, with whom they spend so many hours each day with. Show your interest and engage in discussions beyond work, perhaps you might find out that you have the same interests in life, which you previously never would have thought about. Engagement with others can make the human experience more valuable.
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