Zipline’s standard of care is simple: be reliable, all the time, and treat every customer delivery as though it is meant for someone you love. Whether you are testing new hardware, developing software, packing an order, or repairing an aircraft, you are a critical link in the chain. There is no work at Zipline that doesn’t connect to this journey.  When every one of us, at every step, does our best, only then can we lay our heads on our pillows at night and feel good about the way we showed up.

Zipliners have the freedom to solve tough problems and the responsibility to get the job done. If you need help debugging an electrostatic issue on the launching system, you schedule an investigation with a tiger team. If you are building a new facility and see there is not enough shelving, you go to the store, make the purchase, and install it. Our company has scaled tremendously, but we maintain the one-team, whatever-it-takes attitude that got us where we are today.

When Zipline began operating in 2016, we quickly learned how critical transparency is to successful operations. Without it, we would repeat mistakes and be too slow to solve problems. Over the past five years, Zipline has built a culture where everyone has  access to the people, information, and feedback they need to make excellent decisions and do their best work.

Zipline’s capture-line recovery system began as a line suspended between two fishing poles and some inflatable air cushions. Unsurprisingly, it often didn’t work. The cushions continually deflated, and the fishing poles lasted only a few cycles.  What worked was the system we used to manage to a better solution. To improve, we made decisions thoughtfully, shared mistakes broadly, and relied on data to measure results. Today, at Zipline hubs around the world, our automated ground systems recover hundreds of flights a day with automated tension lines that safely and reliably capture the aircraft’s one centimeter tailhook.

Zipline leaders do whatever it takes to serve their colleagues and make those around them stronger, not the other way around. For some Zipliners, leadership means managing teams or projects. For others, it means becoming a process or subject matter expert. For everyone, it means being humble, curious, listening carefully, and doing whatever it takes to help others be extraordinary.