Fly with the culture

After planning a trip abroad, how do you reach your destination as quickly as possible?

One of the fastest ways, I’ve found, is to fly with the national airline of your destination—United Airlines to San Francisco, ANA to Tokyo, China Southern to Guangzhou. The cabin crew and service style often mirror the culture of that country.

The quickest way to understand a culture is to sit 35,000 feet above it. Want to understand a country? Fly its airline.

For example, when ANA flight attendants perform their cross-check before take-off, they point to the aircraft doors rather than just looking at them—a small gesture that reflects Japanese precision. You’ll see the same method used by train operators across Japan. ANA’s attendants also quietly observe passengers, anticipating what they might need next—the same attentiveness you’ll find throughout Japan.

What’s fascinating is how communication style, body language, and problem-solving all reveal an airline’s cultural DNA. I once met a Thai flight attendant working for Singapore Airlines—her manner felt distinctly Singaporean, not Thai.

It’s fair to say that flight attendants are often the first expression of culture you encounter when travelling. These behaviours are shaped by leadership—airline executives working with national institutions to represent their country. Airlines are the face of a nation, so flying with its carrier is one of the fastest ways to experience its culture.

I think company culture works the same way. Culture is simply “people like us do things like this.” It doesn’t originate from the majority but from leadership—who define direction, behaviour, and tone, while everyone else adapts to move in sync.

That’s why it’s important to understand a company’s culture before joining it. There are only two outcomes: either you grow into their kind of person, or you realise you don’t belong and move on.

So how can you tell if a company’s culture fits before joining? Start by observing how leaders communicate, carry themselves, and make decisions. Then compare that to how employees express themselves online—on LinkedIn, X, blogs, or podcasts.

But ultimately, none of this matters if you don’t first know what kind of culture you want for this chapter of your life. Many people know the company they want, but not the culture they need. The right culture begins with self-awareness—once you understand what you value, the right environment will either find you, or you’ll create it yourself.