Becoming Familia

By Kathryn B. Creedy

Orlando, FL, Sept 20, 2026 — As I listened to Former United CEO Oscar Munoz and LPA President Claudia Zapata-Cardone during the fourth Latino Professionals in Aerospace conference, I thought, “this is different.”

I’m used to staid business of the National Business Aviation Association conference or the shock of seeing 5000 women in one place celebrating their roles in aviation at Women in Aviation International.

I was not prepared for the warmth of LPA and felt fortunate to be wrapped in the Latino Familia for two days. Munoz said tears were guaranteed because of Latinos were very emotional and it did not take long when he choked up describing the master class his abuela gave him in humanity or the outpouring of love and support expressed in the thousands of cards he received from United employees telling him to get well and get back after 37 days as CEO when he had his heart attack. He survived to transform United.

“Our culture is emotional that is why coming to this conference is so meaningful,” he said, pointing to the courage and risks LPA founders took in bringing the community together.  “You don’t have to know each other. You just know you’re familia. I felt the emotions expressed in those cards, how caring they were.”

Similarly, Zapata-Cardone choked up when she described her journey to the captaincy of an Airbus A320. Others choked up in their presentations as well followed by the usual apologies. Why do we apologize for being human?

Burden of Perfection

Munoz, who gave his own master class in how to suceed, also described the burden of perfection placed on the shoulders of minorities where you must be twice as good to get half as far, about being called a spicy jalapeño. His main message was to embrace the Latino heritage because no one can take that away from you.

“Know thyself – not who you want to impress,” he explained. “Know what you are good at and don’t spend a lot of time trying to be what you are not. I cannot tell you how empowering it was when I let go of that shit and actually let people see the real me. It makes you a better human and that is a good place to be.”

Stop Telling Yourself No

Zapata-Cardone agreed explaining how often she self-selected herself out of opportunities, making every excuse not to lean in until someone told her she short-changed herself. “You told yourself no before you gave us the chance to tell you no,” he said, insinuating she should have thought of the possibility of hearing a yes. Nicole Malikowski had the same story earlier this year as a keynoter at the WAI conference.

When asked how he handled no, Munoz told the audience you learn a lot from failure. “It is more important to question yourself to understand yourself than to worry about failure,” he said. “It is also more important to question whether a job fits you, not whether you fit the job. Knowing yourself is important. But I listen and understand their point of view. That’s what I was doing at United.”

There is no better definition of leadership which he called an act of extended story telling. Leadership is not about knowing all the answers but in surrounding yourself with the people who can solve the problems.

“If you don’t know yourself, you cannot lead,” he said. “You must find out what works for you, what matters to you and be that leader. Look for the leadership styles you want to emulate and find out what works for you. Tennyson wrote you are part of all the people we have met along the way. Embrace that.”

When he became CEO of United with no aviation experience, he knew himself well enough to know that he could fix it. “I trusted myself,” he said, adding at his first earning call he realized he had no clue how. But he launched a listening tour to find out from employees what they thought was broken and how it to fix it. “I’m humble enough to always listen. I met one flight attendant who said, ‘I’m so sick of the constant apologizing for our failures.’ After that, I went back to how I was raised. I actually care about people and I want to know who they are and what drives them because if I know who you are, we’ll become friends.”

His road to success was built on caring and integrity.

“Trust travels only at the speed of your honesty and your transparency,” he said.

Aggressions — Micro or Macro

He is not shy about asking people who tell off-color jokes whether they actually mean what they say and how they came to think that way. It has led to some interesting conversations, but it has also revealed the challenges we have in changing minds. The bottom line, however, is putting them on notice that is not acceptable behavior.

“While we cannot control others, at the end of the day if you can walk out of the office knowing you did your best, that carries the day – not with everyone but with enough,” he concluded.