In the ascendant

It’s remarkable how many good ideas come to you at 40,000 feet. Something seems to happen above the shimmering landscape of the clouds, in the hush of the cabin, to make the brain work better, quicker, or in more unexpected ways. This sort of creative thinking might seem outside of the normal remit of Vista — a company that has done more to revolutionise private aviation than perhaps any other. But when your clients consist of some of the most influential, important, creative and time-poor people in the world, you no longer trade simply in passengers, you contribute to their ideas, their careers and their life missions, too. This, perhaps, is one of the things that unites and elevates the three women leaders who, in many ways, characterise the Vista ethos: that they all have a sense of the bigger picture, of a larger purpose — of a view, perhaps, from the top of the world. This is why, despite turning 21 this year, and having more than 4,000 team members worldwide, the company still thinks of itself as a start-up, as an entrepreneur, as a natural changemaker. As Leona Qi says, “I’ve always believed that, as a company, we move the people that are moving the world.”