Explorez tous les épisodes de Leading 4 Life "Stories"
Plongez dans la liste complète des épisodes de Leading 4 Life "Stories". Chaque épisode est catalogué accompagné de descriptions détaillées, ce qui facilite la recherche et l'exploration de sujets spécifiques. Suivez tous les épisodes de votre podcast préféré et ne manquez aucun contenu pertinent.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this first episode of Leading 4 Life "Stories", I talk briefly about what I hope you will get from my podcast as future episodes roll out on a weekly basis, but the majority of this episode is very personal.
I realise that your time is precious and that you have a lot of choice about what to listen to in this very crowded market, so I wanted to give you a much deeper insight into my background and the early stages of my entry into the Royal Air Force.
This episode takes you through some of my childhood challenges, my education, and on to my officer training at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, picking out some specific tips along the way that I hope will help you for the future.
Future episodes will continue to cover my life story, where it is relevant to the leadership skills and personal resilience I have developed along the way. There will also be episodes that cover specific themes that I believe are important to all leaders. Last but certainly not least, I will also regularly host conversations with great guests from a wide spectrum of leadership roles, industries and age groups.
Along the way I reflect on some tips and thoughts that I hope will resonate with you, and help you on your own leadership development journey - that after all is the whole point of me doing this podcast in the first place!
I do hope you enjoy it and I very much look forward to your reviews and feedback. After all, "there is no failure, only feedback!"
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this, my second episode, I initially outline in more detail the 3 types of podcast episodes I will be creating. You will be able to see the specific type in the title; either Personal Stories, Themes or Guests and, each week, more detail will be provided here to give you an outline before you listen to the episode itself.
This thematic episode will focus on Credibility, Self-Awareness, and Imposter Syndrome.
To establish some credibility of my own, I give you a short synopsis of my whole career, from young 18 year old RAF Officer Cadet, through to becoming an Air Vice-Marshal in the RAF's Senior Leadership Team, and on to Deloitte, before starting to run my own company back in 2019.
I do this to give you some perspective on my own leadership experience, with the aim of establishing my own credibility with you the listener. My knowledge is borne more of experience than academia, and I hope that I make an adequate argument as to why I am worth listening to on the subject of leadership.
Credibility is crucial for a leader but it is only one aspect of a much more complex puzzle and consequently, I also start to discuss the concepts of self-awareness and imposter syndrome in this episode.
Self-awareness is vital for a successful leader and so this is undoubtedly a topic that will feature in later episodes as well. Imposter syndrome is common for many leaders, especially those with heightened levels of self-awareness and so, once again, it is a theme that will feature in further discussions. Both are introduced here as, in my view, they are essential to consider early in any ongoing discussion about leadership.
If you have not already done so, please follow / subscribe to ensure you receive early notification of future episodes. I would also be extremely grateful if you would provide a review and, if you have the time, some direct feedback as that most definitely helps me to improve and to give you the best possible product.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains emotional details about premature birth, neonatal death and serious illness.
With this episode I dive straight into the topic of the week and focus on "the loneliness of command".
Command roles, when you are at the pinnacle of an organisation, can be immensely rewarding but they come with their share of challenges. Who can you talk to when the going gets tough? Who provides you advice when you want to test your thinking and ideas? Who can you simply blow off steam with when you need to air your frustrations?
Loneliness of command is a real issue and most if not all leaders will have experienced it at some point.
In this podcast, I initially set out my own view of why loneliness of command is an issue, especially for leaders in roles where they are at the top of an organisation, however large or small. The reality of loneliness of command is likely to be very familiar to anyone that has been in such a role but the aim of this podcast is twofold.
First, I offer some preparatory advice based on my own personal experiences for those who are heading into those leadership positions.
Second, I leverage some personal examples from my past to highlight why this issue is just as important for those being led as it is for the leaders themselves. Being a trusted team member might well offer you the opportunity to help your leader at a time when they need it most.
The bottom line is that loneliness of command really is a "thing" and, left unchecked it carries the risk of completely derailing an otherwise extremely competent leader so it should not be underestimated. Having an understanding of this, whether you are a leader or a team member, should leave you better prepared to face the challenge when it comes!
If you have not already done so, please follow / subscribe to ensure you receive early notification of future episodes. I would also be extremely grateful if you would provide a review and, if you have the time, some direct feedback as that most definitely helps me to improve and to give you the best possible product.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This episode I was very privileged to be able to host General David Petraeus US Army (Retired) as my very first guest on the podcast.
It is the first of what will be many interviews in the future and, in every case, I will seek to get the best leadership thoughts, tips and advice from those that are generous enough to give me their time for an interview.
Even a cursory glance at General Petraeus’ career history will reveal what an amazing life he has had and why his views on leadership are so relevant to anyone with an interest in leadership issues.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1974, General Petraeus served for 37 years in the US Army, rising to 4* rank and completed 6 consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were on combat operations, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of US Central Command, and command of all coalition forces in Afghanistan.
He subsequently served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 2011/12 and is now very active in business as a Partner at KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute.
General Petraeus' academic credentials are also incredibly impressive. He is the only person in US Army history to be the top graduate of both the US Army Ranger School and the year-long Command and General Staff College. He has a PhD in international relations and academics from Princeton University and, from the 1980s to the present day he has been actively involved in senior roles with a range of prestigious academic institutions.
Over the years, he has been named as one of America's 25 Best Leaders, a runner up for Time Magazine's Person of the Year, the Daily Telegraph Man of the Year and numerous other accolades.
For more on his background and current activities please see:
General Petraeus’ new book “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine”, co-authored with Andrew Roberts is published in October and is available for pre-order on Amazon at this link.
In the interview we cover a wide range of issues including (starting time in brackets):
Adjustments to his leadership style across the course of his career (2:18).
His early motivation to join the Army, and a model for strategic leadership (13:58).
The leadership traits that he values the most (29:13).
His reflections on what he might have done differently across his care
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This episode I am delighted to be able to introduce and interview Susie Ballentyne, my co-founder and partner within Leading 4 Life.
Susie and I have known each other since 2011, when we worked together in the UK Ministry of Defence. She is a social psychologist / behavioural scientist, and has a long background in working with the government as well as in the private sector. She is in the final stages of completing a PhD and has huge research experience and academic knowledge of leadership issues and, consequently, brings a very complimentary skill set to my own as we work together in this space.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest for this episode is Phil Crossman, a friend of mine for nearly 20 years and the former Managing Director of Honda UK.
Phil spent his entire career in the motor trade, and has huge experience with a number of manufacturers, culminating with some 17 years at Honda. He has a vast amount of leadership experience and the interview covers a range of topics that I'm sure you will find interesting.
There are some great and amusing car stories, and Phil also provides some fascinating insights into his perspectives on the future of the motor industry.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of aircraft accidents and fatalities.
In this episode I continue my personal story as I finish officer training and move into the Royal Air Force's flying training system.
I'm extremely conscious that I could easily have filled an episode or more with each segment of the flying training system, since I learned so much about myself as I was going through it so, depending on the feedback this episode generates, it may well be that I return to cover some more specific elements in future episodes. However, I reined myself in and Episode 7 will give you a c.30 minute overview of everything up to my move to the front-line Jaguar Operational Conversion Unit.
It hits the high and low points of my time at RAF Linton-on-Ouse (Basic Flying Training at No 1 Flying Training School), RAF Valley (Advanced Flying Training at No 4 Flying Training School), and RAF Brawdy (No 234 Squadron, Tactical Weapons Unit).
As normal, I try to pick out some useful tips and personal learning points along the way and there are plenty to choose from during this formative and fast-paced early stage of my military career.
I really hope you enjoy this return to personal stories - do please give me your feedback; I really do value it a lot!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
With this episode I return to thematic issues and focus on personal resilience and self care.
I chose to cover this theme now partly because of the recent World Suicide Prevention Day, but also because I recently delivered a workshop on this topic to a client and it landed really well, so I thought it would also be useful to those that listen to this podcast.
Personal resilience is a critical attribute for any leader, and a good leader also needs to be very conscious of the resilience of individual members of his / her / their team.
In this episode I focus on:
Why resilience is important
Why personal resilience is linked to, but different from corporate resilience
Some ways to self check your own resilience
Ideas to help improve your own self care
Resilience through crisis and change
The value of optimism
Knowing when to quit!
The benefit of assertiveness
Why happiness helps
The importance of practice!
If you have not already done so, please follow / subscribe to ensure you receive early notification of future episodes. I would also be extremely grateful if you would provide a review and, if you have the time, some direct feedback as that most definitely helps me to improve and to give you the best possible product.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest for this episode is Philipp Nattermann, a Senior Partner and CFO at McKinsey & Company.
Having originally been born in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Philipp started his working life as an academic in the USA, Philipp joined McKinsey in 1999 and has been there ever since.
He speaks very candidly on a whole range of issues and offers some terrific leadership insights that I am sure you will find both interesting and valuable.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest for this episode is Jenna Littler, former Senior Vice President at Burberry and now an independent consultant and advisor to the fashion, beauty and luxury goods industries.
Jenna has had already had an amazingly diverse and highly successful career and, by the time she left Burberry, she was one of the most senior women in the business.
She spoke to me at length about the opportunities and challenges she has faced and this was a fascinating and really enjoyable interview that I think you will find equally interesting and valuable.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest for this episode is Rear Admiral James Morse RN(Retd), the President and CEO of the Rabdan Academy in the United Arab Emirates.
James and I know each other well from our military days having been at the Royal College of Defence Studies together back in 2007. He subsequently commanded the UK's Joint Service Command and Staff College and that undoubtedly positioned him extremely well for his current role, which he has held since 2016.
Raban Academy is a fascinating institution in an equally interesting part of the world and James has some terrific perspectives on leadership that I know will be of interest and value to you all.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Lord Mark Sedwill, former Cabinet Secretary, Head of the UK Civil Service and National Security Advisor.
Mark had an amazing public sector career in the UK Diplomatic and Civil Service and is now on his next chapter with a portfolio of big private sector roles. His huge experience made him a great subject for this podcast and this is a fascinating interview with an absolute wealth of terrific leadership insights that I am sure you will enjoy listening to.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
With this episode I continue the personal story of my flying career and discuss the completion of my training on the Jaguar Operational Conversion Unit and the move to the RAF front-line on 17(F) and then 14 Squadron at RAF Brüggen in Germany.
As you will hear, this was a really pivotal time in my flying career and I absolutely loved the excitement, challenge and pressure of being on a front-line Jaguar squadron when the Cold War with the Warsaw Pact was still a very big concern for NATO and the West.
There are perhaps less top tips in this episode but I hope you enjoy the journey along with me. Being a 21 year old pilot in the nuclear strike and attack roles was certainly really special for me and I suspect you will pick up my enthusiasm as you listen.
Thanks again for listening, please subscribe / follow / review and give me any direct feedback that you feel appropriate - I value it all!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
I am conscious that in last week's episode I covered a lot of ground and didn't always provide a lot of detail. As such, in this episode I blend some personal flying stories with the theme of "Attention to Detail".
I talk through the challenge of mastering the detail required to safely and effectively operate a single-seat Jaguar on a typical front-line ground attack sortie and, where appropriate, I link this to what I have seen in the business world, especially in my more senior roles.
The more senior you become, the harder it is to stay across all the detail. The mistake that many leaders make is that they still try to do this and it has two negative impacts:
Firstly, it makes it harder for the leader to stay focused on the big issues whilst they are mired in the detail.
Secondly, it often makes their subordinates feel micromanaged and disempowered.
There are of course plenty of occasions when a leader still has to be all over the detail and I highlight those as well.
I try to offer some example based thoughts and ideas that have worked for me when I've been in senior, complex roles. I hope they are useful for you too!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Baroness Dido Harding, who is probably best known for her role as the Executive Chair of NHS Test & Trace during the Covid-19 pandemic, and for her role as the CEO of Talk Talk when they went through a significant cyber attack.
However, there is much more to Dido than those two roles. She has a fascinating business, public service and personal background and, in this really interesting interview, she openly shares a great deal about her highs, lows and overall leadership and personal journey. I really enjoyed this conversation and I very much hope you do too.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Howard Wheeldon, who is best known as a political / defence commentator and analyst in recent years, but who had a fascinating and long career prior to moving into that realm. It was a really interesting and wide ranging discussion, which highlights Howards extremely impressive breadth and depth of business experience; I very much hope you enjoy it.
As you will hear from the introduction to this edition this is a particularly poignant episode for me because, at the time that I recorded the interview, I was aware that Howard was seriously ill.
Tragically he passed away on 21 September, much more suddenly than expected and, having consulted his widow Joanna, this interview is being released the day prior to Howard's memorial service in London on Monday 20 November, and will hopefully serve as an ongoing tribute to a great man and a good friend who will be much missed.
My heartfelt condolences remain with Joanna as well as Howard's children, Ellie and Giles.
In the interview we cover the following subjects (starting time in brackets):
Howard's career journey (00.03.48)
Early motivations (00.17.41)
Leadership styles and priorities (00.22.33)
Role models & modern day business challenges (00.31.57)
What would Howard have done differently? (00.53.00)
Career high point (01.02.15)
Career low point (01.08.08)
Managing work:life balance (01.11.41)
Views on defence expenditure and relationships with key allies (01.18.11)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Komeil Alibai, founder and CEO of MYKA Holdings, a private equity and venture capital business focusing on clients from a variety of industries.
Komeil has a fascinating personal and business background and shares some terrific insights during the interview. He and I first met during our coaching qualification training with The Coaching Academy. I subsequently had the pleasure of coaching Komeil, and he is kind enough to allow us to discuss the value of that coaching during the session.
It was lovely to catch up with Komeil again for such an in depth conversation, and I really hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording the podcast.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
At the conclusion of a short first operational flying tour at RAF Brüggen in Germany, this episode discusses my move to RAF Laarbruch, another Germany base, and my transition to the reconnaissance role.
As a now "experienced" Jaguar pilot, this was a pivotal point in my career since reconnaissance was a role that would dominate a significant proportion of my remaining time in the cockpit. I aim to give the listener a sense of the challenge, complexity, but also fun we all had flying the Jaguar in this role. It was without doubt demanding but we thrived on the competition and absolutely loved the fact that we got to be seriously good at what we did.
Towards the end of the tour (and this podcast) I outline some of the challenges that occurred not only as we transitioned the squadron to flying the Tornado, but also for me personally as I faced a tricky choice that would have a significant impact on the next direction of my flying career.
I really appreciate you listening and especially providing me feedback. If you enjoy this, please share it widely as I'd love more people to have the chance to listen.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This might just be the most important episode of this podcast I have released to date because it tackles the vitally important topic of "work / life balance". In my experience this is something that is very regularly talked about, especially by very busy people but also much too often either ignored or given too little priority, often by those same very busy people.
In this episode I make no secret of my own personal challenge with handling this, but I also share some personal experiences and some reasons why you really should focus more on getting the balance right, not only for your own health and wellbeing, but also for the benefit of those that you lead.
As we approach a major holiday period, it is the perfect time for you to really try and delegate well, ensure you do prioritise life over work, and to give yourself a proper opportunity to recharge your batteries. However, uncomfortable it may feel, stretch yourself and step back from the work coalface just for a while and see how much more efficient and capable it makes you when you return!
I really hope you find this useful. As always, I would love your thoughts and feedback so please do let me know what you think.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week's guest is General Sir Richard Barrons, the former Commander of Joint Forces Command (one of the 6 UK Chiefs of Staff) and now the Co-Chairman of Universal Defence & Security Solutions, alongside a portfolio of other private sector roles.
Richard commanded at every level in the British Army and saw a huge amount of operational service in just about everything from the Cold War to Afghanistan. He has a huge amount of leadership and historical knowledge, and some strongly held views about today's geopolitics and the prospects for the future.
A regular commentator on both TV and radio, Richard's views are thought provoking and sobering, and this is one episode you really don't want to miss.
I really hope you enjoy listening to this fascinating interview - it really was great to be on the other side of the microphone for this one!
In this interview we cover the following subjects (starting time in brackets):
Richard's career journey (00.02.22)
Early motivations (00.07.25)
Thoughts on career transition timing (00.11.40)
Adjustments to leadership style (00.16.55)
Role models (00.29.29)
Leadership traits and values (00.35.03)
Advice to a school age Richard! (00.43.24)
What would Richard have done differently? (00.46.51)
Most important achievement (00.58.15)
Career low point (01.01.12)
Work / life balance (01.07.14)
Thoughts on current conflicts and geopolitics (01.11.33)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
As this episode goes live on Christmas Eve 2023, I thought I would keep it very short and to the point.
I have had a good deal of time to personally reflect over the past couple of weeks and that thinking time has allowed me to focus on some things that are hugely important at this time of year. Speaking for myself, I know that I should say "thank you" a great deal more and that I should also make much more time to keep in touch and "check in" with my circle of friends.
Far too often, we all take things for granted and don't fully appreciate those that support us or help us along the way. Equally, most of us make optimistic statements such as "we must get together soon" without ever actually following through and actually keeping in touch properly.
This podcast is very much a stream of consciousness but, if nothing else, I hope it gives you pause for thought, and is the catalyst for you not only to thank those that you should, but also to check in on some of those friends and colleagues who you've left on the "to do list" for far too long.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Given that I strongly suspect you will have better things to do than listen to me on New Year's Eve when this podcast becomes available, I have made it a reasonably short episode and focused on providing a review of 2023 and this first season of Leading 4 Life "Stories".
The episode provides a short summary of the episodes so far as well as my own thoughts on the high points and plans for the future. If you are new to the podcast, it will give you a decent overview of what the previous episodes contain and signpost a few of my personal highlights that you might wish to dip into if you haven't already.
Season 2 of the podcast will launch at the start of 2024 and I would really welcome your thoughts and input as to what you would like to see as I develop the podcast further into next year and beyond.
Whether or not you are a regular listener, I am extremely grateful for you giving up some of your valuable time to listen to what I have to say and I am even more grateful if you have subscribed, reviewed and / or provided me with direct feedback. Please keep that coming as it means the world to me and I read it all!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
With this first episode of Season 2 of the podcast, I return to the personal stories and give an account of my time on an exchange posting flying the RF4E Phantom with the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.
It was a fascinating time not least because of the political changes that occurred during my 2 1/4 years with the Germans. In that time, the Berlin Wall fell, German reunification became a reality, and the Cold War ended. As a direct consequence, the tour was punctuated with a wide range of fascinating experiences as well as serious challenges.
I do my best to give a short summary of what was a really busy couple of years and so I apologise if it feels like I touch too lightly on the issues but, if there is appetite for me to do so, I would be delighted to add more detail in later episodes so please keep the feedback coming.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week's guest is Jonathan Bowman-Perks, a fellow podcast host and coach with a long and extremely successful track record in both. Jonathan is a former Army officer who had a long and distinguished career before moving to the private sector. Since he made that jump, his career has gone from strength to strength, with time at PWC, IBM and Penna before setting up his own leadership development and coaching business.
Jonathan's "Inspiring Leadership" podcast has a significant global following and I was privileged to be a guest on it towards the end of last year. We had an immediate connection, not only because of our professional backgrounds but also because we both lost our fathers at a very similar age. It was unsurprising therefore that we had a great conversation on both podcasts and this episode contains a wealth of advice, thoughts and tips from our collective experience of leadership development.
I very much hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week is a little different to normal as I combine a thematic issue with a guest interview and discuss the whole topic of Artificial Intelligence with Steve Brown.
Steve is a leading expert on generative AI, autonomous AI assistants, digital transformation, the future of work, and how advances in AI will shape the future of education, business and society. He is a published author and speaks globally to a very wide range of corporates and media outlets on all things AI and, importantly, has a rare ability to explain a very complex issue in ways that normal mortals like me can understand!
As you will discover if you listen to the podcast, Steve generously offered access to a range of free resources (not discoverable by normal search) on his website and having taken a look, this is a veritable gold mine of material to help you learn more about this vitally important topic. The web URL you need to go to is at 00.45.50 on the podcast
I really hope you enjoy this session; given that it's very different to my normal podcasts, I would really value your feedback please!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this thematic episode I tackle a set of topics that crop up a lot when I do leadership development training with groups and individuals.
Using some examples of what I have learnt along my own journey, I provide a range of thoughts, tips and techniques that should help leaders to develop their team members better and, in the process, create more headspace and thinking time for themselves.
Too often I have seen leaders fail to delegate or empower their team members and, as a result lose their trust and confidence over time. I hope that the content of this episode provides a number of ideas that will help you to avoid falling into any of those traps.
As ever, I would be delighted to hear your feedback and please do subscribe and review if you are enjoying what you hear on these podcasts.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Having returned to the RAF after my exchange tour with the German Air Force, this personal stories episode reflects on some of the aspects of my first command tour as a Flight Commander on Number 54 (Fighter) Squadron at RAF Coltishall.
Returning to the Jaguar in this more senior role was an absolute delight and I relished the challenges it brought both in flying terms (with a number of new skills to learn), and in respect of the leadership responsibilities I now had.
In this episode I focus on some of those leadership aspects and I aim to provide some broad tips that I believe are applicable in a wide range of leadership roles across the civilian world as well. There's a lot more to come on the flying specifics from this tour, especially in regard to operations over Iraq and Bosnia so keep listening if that's what you want to hear about!
I really hope you enjoy this episode and, as ever, all feedback is welcome!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the ninth Chief Constable of Sussex Police and the first female officer to hold the role. Jo is a career police officer having served for over 30 years initially in Norfolk and Kent before moving to Sussex as the Deputy Chief Constable in late 2018. She was subsequently selected to be the Chief Constable in July 2020.
During her long career, Jo has carried out a very wide range of policing roles and has also held a number of national responsibilities. She is currently the national lead for roads policing, an issue very close to her own heart as she explains in the interview.
This was a fascinating interview as we cover not only a wide range of Jo's personal leadership experiences, but also touch on a lot of wider policing topics that I suspect you will find extremely interesting. I really hope you enjoy the session.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week, Leading 4 Life Stories goes international and my guest is Steven Moore, a former US Congressional Chief of Staff, and now President of the Ukraine Freedom Project.
Steven is a highly experienced political strategist, international social entrepreneur and public opinion researcher, who has a wide range of really interesting perspectives on both the US political situation and the wider world of geopolitics.
Given the very current challenges facing the world at large and the US in particular, this was an interview that I really enjoyed and from which I learned a great deal. Steven has a great vantage point both from his past experience and from his current political activity and connections, and he really brings this to life with the discussion. I very much hope you enjoy it and find it useful.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
During both my first command tour as a flight commander on Number 54 (Fighter) Squadron (covered in Episode 27), and subsequently during my squadron command tour as the Officer Commanding Number 6 Squadron, I spent a good deal of time flying on operational reconnaissance missions in the No-Fly Zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq.
This episode is very much a personal account of that operational flying and consequently contains rather less leadership tips than many of my previous episodes. However, I hope it is of interest to many, as the flying we did over that time was without any doubt the most exhilarating and challenging that I did during my whole career.
I cover a lot of ground in the episode and so it is a little longer than all of my previous individual podcasts, but I make no apology as I don't think making it shorter would have done justice to the task! I seek to cover some of the training we did to prepare for operations as well as giving a fair amount of detail about the nature and the flying missions, and providing some background to life at Incirlik Air Force Base where we were all based. I really hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this thematic episode I address the vitally important topic of "Hearts & Minds"! This is such a crucial element of leadership, as without the support of, and proper engagement with your team, you will always struggle to succeed as a leader.
I cover a wide range of topics that I believe are important to the establishment and maintenance of great relationships with the members of your team. These range from the simple act of saying "thank you" for a job well done, through to examples of how you can really inspire loyalty with those that work for you.
The phase "hearts & minds" is often used but, in my experience, not as often properly considered in respect of overall team cohesion. It's vitally important for leaders to walk the walk as well as talking the talk in this area and, in this episode, I hope I help to shed some light on ways you can do this.
I really hope you enjoy it; please subscribe and review if you can and I'm always open to direct feedback as well!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week's episode was a real joy for me as it is an interview with fellow fast-jet pilot and former RAF Officer, Mandy Hickson.
Mandy was one of the very first women to go through RAF flying training and was the second female Tornado GR4 pilot. She had an extremely active 17 year RAF career, and is now the bestselling author of "An Officer, not a Gentleman", and a highly acclaimed motivational speaker whose talents are in demand all over the world.
Unsurprisingly, Many and I have a great deal in common given our shared RAF flying experiences, and this was a hugely enjoyable conversation which covered a lot of ground, but which also touched on a wide range of important areas of leadership. I really hope you enjoy listening to it as we did making it.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Flying has been a huge part of my life and career and in this personal stories episode I do my best bring some elements of that to life for those that have never had the good fortune to experience military flying in any form.
It's very much my personal recollections of what I have flown, where I have flown and some of the specific flying disciplines that I think are of particular interest. I talk about low flying, supersonic flying and formation flying in some detail and, because I got a bit carried away with those elements, some of the things I mentioned up front in the episode, didn't actually get covered due to time - sorry!! Consequently, I will cover the more tactical aspects of military flying (including air combat, evasion training and weapons employment), and flying the historic aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in future episodes.
I'll be really interested in your feedback on this episode please. Specifically, if this is something you want more of, please let me know and I will happily oblige - after all, military pilots never get bored with talking about flying! :-)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
I feel immensely privileged to have had the opportunity to interview John Volanthen for Leading 4 Life "Stories". His name might not be immediately familiar to you but I am sure that the cave rescue of the 12 children and their football coach from a flooded cave in Northern Thailand in 2018 might ring some louder bells.
John, together with his dive partner Rick Stanton, were the first to find the children and their coach, when hope was fading that they would survive, and both men were subsequently instrumental in the successful rescue of all 13 a few days later. It is a remarkable story and John is a remarkable man. Incredibly modest and self effacing, he makes light of his extraordinary achievements but is also incredibly honest about some of the challenges he has faced when he discusses the highs and lows of his life so far.
There are a plethora of great pieces of leadership advice in this interview and I really hope you enjoy it. If you have not already done so, I would also urge you to watch the documentary made about the Thai cave rescue entitled "The Rescue". I found it to be a gripping watch and it sheds yet more light on the remarkable achievements of John and the very large team that collectively worked to rescue the "Wild Boars" football team and their coach.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This episode is being published on Easter Sunday 2024 so an interview with a senior figure in the Church of England seemed highly appropriate, and I am delighted that my guest for this episode is Bishop Graham James, the former Bishop of Norwich.
Bishop Graham and I first met back in 2001 when I had the privilege of flying him in a Jaguar from RAF Coltishall, where I was the Officer Commanding Number 6 Squadron at the time. He is a really lovely and very inspirational man who has had a fascinating life journey and I am sure you will find his story extremely interesting. Not only does he describe his own journey as a leader with great candour, but he also offers some terrific insights on a wide range of issues along the way. Enjoy!
In this interview we cover the following topics (starting time in brackets):
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
It was an absolute pleasure to interview the effervescent and award winning Liz McConaghy for this week's episode. Author of the outstanding autobiographical book "Chinook Crew Chick", Liz is the longest serving female Chinook crewman, and during her 17 year RAF career, she completed an unbelievable 2 flying tours in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan. She accrued some 3000 hours in the Chinook and flew in some incredibly tough roles, including a lot of Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) work, recovering injured and sometimes dead soldiers from the battlefield.
Liz's story really only starts with her time in the RAF though. Once she left, she suffered very significantly from post traumatic stress and ultimately attempted to take her own life in 2020. She talks extensively about this dark chapter of her life in the podcast and provides a huge amount of great advice for dealing with mental health challenges both personally and with those around you. It is an incredibly inspirational story and Liz's work now focused on helping others to understand and handle mental health challenges in all walks of life.
Without doubt, this is one of the most important podcasts I have done and I am sure you will find what Liz has to say, valuable, emotional and inspirational in equal measure. I cannot recommend her book highly enough - it is a really great read!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Nick Anderson. Nick is one of my original flying instructors from my own time in the Royal Air Force's flying training system, and spent his whole working life in the world of aviation.
He spent 19 years in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot and advanced flying instructor, followed by an outstanding and longer 25 year career in Virgin Atlantic, eventually becoming one of Virgin's most senior captains on the Airbus A340.
Nick is also one of the hosts on the highly regarded Airline Pilot Guy Show podcast (https://airlinepilotguy.com/), which is really worth listening to even if you only have a passing interest in all things aviation.
We had a very enjoyable conversation and, amongst a range of humorous moments, and aviation stories, there are some fantastic tips on leadership and also managing your own mental health.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
I am delighted to be joined this week by Juliet Kennedy. Juliet very recently completed more than 8 years as the Operations Director at National Air Traffic Services, the capstone of an entire 43 year career within the world of Air Traffic Control.
Juliet speaks very candidly about her love of a job that many would consider extraordinarily stressful but which she simply thrived on. She is very clear that it is the outstanding people within the air traffic world that make it what it is, and she offers some fascinating perspectives on leadership and life in general.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In some respects ground tours or "flying a desk" are the things that aircrew are conditioned to dislike the most; however, as you will hear in this episode, that wasn't really the case for me and, although I always loved flying, I also thoroughly enjoyed my time on the ground.
This episode covers my ground tours as a squadron leader, starting with my first tour in the UK Ministry of Defence, then on to the Joint Service Defence College at Greenwich, and concluding with a short tour in Operational Requirements, once again in the Ministry of Defence.
As ever with such roles, there are some really useful leadership experiences that I reflect on and I hope you find them useful.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Mary Walter, a TV and radio broadcast personality, and a podcast host, based in New Jersey, USA.
Mary and I have known each other for many years and I was really keen to tap into her Talk Radio experience to get some new perspectives not only on her own career and journey, but also on the US more generally. As I anticipated, this is an episode with plenty of laughs but also a wide range of serious perspectives that I certainly hope you find both useful and interesting.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Trigger Warning! Whilst it doesn't go into detail, this episodes touches on the death of work colleagues and family members including children.
With this, my first thematic episode in a while, I address the difficult topic of "Dealing with Adversity!"
Whether personal or professional, really challenging situations, especially those involving the injury or death of family members or work colleagues, can be extremely hard to deal with. The problem can be even more acute if you are in a leadership role and have few obvious outlets for support, advice and help.
Through the medium of some of my own experiences (and I've certainly had a few!), I offer some thoughts and advice that will hopefully help to pre-arm the listener with some coping strategies both for self-help and for providing support and help to others around them.
As ever, please let me have your feedback, and please do subscribe and review the podcast on your preferred channel.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Back in Episode 33 I started giving a full description of some of the aspects of military flying that dominated the flying part of my RAF career. As I got into the episode I realised that I had rather more to say about this than I originally thought and so I didn't get through all the things that I originally planned to cover.
This episode is consequently the next chapter of very flying specific personal stories, and I talk in some detail about aspects of the tactical employment of military aircraft, including the use of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons and air combat training.
With apologies to some, I suspect this episode will be very much marmite (i.e. you will either love it or you will hate it), so if details about flying operations are not your thing, this might not be one for you, although I'd love to convert you to being a big fan of flying stories obviously!!
All feedback welcome, especially from those who have direct experience in the RAF or other militaries.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Reuben Keith Green, a former US Navy surface warfare officer and the published author of "Black Officer, White Navy". As the book title suggests, Keith's life in the US Navy was a challenging one and, since leaving the Navy in 1997, he has devoted the majority of his time to trying to improve the situation that black members of the US Navy face on a routine basis.
This interview discusses Keith's personal journey at length, including the discrimination he faced throughout his time as an enlisted rank, and then subsequently as an officer. It is not a wholly negative story. As Keith makes very clear, he worked with many excellent white officers, and many of the key influencers in his life have been white. However, there are plenty of seriously challenging issues as well, and Keith does not hold back when it comes to describing the difficulties he faced and the lasting impact they have had on him.
This is a hard hitting story but one that absolutely must be told as Keith's experiences carry lessons for all leaders in the private sector as well as the military and wider public sector. Although Keith's focus is clearly within the US, the examples he quotes are regularly cited much more widely and that is why I think what Keith has to say is so important. His book was originally self-published but is now being republished in a much more mainstream way. It is already available in the US and will be available in the UK from June 2024 - I for one will certainly be reading it as, having spoken at such length with Keith, I am really interested to get to that next level of detail in his memoir.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this episode, I return to my personal RAF journey and share my experience of living in the Saudi Arabian desert whilst commanding the RAF detachment on Operation Southern Watch (to mission to police the southern Iraqi no-fly zone) in 1998.
Life in a tented encampment during the Saudi Arabian summer was extreme to say the least and I had a huge amount of very valuable experiences, some funny, some challenging, that really marked out this 5 month deployment for me as a time I have never forgotten.
There were some powerful leadership lessons in amongst everything else and I bring those out as part of this episode. I hope you enjoy it. As ever, please do subscribe and give me your feedback - it matters a lot to me.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
As the UK celebrates Pride month, my guest this week is Matt Lindley. Matt is a former RAF pilot who spent the majority of his military time on 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt near London, where he was an instructor pilot and captain on the HS125 VIP transport aircraft. In that role, he routinely flew the UK's most senior VIPs including HM The Late Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister and many others from the Royal Family and the UK Government.
Matt was gay in a military where for a good part of his military service being gay was not just frowned upon, it was actually illegal. The law changed during Matt's time in the RAF but this issue was a dominant factor in his early years as an RAF pilot. Despite these challenges, Matt speaks incredibly fondly of his time in the military and of the great leadership he experienced in the period after he was unexpectedly "outed".
He subsequently transitioned to the world of commercial aviation as in now a part time pilot with a major airline. He is also the founder of his own company, Propel Performance, and a highly regarded motivational and TedX speaker. He has a huge amount to say on the topic of leadership and there is much for any current or aspiring leader to learn from this episode of the podcast.
This was a great discussion with a man who has had an incredibly challenging career journey but who is rightly incredibly positive and upbeat about what he has achieved along that journey. It is a fabulous interview and I really hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In a slight break from normal procedure, I've recorded this episode on video whilst I was on the road with Deloitte University this week. It's shorter than many of my episodes but the content will hopefully resonate with you as it is an important topic.
Lifelong learning and taking the time to invest in yourself are incredibly important for anyone's development, especially those that are in leadership roles. Making space in your busy diary to upskill yourself, or simply to refresh your existing skills will reap dividends well in excess of the time investment required and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I really hope you enjoy this slightly different format although I apologise in advance for the garden machinery noises that you will hear in the background throughout this episode! Please do send me feedback when you've either watched or listened. I will be extremely interested to hear what you think and, if you like it, I will potentially do more of these shorter format, on screen sessions.
You can find the video version of this episode here:
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week's episode is a double first. It is the first time I have interviewed two guests at the same time, and those two guests happen to be father and son with two amazing life stories to share.
Ralph Arundell is a former British Army officer with a distinguished career in the infantry, and who is now the Director of Operations at Harrow School.
Henry Arundell is an elite level rugby player coming to the end of his third year as a professional, and who has already made an amazing start to his rugby career both at club and international level.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode and it will give you a lot of fascinating insights into the world of professional sport, as well as a wide range of leadership perspectives and experiences. I really hope you enjoy what I thought was a terrific conversation and, as ever, I would love your feedback when you have a chance.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
After more than 4 years on the ground, it was time to return to flying and this time as a Squadron Commander! Command of a front-line flying squadron is something that is pretty much at the top of the wish list for every career minded fighter pilot, and I was immensely privileged to take command of Number 6 Squadron at Royal Air Force Coltishall in July 1999.
This episode covers the high points of that tour both from a flying perspective and, just as importantly, from a leadership angle as well. It was a really critical tour for me in terms of my own leadership development and also presented me with a whole range of amazing flying opportunities that I will never forget.
Although I did have a few Jaguar flights as a Station Commander in the years ahead, this tour marked pretty much my final chapter with the Jaguar, the aircraft that had dominated my flying career, so it was certainly a bittersweet moment to fly my final sortie as an operational Jaguar pilot in January 2002. However, the memories I have will last me a lifetime, and I feel hugely privileged to have had so many wonderful experiences and opportunities in this amazing aircraft.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Some recent personal issues have led me to produce this short episode on Family & Friends, largely because I think too many of us neglect these vitally important stakeholders in our lives.
I know from my own experience that I could always do better at looking after my personal relationships; I never do enough and my best efforts to improve are often not as robust or meaningful as I would like them to be.
I exhort all of you to do better and really think about how you can put real emphasis on these relationships. There is no doubt whatsoever that your life will be richer and more positive if you do!
Please let me know what you think and, if you haven't already done so, please subscribe and review the podcast on your preferred platform. I really do appreciate and act on all the feedback I get.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, the current Chairman of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, and a former Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force. In another first for Leading 4 Life "Stories", this episode was recorded as an event for The Leaders' Club, with an online audience who were able to ask questions of Steve once the recording was complete.
Steve and I joined the RAF and went through flying training at very much the same time. Our paths diverged very early though as Steve went straight back into the flying training system as a Qualified Flying Instructor and subsequently on to the Tornado GR1 and then GR4. He climbed the career ladder at a very impressive rate and ultimately held the top job as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff from 2016-2019.
He has subsequently forged an equally impressive civilian career, taking over as Chair of the CAA in 2020, as well as being a Board Member of the Atomic Energy Authority, Chair of the RAF Museum, holding an advisory role with a major PLC, and being involved with a range of charities.
Steve speaks candidly about the highs and lows of his RAF career as well as offering advice for those leaving the military and transitioning to civilian life. Please note that, because the recording was made ahead of the UK General Election in July 2024, Steve was unable to talk about his CAA role due to the rules applying to all public officials ahead of UK elections.
In this episode we cover the following topics (starting time in brackets):
Steve's career journey (00.02.47)
Early motivations (00.07.42)
Adjustments to leadership style (00.12.02)
Role models (00.19.19)
Leadership learnings from the flying environment (00.28.13)
Highs and lows (00.34.38)
Relaxation & de-stressing (00.46.52)
Top tips for a leaving the military and making a successful civilian transition (00.50.24)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this shorter than normal thematic episode, I start a conversation about "Communicating with Impact".
There will be further episodes on this topic in the future but, for now, what I wanted to do was highlight some of the key things to think about when you are communicating as a leader. Style, timing, accuracy, format all matter when you are trying to land your message well and this episode shines some light on the key areas to think about, as well as some practices that I think are highly unsatisfactory from a leadership point of view.
I've kept the episode short and sharp so that hopefully my own communication has some impact on this occasion!! :-)
As ever, I hope you enjoy the episode, and all feedback is gratefully received!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
At the start of the week in which this episode was recorded, the world suffered what was arguably one of the most serious and significant cyber failures yet seen, when a poor quality Crowdstrike software patch caused mayhem in a wide range of industries right across the globe.
By pure coincidence (at least I think it was coincidence!!), this same week saw my own personal iMac fail permanently and irrecoverably. Luckily my files are all stored in various cloud locations and I also have a laptop computer to use as a fallback option; however, these two events caused me to think that technology would be a great topic for this week's thematic episode of Leading 4 Life "Stories". We are all incredibly reliant on technology in today's world and that generates real risks that we as leaders need to think about and mitigate as far as possible.
Leveraging my own personal experience and thinking, I offer you some thoughts about areas to focus on and also some solutions that might just prompt you to do some serious self reflection on your own use of technology, and how you might mitigate the technological risks in your own life!
I hope you enjoy it; all feedback welcome as always!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This week’s episode covers the first part of my post squadron command journey and my first (and only!) tour at RAF Strike Command.
Being the Head of Briefing & Coordination was a fascinating 18 months that gave me a huge amount of insight into the workings of the highest levels of the RAF. It really sharpened my focus on the need for attention to detail and it was a great privilege to be able to be present at a huge range of very senior meetings.
Whilst it was a ground tour, when I reflect on it now I realise that it was one of my most formative experiences and I feel very fortunate to have had such a great opportunity.
I hope you enjoy the story - please let me know what you think!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Motivation is critical to success both for you personally and for any teams you may lead. In this thematic episode I share my thoughts on how I think about motivating myself and the teams I have been fortunate enough to lead.
What works for you will probably be different to many around you and, in my experience, learning to recognise the key motivational elements in yourself and in your people is key to setting yourself and your team up for success.
I hope you find my thoughts helpful; please let me know what you think - it's always great to get your feedback.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
So it was once again on to bigger and better things! This week's episode sees me move to the role of Group Captain Typhoon, a new job, in a new rank, in a new RAF Headquarters. I was now part of Number 1 Group, which was at that point located in "Bomber Harris' former headquarters building at RAF High Wycombe.
This was an amazing tour on both a personal and professional level. Bringing a brand new aircraft into RAF service would have been busy and fascinating enough on any level, but I had the added facet of being a key part of the Typhoon export campaign to try and sell the aircraft to Singapore, who were running a campaign to select their new fighter at the time. That generated a wide range of opportunities and challenges and you will hear all about them in this episode, and I really hope you enjoy it.
As ever, please review, like and rate the episode on your podcast platform and please do send me some direct feedback if you have the time. I am always fascinated to hear your views.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Leading 4 Life "Stories" makes a return to guest interviews this episode with a fascinating session with Rob Pepper, internationally renowned artist and Principal of Art Academy London, a leading higher education art school based in the heart of the city.
Rob is the first guest I have had from the creative industry world, and we had a great conversation about a wide range of issues including the obvious personal challenge Rob faces balancing continuing to produce his own art whilst running a major institution and raising his two young children. He is quick to emphasize that he has had no formal leadership training and is very open about the areas of leadership that challenge him.
It really was a fabulous interview and I very much hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
It was a great privilege this week to have Professor Michael Mainelli, the 695th and current Lord Mayor of London, as my guest on Leading 4 Life "Stories". Michael has had the most fascinating career, with a host of executive and non-executive roles on his CV, as well as his journey through the ranks of the City of London Corporation as an Alderman, Sheriff and now Lord Mayor.
We had a really interesting and diverse conversation, and listeners will learn a great deal about the historic City of London Corporation, and the role of the Lord Mayor. We talk about Christ's Hospital school, where we both have a long relationship and a great deal of personal passion, and we also cover a great deal of the leadership points coming from Michael's long experience and very diverse portfolio career.
The focus of Michael's mayoralty, which runs from 10 November 2023 to 8 November 2024 is on a theme called Connect To Prosper and he and his wife Elizabeth are seeking to use the role to deliver benefits for the City, London, the UK and beyond for those with whom they connect. You can find out a great deal more detail using the links below:
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Another week and another amazing guest on Leading 4 Life "Stories. Lord Graham Brady was MP for Altrincham & Sale West from 1997-2024, and for the last 14 of those years he was also the Chairman of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee, which is the committee of back bench MPs that, amongst other things, is responsible for electing the leader of the party.
Graham stepped down from Parliament prior to the 2024 General Election and was subsequently ennobled as Baron Brady of Altrincham in the Government's dissolution honours list.
Graham was not only the longest serving Chairman of the 1922 Committee but also the first to have to preside over leadership elections whilst the Conservative Party was in government, and it was this role that brought him much more into the public eye over recent years.
We had a fascinating conversation about both the 1922 Committee itself and also the challenges of leadership in the political arena through some very turbulent times. Graham was very candid in this interview and I very much hope you will find what he has to say as interesting as I did.
Graham's autobiography, entitled "Kingmaker", will be published very shortly and, based on the insights he gave me on the podcast, I am sure it will be a fascinating read.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
This is the first of several episodes charting one of the standout tours of my RAF career! It was the privilege of a lifetime to command Royal Air Force Coningsby, and there are a huge number of life experiences and leadership lessons that came from this single two year period in my career.
In this initial episode, I set out my stall in terms of some of the big areas of interest and focus that set this role apart from everything I had done previously. I deliberately stay out of the detail as I will pick that up in subsequent episodes, but my aim is to whet your appetite so that you return for more as I continue to talk about this amazing opportunity in subsequent episodes.
Please review, subscribe and let me have your feedback as ever. I would be particularly interested in knowing if any of the areas I discuss particularly pique your interest so that I can start to shape future episodes based on your feedback.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Simon Reid, the Head Teacher of Christ's Hospital, a 900 bed independent boarding school, near Horsham in West Sussex, UK.
Previously the Head Teacher at another famous independent school, Gordonstoun in Scotland, Simon has been at Christ's Hospital for the past 8 years and will step down at the end of the Sumer Term in 2025. Having spent all his adult life in education, this was a fascinating conversation as we discuss Simon's personal leadership journey and a wide range of broader issues surrounding the importance and changing nature of education more generally.
The episode is a particularly significant one for me since I went to Christ's Hospital myself and, without any doubt, what I gained from my education there has shaped my entire life! It is a very special place that provides more than 3 times the level of bursary support than its next nearest competitor and genuinely does change the lives of those lucky enough to go there.
I really hope you enjoy the discussion. Please let me have your feedback and don't forget to subscribe and review the podcast on your chosen platform - it really helps!
In this episode we cover the following topics (starting time in brackets):
Simon's career journey (00.02.34)
Early motivations (00.06.56)
Christ's Hospital School (00.09.57)
The contrast and similarity with Gordonstoun School (00.18.44)
Changes to leadership style (00.26.05)
Educating the young people of today - how has it changed? (00.31.08)
The value of non-executive governors / directors (00.36.51)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this second part of the story of my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby, I focus on some of the specific leadership dynamics and organizational structures of the base.
The episode builds on Episode 59 and sets up a series of further episodes that will cover, inter alia: the build of of the RAF's Typhoon Force; flying the Typhoon; flying the Jaguar; flying the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; UK Quick Reaction Alert; and a few other specific aspects such as my most memorable moments from the tour.
There are plenty of top tips in here for those on their way up the leadership ladder and I very much you enjoy the episode. If you do, please leave me a review on your preferred podcast platform, subscribe for future episodes and, if you have time, please send me some direct feedback - I always really appreciate it.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Continuing the story of my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby, this episode focuses on aspects of the buildup of the Typhoon Force.
In the 20 years since I was privileged to command this great base, it is amazing to see how much the Typhoon has progressed not only as an individual military aircraft, but also as an immensely capable force within the overall RAF structure.
I am immensely proud of the work that my team did in those early days to make great strides in capability development that certainly set the path up well for the future.
I really hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, please let me have your feedback, and subscribe to get the earliest notification of future episodes.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Steve Fletcher, the Founder and CEO of The Leaders' Club (www.theleadersclub.org).
I first met Steve almost exactly 10 years ago when I was transitioning out of the Royal Air Force and another colleague suggested I join The Leaders' Club. I joined immediately and, since then, Steve and I have become good friends and, more recently, colleagues since I am now a Director and the Deputy CEO of the Club myself.
As Steve explains in the interview, he founded The Leaders' Club back in 2008 on the back of some very personally challenging times for him professionally as the "credit crunch" hit his business extremely hard. Over the years he has had a fascinating career journey mostly in the world of IT training, and he was also a Justice of Peace on the Wirral Bench for 33 years.
We had a great conversation and Steve speaks very frankly about what he always describes as "the banana skins of life", which he has encountered plenty of along the way.
The Leaders' Club is essentially a members only networking group that meets most weeks (via Zoom with the occasional face-to-face event) for presentations from a very wide range of fascinating external speakers. If you are interested in what the Club offers, please visit www.theleadersclub.org to find out more, and to join if you wish to become a member. Although I am obviously biased, I find it a fascinating organisation and for a very modest fee you will get great value from the amazing presentations we are lucky enough to receive.
I really hope you enjoy this episode and, if you do, please consider supporting the show via the link below. You can also leave a review on your podcast provider's platform and / or send me some direct feedback. I would be very grateful for your help with this as it all helps to enable the show to continue as it is.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
E64 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 4 - Flying the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
One of the greatest privileges of my RAF career was being able to fly as a fighter pilot on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) for the 2005/2006 display seasons whilst I was in command of RAF Coningsby.
This was a truly unique opportunity and one that I will always cherish because it was simply so special to be able to fly these wonderfully iconic aircraft, and get a bit more appreciation for what the WW2 generation of pilots went through as they operated them in the most extreme conditions possible.
In this episode I seek to give you the listener something of a feel for the way the BBMF is structured and organized but, more importantly, I aim to give you a bit of an insight into what it was actually like to fly these fabulous machines. I hope I succeed on both counts but I suspect I will need to make the time for another episode that really drills into the detail at some point!! Let me know if that's what you would like to happen!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Hardeep Dhanjal, a professional international speaker and mindset coach based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I first met Hardeep when he was engaged as the motivational speaker to kick off a workshop session that I was subsequently facilitating for Deloitte Denmark. I was hugely impressed by his inspirational story and I'm delighted that he accepted my invitation to come on the podcast.
I'm equally delighted that my initial reaction to bring him on as a guest was fully justified, as this is a really terrific interview that I very much hope you find it as useful, inspiring and enjoyable as I did when we were making the recording.
Hardeep gives a deeply personal account of his own journey from a challenging childhood to the highly successful married father of two that he is today. It is a powerful narrative and there are absolutely tons of great leadership thoughts that come through and which I am sure you will find both interesting and helpful.
Lastly, if you are looking for a great motivational speaker, Hardeep should definitely be on your short list - he's outstanding!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is John Cordle, a former US Naval Captain who still works closely with the US Navy as a Human Factors Engineer and is based in the eastern United States.
I met John through episode 43 of the podcast when I interviewed Keith Green and we discussed his book, "Black Officer, White Navy". As you will hear in the episode, John became friendly with Keith following the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, and we had a great discussion about "colour blindness" particularly amongst white people who have never had to experience the challenges often faced by other races.
Another big topic of our conversation is the importance of sleep and the impact that results from not having enough of it. John is an absolute expert in this area and I am absolutely sure that his comments will make you think about your own habits and behaviour when it comes to ensuring you get enough sleep.
All told, this was a great discussion and I learned a lot from it so I hope you do too!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Given that this episode will be first published on Remembrance Sunday 2024, my guest this week could not be more appropriate. Vice Admiral Paul Bennett had a stellar Royal Navy career, with multiple warship commands, culminating in a 3* role in NATO's Allied Command Transformation HQ in the USA.
As the title makes clear, Paul is now the National President of the Royal British Legion and, in that capacity, he has a key role in the annual remembrance commemorations both in the Royal Albert Hall and at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
Given Paul's tremendous leadership experience, there is much to discuss on the leadership front and he offers a plethora of thoughts and advice based on his own journey.
We also talk at some length about NATO given the geopolitical challenges facing the world and the alliance in particular. Unsurprisingly, we also focus in on the Royal British Legion and remembrance in general.
This was another great conversation and I really hope you find it both interesting and valuable.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
In this instalment of my personal stories, I continue to recount my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby and, this time, I focus on flying the Typhoon.
This was an incredibly special time in my career as being charged with bringing a completely new RAF capability into service was an enormous privilege.
It was also quite daunting as, having spent all my previous flying tours in the nuclear strike, ground attack or reconnaissance roles, switching to air defence, and getting into a brand new aeroplane type for what was inevitably going to me my final flying tour, offered a completely new set of challenges.
The Typhoon is an amazing aircraft and, even at the very start of its life in the RAF, it showcased incredible capability and brought a huge smile to the faces of every pilot that flew it - most definitely including me! I hope that some of my joy and enthusiasm comes across as you listen to this episode!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is Professor Richard Sullivan, the Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King's College London (KCL) & Guy's Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Richard has been a doctor since the early 1990s during which time he has increasingly focused on cancer as a specialism such that he is now globally renowned, and it was a real privilege to speak to him at length for this episode.
As well as his own leadership journey, we discuss in some detail the health system in the UK, as well as cancer diagnosis and treatment more generally. Richard's depth and breadth of knowledge of his subject made this a fascinating conversation from which there is much for all of us to learn.
In addition to his very busy role within the UK National Health Service, Richard is extremely active internationally, having also founded the Centre for Conflict and Health Research at KCL, which focuses on improving health outcomes across the world, especially in low and middle income countries. That work has taken him to the majority of the conflict areas on the globe and we spend a fair amount of time discussing not only what Richard does on these trips, but also the broader experience he gains from visiting parts of the world that most of us only see on our TV screens or in our newspapers.
I have been blessed with many great guests on this show but this conversation was one that I certainly won't forget. It was absolutely fascinating as well as extremely enjoyable, and I very much hope you find it as informative as I did.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
It's been some while since I did a thematic episode so I thought this would be a good topic to introduce, and to hopefully stimulate some thought and maybe even some discussion.
Debriefing is the topic and the reason I titled this episode as "The Power of Debriefing" is that I truly believe it is a game changing activity that is, unfortunately undertaken far too little in the commercial world.
Through explanations of how the military, and the Royal Air Force in particular, makes use of debriefing, I hope to provide you with some insight and provoke your thinking as to whether you are currently doing all you can, both personally and within the team environment, to harvest all the benefit and learning from your day to day activity.
I would be fascinated to hear your reflections and, as ever, your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
One of the most memorable events of my entire RAF career was having the privilege of leading the flypast to mark Her Majesty The Late Queen Elizabeth II's 80th Birthday in 2006.
We flew a 49 aircraft flypast, the largest for many years, with a formation of Typhoons as part of the event for the very first time. Aspects of the event, including a short interview with me and part of the mass briefing, were filmed for the documentary series "Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work" and you can view that element of the series via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCUc90dTzeI
With this episode I aim to give you something of a "behind the ropes tour" of what is involved in creating, planning and flying a flypast of this type and I hope that it will give you some insight into the level of detail that is required to bring it off successfully. I really hope you enjoy the story!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Over the time I've been hosting this podcast, I've been very privileged to have a wide range of wonderful guests; however, this week's guest is an extremely special one even by those high standards.
Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC, is a World War 2 Mosquito bomber pilot who is rapidly approaching his 104th birthday! He is one of only very few World War 2 veterans still alive today and is still incredibly fit and active for a man of his great age.
During this conversation, Colin discusses his flying training and wartime experiences in great detail. We also talk about his life post war and his perspectives on defence and security today, through the lens of current conflicts and geopolitical tensions facing the world as it now is. Colin's ability to look at these modern challenges through the context of his own personal experience is immensely valuable and absolutely fascinating.
This conversation with Colin was one of the great privileges of my life and I will never forget it. Men of his generation and calibre are sadly fewer and fewer in number and it really was an absolute joy to have the chance to listen and learn from his experiences. I really hope you enjoy the discussion as much as I did.
Given the unique nature of this opportunity, I invited my friend and the host of the Plane Tales podcast, Nick Anderson, to join me in the interview. Plane Tales is a standalone podcast but is also a featured segment on the excellent Airline Pilot Guy Show podcast. Nick will be releasing extracts of this full interview with some additional commentary and photographs in a 3 part podcast, which you can find on all the main podcast platforms and also via these links:
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
For this, my final personal stories episode of 2024, I thought I would continue the series of tales from my time as Station Commander of RAF Coningsby and cover the development of and the challenges we faced with the Typhoon Display.
With a brand new, very high profile, and very high performance aircraft, it was obvious that we would need to put together an airshow display so that we could properly demonstrate the Typhoon's performance and potential to the British public and the wider world.
Given the already considerable demands of working up the Typhoon's operational capability, with fragile serviceability, limited numbers of aircraft, very limited on-aircraft pilot experience, and tight timelines, the creation of a safe but impressive display was a significant challenge. However, it was a challenge that my team rose to magnificently and for the 2005 display season (the very first year we had the Typhoon properly in RAF service) we put on a great show and a range of air displays across the UK.
That was just the start of what has become an annual Typhoon display ever since then, and the aircraft continues to thrill huge numbers of the public as well as industry professionals at a very wide range of airshows and public events every year.
It wasn't all plain sailing though and, as you will hear in the episode, we nearly had a disaster in that first season, and several other events occurred that certainly put my personal leadership skills to the test!
I hope you enjoy the story and, as ever, I would love to hear what you think so please do let me have some feedback.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
I'm sure you have much better things to do over the holiday period than listen to lengthy podcasts from me! Consequently, this is a short but hopefully sweet review of Leading 4 Life "Stories" across 2024.
I provide some personal thoughts about the journey so far and some detail of the number of personal stories, thematic episodes and guest interviews before giving just a few of my personal highlights from what has been a fabulous set of guests across the year.
I'm extremely grateful to you for listening but also to all my guests for participating and helping to make the show what it has become! Wishing you and all your families the very best for the new year and hoping that 2025 brings you all you hope for and more!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
We kick off Season 3 of the show with a fascinating guest who has an amazing family story and who lives in a fabulous part of the world. Oh, and he has a lot of great perspectives on leadership too!!
Doug Rattray is the Managing Director of Fugitives' Drift Lodge & Guest House in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Set right between the famous Anglo-Zulu war battlefields of Isandlwana and Rouke's Drift, Doug and the team at Fugitives' Drift specialise in battlefield tours but also have a private game reserve on their property and offer wonderful walking in a spectacular landscape.
My reasons for interviewing Doug on the podcast are somewhat broader though. His family history is a story of tragedy to triumph and with serious amounts of resilience along the way. Doug's father, David Rattray, was tragically murdered in 2007 and it would have been the easiest thing in the world for his wife Nicky to take the young Doug and his brothers and move away from Fugitives' Drift to start a new life elsewhere.
However, Nicky didn't do that! She forged ahead with continuing David's legacy and expanded by creating the David Rattray Foundation to improve the educational prospects of local children in this very challenging area of South Africa. The results are both fabulous and inspirational and I very much hope you enjoy this amazing story, and that it inspires you to visit the wonderful place that is Fugitives' Drift.
You can find out more about Fugitives' Drift here:
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of torture and interrogation as well as frequent bad language.
My guest this week is John Peters. John flew Tornado GR1 aircraft as an RAF pilot and was shot down and captured on his very first operational mission during the Gulf War of 1991. He was subsequently held as a Prisoner of War for 7 weeks, during which time he was brutally interrogated and tortured on a routine basis. The traumatic pictures of him (and others) that were released by the Iraqi regime whilst John was in captivity went around the world and still shock to this day. However, when he was released from captivity at the end of the war, it was those same images that were to transform his life completely in the years that followed.
Although we focus quite heavily on his time in captivity, that is not really what this podcast is about. The bigger story is all about what John learned about himself during his time as a PoW, and the opportunities that he has been able to leverage to forge a successful business career as a result. He has built up an extensive leadership development, speaking, and coaching career that he has been able to use to benefit countless others in the 25 years since he left the Royal Air Force, and he is able to use first hand examples of resilience and dealing with adversity that very few can match!
This is a powerful, emotional and incredibly interesting story and we have a great discussion about a wide range of leadership issues along the way. I really hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
It's always very hard giving up a great job and moving on from RAF Coningsby was no exception. The blow was softened a bit by the fact that I went from there to the Higher Command & Staff Course and subsequently to the Royal College of Defence Studies, so 2007 was, for me, definitely a year of "back to the classroom"!
In this personal stories episode, I aim to give you a flavour of these two amazing training opportunities which, whilst very different, were hugely helpful not only in developing my brain, but also with developing a wide range of deep and lasting professional relationships. It's rare that anyone gets such long training interventions during their professional career but the military is an organisation that really does do this well and I definitely made the most of it!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Recording my guest for this week was one of the most fun conversations I have had in a long time. Robert (Cujo) Teschner is a former US Air Force F15 and F22 fighter pilot, who now runs the VMax Group of leadership trainers in the US.
Cujo is a bestselling author and a prize winning speaker and when you listen to this interview you will realise why! Discovering he had serious colorectal cancer at the age of only 39, his life transformed dramatically as he had to step away from the flying career he loved and totally restructure his life. His transition out the US Air Force was not straightforward but he learned a huge amount along the way, all of which helped him build the very successful business he has today.
Cujo's story is an incredible one and I am sure you will find his experiences and insights fascinating and inspirational in equal measure.
If you're a fan of flying stories, I'm pleased to say there are a few of those for you to enjoy as well! Most importantly though, there are an abundance of life lessons and great leadership tips in this episode and I really hope you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed making it!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Another week and another great guest on the show. Rory Underwood is probably best known for his amazing skill on the rugby pitch. He represented England for 12 years, and still holds the try scoring record for an England player with 49 tries from 85 international appearances for his country.
Rory was also a highly successful Royal Air Force pilot and, having followed that path myself, I marvel at his ability to deal with the challenge of flying training at the same time as playing rugby at the international level - that was an amazing balancing act and Rory talks about it a lot on the podcast.
For just over 25 years now, Rory has been in the corporate world. He is the founder and CEO of Wingman, a highly successful consultancy and leverages all that he learned from the rugby pitch and the RAF to help companies improve their teams, their individuals, and their corporate strategy.
We cover a tremendous amount of ground in this episode and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it.
NOTE: Rory makes substantial reference to his flying career and there are a number of expressions and acronyms that might not be clear to the average listener. I hope the following notes help to demystify some of the terms used:
Alpha refers to angle of attack, which in simple terms is the angle between the wing and the airflow. It is critical to aircraft performance and frequently used as a key element of an approach to land or in high performance manoeuvring.
Instrument flying is the term used when flying the aircraft purely by reference to instruments rather than using any external visual cues. It is critical when flying in cloud or poor weather and is a key skill for all military and commercial pilots.
SCT refers to Staff Continuation Training. Typically a training organisation will have a certain amount of flying hours allocated to enable the staff and instructors to keep up their personal flying skills.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Having thought I was leaving the operational world behind me when I handed over my command of RAF Coningsby, only a little more than a year later, in January 2008 I found myself getting on an aircraft to head to Afghanistan as the incoming Commander of Kandahar Airfield, one of (at that stage) only two strategic airfields in the country.
There are a huge number of great leadership points and operational experiences that I want to cover in this chapter of my career and so this relatively short 9 month tour will result in several episodes of the podcast and I hope you enjoy them all.
In this episode, I set out some of the context and the preparation for my departure. I conclude with my arrival in country and hopefully set the scene for what is to follow over the next few episodes!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
As you will hear when you listen to this episode, a couple of recent events have led me to dive into the topic of optimism versus pessimism this week. My intent is to get you to do a bit of self-reflection and consider whether you are a glass half full or a glass half empty type of person.
Neither is right or wrong, but it is important to understand where you are on the optimism / pessimism scale both for you own well being and for those around you personally and professionally. The intent of the episode is very much to make you think about your own personality and what your coping strategies might need to be to cater for wherever you are on the scale. Have a listen and please let me know what you think - I would love your feedback on this hugely important topic.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
I continue the account of my time as Commander Kandahar Airfield in this week's episode, and I focus on the challenge that I faced with cohering a wide range of national contingents of vastly different sizes and with often very different agendas and priorities.
Given my responsibility for all the life support aspects of the base, principally logistics, force protection and any infrastructure that was not single-nation specific, this was a crucial role to ensure the safety and security of all on the base.
The development of the Afghan National Army and the weekly local merchant trade bazaar were other dimensions to this already complex picture and, taken together, this really made for a very significant "cat herding" exercise throughout my tour.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is my friend and former RAF colleague, Howard Burton. Howard and I served together on the Jaguar Force way back in the 1980s and then our paths diverged significantly.
After a very successful career as an operational front-line pilot, Qualified Weapons Instructor, and instructor pilot on the Jaguar Conversion Unit, Howard left the RAF to join British Airways where he subsequently spent some 37 years before retiring late in 2024. Within BA, Howard flew a multitude of different aircraft types on both short and long haul, and as his experience grew, he rose to be a senior training captain with the airline.
Alongside the flying, Howard has done a lot of fascinating aviation consultancy work, specifically as an expert witness in a range of major airline accidents and incidents. We talk extensively about this aspect of his career, and I guarantee you will learn things that you didn't previously know when you listen to some of Howard's stories.
This was another great conversation and, as well as talking all things aviation, we cover a wide range of leadership topics that are applicable across all sectors in this episode. I really hope you find the discussion both interesting and enjoyable, and I look forward to your feedback as always.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
One of the most interesting aspects of my tour in Afghanistan was the opportunity to get outside the base perimeter and patrol with the Royal Air Force Regiment.
This wasn't just gratuitous on my part. I believe passionately that leading by example is crucial as a commander and I needed to put some "skin in the game" alongside those that I was asking to take very significant risks. I also needed to conduct key leader engagement with local tribal elders and so roughly every 2 weeks I would go out on a patrol, mostly by day but occasionally by night as well.
In this episode, I seek to give you a flavour of what those patrols were like by describing the process that we went through to get ready, the equipment we carried and some of the missions we would conduct. I could discuss this topic for many hours but I hope this short session gives you at least a feel for what it was like to be out amongst the population in the surrounds of Kandahar Airfield.
Do please let me have your feedback; I would be fascinated to know if you want more detail on this type of topic or whether I have already said too much!
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Some events in my life this week caused me to have to be pretty flexible as I prepared to get this week's episode released, and so I thought that a thematic episode, focused on "flexibility" would be a logical output from those events.
Flexibility is, without doubt in my view, one of the key traits of a good leader. There are many reasons you will need it, and many ways you can demonstrate it. My aim this week is to provide a range of thoughts on the topic to prompt your own reflection and introspection as you listen.
It's a shorter episode than normal but, as always, I hope you find it useful and interesting. Please let me have your feedback; it really helps me to improve the show and provide you with content that makes the best use of your valuable time.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
My guest this week is the incredibly charismatic and engaging Russell Wardrop. Russell is the Co-Founder and CEO of the training and development company KWC Global, formally known as Kissing with Confidence, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
I am privileged to work with KWC Global as an associate and first met Russell when I was a participant in one of his courses whilst I was working at Deloitte. Without doubt, the company has a very special and highly memorable training style, which has the bonus of being extremely effective as well!
Our conversation is long and wide ranging, not least because we both have very similar views on many of the challenges facing society both in UK and globally today. We certainly don't shy away from controversy, and you might not agree with everything we say, but I certainly hope you enjoy the conversation, and that it stimulates your own thinking on some very topical and important subjects.
If you are in need of developing your team's professional business skills, I can heartily recommend KWC Global - their training is outstanding and, as Russell highlights, the focus is very much on ensuring good ROI for their clients.
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
Améliorez votre compréhension de Leading 4 Life "Stories" avec My Podcast Data
Chez My Podcast Data, nous nous efforçons de fournir des analyses approfondies et basées sur des données tangibles. Que vous soyez auditeur passionné, créateur de podcast ou un annonceur, les statistiques et analyses détaillées que nous proposons peuvent vous aider à mieux comprendre les performances et les tendances de Leading 4 Life "Stories". De la fréquence des épisodes aux liens partagés en passant par la santé des flux RSS, notre objectif est de vous fournir les connaissances dont vous avez besoin pour vous tenir à jour. Explorez plus d'émissions et découvrez les données qui font avancer l'industrie du podcast.
