Alex MacPhail Podcast

Prof Johann Coetzee is a Psychologist, mentor, author, helicopter pilot, accomplished athlete and family man. Has a love for learning and holds three doctorates, together with emeritus professorships. Johann was instrumental in starting Henley Air in 1995, and although not directly involved with the day-to-day running of the business, he is held in great respect for his guidance, wisdom and ethics...

In this episode Alex interviews Captain Jim "Guido" DiMatteo, a world-class pilot who spent 25 years flying fighters in the U.S. Navy. He logged more than 5,000 hours flying the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, A-4 Skyhawk, F-5N Tiger II and F-16N Fighting Falcon. He commanded Top Gun adversary squadrons on both coasts and led the foundation stood up by the Commander Naval Air Forces to organ...

Dr Anchen Laubscher is Group Medical Director for Netcare. She is responsible for the strategic oversight of all clinical and quality related matters. Previously, Dr Anchen was part of a High Performance Team, operating as a flying doctor with Netcare 911 helicopter. She now leads a High Performance Team of subject matter experts and is responsible for quality. After qualifying as a Doctor and not...

In this episode Alex interviews Matt Hall, the current and defending Red Bull Air Race World Champion.  Matt Hall is a third-generation pilot, a former Royal Australian Air Force fighter combat instructor, international unlimited aerobatic competitor and the first Australian to be selected to compete in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in 2009. As the defending World Champion in the rebran...

The Human Factor Hub was set up by two airline professionals, who have lived, breathed and taught core non-technical skills over decades. Neil Clarke, an airline Captain with South African Airways for more than 25 years, has been a Human Factors facilitator for more than two decades. David Doull, head of Crew Resource Management training at South African Airways, has a Masters degree in Human Fact...

Willie Cruickshank is the Race Series Director of the World Championship Air Race. Formerly Red Bull Air Race, the new WCAR series gets underway next year. Willie and his core team have been hard at work over the past 18 months, setting up and making arrangements to bring Air Racing back where it belongs, in the skies! Willie spent 3 decades serving as a front line fighter pilot and Commanding Off...

Heybrech van Niekerk was the first lady to represent the Silver Falcons Aerobatic Team, the national display team of the South African Air Force. She was selected to fly in the number 2 position in 2011 and later moved to the number 4 position. During her time, Heybrech has completed 75 public airshows. The Silver Falcons selected Heybrech, celebrating the milestone of having the first lady in the...

The Springbok Nude Girls are arguably South Africa's best rock band. They burst onto the scene in the mid 1990's with and energy and sound never before seen in SA. They have influenced other great South African bands such as the Parlotones and Fokofpolisiekar. Springbok Nude Girls frontman Arno Carstens and guitarist Theo Crous, join me live on Thursday 15th October.  The Nude Girls have...

Richard is a world-class athlete, global speaker and author. He has survived brain cancer on three occasions and continues to fight on, compete and inspire others. We will be talking about resilience, in a time when we all need to up our game. Richard's story will inspire you to get back up, after the year of 2020's setbacks! Watch this interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch...

Mandy Hickson. She was only the second woman to fly a Tornado GR4 on the front line, completing three tours of duty and 45 missions over Iraq. She became the Squadron’s Combat Survival and Rescue Officer, working closely with the US, instructing Squadron members on Escape and Evasion tactics. Throughout her time, Mandy was the only female aircrew and later learned the lessons of juggling life as a...

Freek has been a pilot for more than 2 decades. He has recently left South African Airways and I thought this would be an open and honest conversation, about the emotions wrapped up in this life change. Freek has also had a major medical issue. He was grounded for the better part of a year, had major cranial surgery and got back to full aviation health. The support received from South African Airw...

Owner of Madiba Bay School of Flight, Gerry is an interesting guest, with a rich background. We will be talking about training, learning, challenging the norms and getting a start in life. Watch this interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_deTIBkV0 Get in touch with Alex to improve the performance of your team:  alex@alexmacphail.co.za https://twitter.com/AlexMacPhail1 https://www...

Jeff Hoffman is the chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Network. Jeff is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, bestselling author, Hollywood film producer, a producer of a Grammy-winning jazz album, and executive producer of an Emmy Award-winning television show. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO of both public and...

Simanta is a Human Resources professional and an expert in Public Policy. His focus is on talent management, communication, branding and sustainability. Simanta shares his views publicly on various social platforms, thus gaining a significant voice on LinkedIn and Twitter. Simanta took his opportunity to turn the mic on me. He had invented some games, to help people identify their strengths. Siman...

What got my attention is when Mark posted about managing Springbok Nude Girls being not too dissimilar to managing Venture Capital. Already I felt I knew Mark. As the CEO of Neu Capital Africa, Mark runs an online platform which works with boutique corporate finance advisors to connect African companies to facilitate capital raising from $5m to $50m range. Then when we spoke, I heard of Mark'...

Daniel Perry was the co-pilot on the Nationwide Flight 723, which departed Cape Town International and shortly after lift-off had the right hand engine separated from the aircraft. Engine failure after take off is a manoeuvre that is well versed and trained specifically for all airline pilots, twice per year. This however, was no ordinary engine failure after take off. When the engine severed from...

Dr Bronwyn King (Order of Australia) is an oncologist who made the realisation that her pension fund was investing tobacco. While fighting cancer in the ward, she was financing tobacco with her pension fund. Tobacco Free Portfolios was born to change the fight and stop her pension fund from investing in tobacco. The Tobacco industry is big business. Usually listed as top 5 stocks on major stock ex...

Stewart Samkange is a wonderful man full of energy and great ideas! His mission is to make the working-world a better place, once HR Director at a time. Stewart was the first LinkedIn Live streamer from Africa. He has lived in many different countries, experienced different cultures and been a part of many large corporates. Stewart is a holds regular live streams with #Executives ​ #Disruptors ​ #...

Successful entrepreneur and speaker passionate about doing better business, better. Juanita Vorster is a successful entrepreneur who also holds the designations of Certified Director (SA) and certified Ethics Officer. Because of this she is uniquely positioned to give practical guidance on how to do better business better in a world that keeps changing. Her high energy delivery style combined with...

I am privileged to bring you Capt Dennis Dolan, former president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Association. This organisation is the global voice for airline pilots and represents more than 100 000 pilots in more than 100 countries, on matters primarily related to aviation safety. Dennis has had a distinguished career in the US Military, the legal profession, the airline...

My guest on this week has played 25 tests for the Springboks. He spent more than a decade playing professional rugby for Sharks, Lions, Cheetahs and Western Province. Throughout his career, AJ completed courses to upskill and get ready for a life of business after rugby. Within a few years of retirement, AJ  suffered a major emotional setback. He took time to refocus and get himself back on track...

In this episode I am joined by a special guest and friend of mine, Buti Tsebe. He was the pilot I trained to become a Silver Falcon. It is customary to train your replacement in the team and Buti became the number 3 when I departed in 2008. Before being trained as number 3, Buti replaced me as the Ground Liaison Officer (GLO) for the Silver Falcons.  Without question, Buti was a much better GLO th...

Mike and James flew around the world in 40 days! They did this in a Sling two-seater aircraft, which they built and was the prototype. They have flown to Oshkosh and now totalled two and a half times around the world, with crazy adventures in between. Mike Blyth, adventurer, aviator and founder of Sling Aircraft, having earned his wings on trikes, is a die-hard stick and rudder man. Following year...

Juan Velarde is currently one of Spain’s top aviators. He has competed in the Red Bull Air Race series since 2014. He is also the Spanish National Aerobatic Champion and competed in the World Aerobatic Championships many times, earning several medals along the way. Juan is also Captain for Iberia Airlines, flying the Airbus A330 on international routes. He also performs solo and formation aerobati...

Doug Ryder is the Principal of NTT Pro Cycling, a UCI top flight professional cycling team that competes in all the top cycling events, including:  Tour de France, Giro d'italia, Veulta a Espana. Doug was an Olympic cyclist and has worked in IT with Microsoft for many years. He founded and build up this team, to compete at the highest level, with great success. From talent, to technology, to...