Leading 4 Life "Stories"

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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&...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Support the show 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 an...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 Prison...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 Afric...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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,...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 wou...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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!...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 ac...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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,...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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, Pau...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 fl...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 immen...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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; flyi...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 st...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 respons...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 Londo...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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,...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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...

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 reco...