Leading 4 Life "Stories"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message 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 t...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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