Mandy Hickson’s time in the RAF demonstrates only too well the importance of remaining calm under pressure and leading, quite literally, from the front to ensure she gets the best out of herself and her team.

Since leaving the RAF – first as a pilot in 2011 and then as a reservist in 2019 – Mandy has served as a governor on the board of trustees at the Victory Services Club and as a sporting ambassador for Hampshire County Council.

In 2020, she published An Officer, Not a Gentleman, an engaging, entertaining and shocking story that follows Mandy’s incredible journey in becoming one of the UK’s first female fast-jet pilots.

MANDY HICKSON – CORPORATE SPEAKING

Mandy has a remarkable insight into decision-making under pressure, the importance of human nature in advanced systems, and how to take calculated risks. She can apply her RAF experience to all industries, demonstrating an impressive understanding of humans. Her keynote speeches are professional, personal, inspiring, honest and motivational.

Mandy Hickson – Business Speaker

Challenging times require an exceptional corporate response. So how do you motivate and inspire your staff to demonstrate outstanding leadership and teamwork under pressure, to stride confidently towards purposeful goals and maintain focus despite significant risks?

Tailored to be relevant to your organisation, Mandy’s main themes include:

– The building and empowerment of effective teams

– Inspired goal setting and ultimate focus

– Decision-making under extreme pressure

– Maintaining momentum despite losing top talent

– Nurturing a culture of self-confidence and aspiration

Mandy Hickson – Women in Business

Amazingly, most women still face tough challenges in their working lives, including:

– Maintaining an essential work/life balance

– Overcoming innate risk avoidance tendencies

– A wavering of confidence and self-belief

– The glass ceiling

Mandy uses her own professional experience at the top of her game to inspire women in any industry, particularly in male-dominated environments, such as the RAF.

Mandy Hickson – Talks for Schools

Mandy recognises the challenges that head teachers face. Increasing administrative pressure and the speed of change are two factors that impact schools’ ability to achieve their main aims: nurturing pupils’ hopes and aspirations and inspiring them.

MANDY HICKSON – CORPORATE SPEAKING KEYNOTE TOPICS

Business Navigation

Whilst Mandy’s career was niche, she believes the decades of lessons learned in the aviation industry can be applied to any organisation. This includes teamwork and leadership, risk and crisis management, threats and errors, human factors, and debriefing.

Teamwork and Leadership: Supporting managers are crucial, and so is teaching when, where and how managers flex their job title. Employees feel more engaged when they’re listened to and respected, which can improve productivity and profitability.

Risk Management: Risk can be described as the probability or threat of injury, damage, liability or loss. For a long time, humans could also be put in the category of a ‘risk’. But now, companies are starting to see people as a source of creativity and insight, not as a source of risk.

Threat and Error Management: It’s essential to recognise that even the most competent professionals make mistakes, and therefore it’s equally important to have an open and constructive environment.

Human Factors: Leaders need to understand that humans can vastly influence how a business works, and they need their voices listened to, and their skills encouraged.

Crisis Management: A crisis is said to have three elements: a threat, an element of surprise and a short decision time. Whilst most prevalent in the aviation industry, this model can also be brought into the boardroom to shift old attitudes to crises.

Facilitated Debriefing: It is important that after an event, everyone has their chance to speak up to improve how things are handled in the future.

MANDY HICKSON – SPEAKING TOPICS

– Overcoming Adversity

– Peak Performance

– Teamwork

– Calculated Risks

– Women in Business

– Decision Making

– Error Management

– Life in the Military

A Chat with leadership speaker Mandy Hickson

As part of our ‘Chat with…’ podcast series at Great British Speakers, our director Jane Farnham sat down with Mandy to talk about how her experiences of working within an elite team of fast jet operators, and how her lessons learned can be used across any environment. Find out more HERE.

Clients include Arqiva, Atomic Energy Agency, Bae Systems, Balfour Beatty, BG Group Plc, Pfizer, RBS, RGS Foundation, Scotiabank, Standard Chartered, Surbiton High School, Taylor Wimpey, Women’s Institute.

Mandy is one of our amazing team of Leadership and Teamwork speakers, many who are female speakers

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book former pilot and motivational speaker Mandy Hickson for your corporate event.

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