Justin Hughes leadership speaker
Justin Hughes leadership speaker

Justin Hughes

Former elite fighter pilot

Speaker Themes

  • Creating high-performance teams
  • Operational excellence
  • Leadership
  • Decision-making
  • Risk
  • Resilience
  • Behavioural safety
  • Safety culture

Travels from

London, UK

BIOGRAPHY

Justin Hughes is the CEO of biotech/climate startup NetZeroNitrogen. Combining that with turnaround experience as a senior corporate executive, and as a former fighter pilot and Executive Officer of the Red Arrows, Justin has ‘skin in the game’ when it comes to building high-performance cultures.

He is a renowned speaker on a range of related topics including leadership, building high-performance teams (inc virtual), decision-making under ambiguity, and performance in high-risk environments. Delivery options include keynotes, facilitation and workshops and he has extensive experience with diverse audiences in the US, Europe, the Middle and Far East, and China.

Justin brings an unusual combination of a highly engaging delivery style and clear, actionable insights based on first-hand knowledge of the most demanding operating environments. His passion for high performance evolved from his military experience, flying in over 250 displays worldwide on the Red Arrows. Justin’s BETTUR (Better Understanding of Reality) model is based on personal learning of how you plan, execute and adapt in situations characterised by ambiguity, imperfect information, speed of change and pressure to deliver.

Since leaving the RAF, Justin has worked as a strategic adviser on organizational effectiveness to clients including Microsoft, the United Nations and Mercedes Formula 1, and he is a regular contributor to BP’s global Leading in Operations programme. He is the author of The Business of Excellence (Bloomsbury, 2016), has been profiled in the London Standard, Director Magazine, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent, and interviewed for BBC World ‘Talking Business’, BBC Breakfast and GB News.

For more information on Justin Hughes’ speaking topics, availability and fees, contact leo@vbqspeakers.com

JUSTIN HUGHES : SPEAKER

How can we create high-performance teams? How should we think about risk? What makes a great leader? 

Justin Hughes sheds light on these key questions with insights from his own experience as a fighter pilot, video case studies of the Red Arrows’ fast-learning techniques and also examples from the military, sporting and corporate worlds.

He explores and analyses the drivers of high performance across teams and organisations, highlighting examples from business, sport, the military, and drawing on his own personal experience as a fighter pilot and member of the Red Arrows.

Justin Hughes’ years of operational, speaking, academic and consulting experience allow him to create talks that are tailored to any specific audience.

Audiences are left inspired and engaged, with practical tools that they can implement immediately in their work.

TESTIMONIALS

Justin’s preparation and professionalism in mastering the virtual format was a key factor in the great success of our first online event for senior clients (he even motivated my son to do his maths homework in a pre-call!)
Melissa Geiger, UK Board, KPMG

Feedback was massively positive and some of the best we’ve had
Beth Rowlands, Head of Technical Talent EMEIA, Fujitsu Services

A year on and we still use the language and some of the principles
Richard Bingham, Senior Director, Trade & Marketing, Maersk Deutschland

Justin delivered a very pragmatic insight into business excellence with the key take away for the team being the importance of debriefing and learning from what we have done. We have implemented this in every single operational meeting and our first half year performance has been excellent, exceeding our expectations when it comes to the number of patients treated with our medicines and subsequently exceeding our first half year corporate objectives.
Gary Hendler, Chief Commercial Officer, Oncology Business Group (Global) and Chairman & CEO EMEA Region at Eisai EMEA

I am writing to thank you most warmly for your presentation at the recent ASIS UK Winter Seminar. The feedback has been little short of sensational and is still the talking point of the day! You absolutely nailed what we were looking for. Thank you so much for delivering such a thought provoking and interactive session.
David Clark, UK Chairman, ASIS International

We have had many leadership interventions before, but Justin was in a class of his own
Abdulla S Al Raisi, CEO, Commercial Bank of Qatar

Justin is one of a rare breed of speakers who absolutely engages and captivates an audience, providing clear takeaways to action straight away into positive business results. I am certain that the impact and motivation from Justin was a factor in a record performance this month. An outstanding person with world-class ability to bring excellence to life.
Toby Babb, CEO, Harrington Starr, North Starr, HSTC

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