John Peters – Keynote Speaker

John Peters came to the world’s attention in January 1991, when his bruised and battered face flashed onto television screens around the world. It was his disfigured image that became a potent symbol of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless aggression. His dramatic and sometimes harrowing experiences reach deep into our innermost minds, showing us how we can overcome even our worst fears and nightmares. His war was not all as he expected – it became a seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation testing John Peters to the absolute limit and bringing him close to death.

John Peters is an experienced speaker of international repute to corporates, public sector and charities. He was the sole reader representing the British Armed Forces at the National Gulf Memorial Service, in front of Her Majesty, The Queen and presented the Sir James Martin Lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society in the presence of Prince Philip and followed Mr Nelson Mandela on stage in South Africa. He has written two best-selling books and the documentary, ‘Tornado Down’ was Independent Documentary of the Year and a BAFTA Award Nominee. He has extensive international TV, radio, PR and media experience.

During his RAF career, John Peters flew Tornado GR1 on various squadrons and then, within the MoD, he led programmes on leadership, safety and human error in aviation. Using this experience, on leaving the RAF, he founded a management consultancy providing business critical development, consulting and coaching – through a leadership lens. His previous clients include Capital One, Virgin Media, NDS, Lloyds Bank to name a few. With particular areas of interest being uncertainty, organisational learning, trust and failure, he is currently writing a book on leadership.

As the Director of Performance, John Peters designed the Executive MBA at Aston Business School. He is Fellow of Kingston Business School and Henley Business School and a former Chair of the Association of MBAs. In addition he runs the Leadership Module on the EMBA at the Academy of National Economic in Moscow. He is Patron to the charity, KidsOut, Honourary President of Throckmorton Airshow and a Governor of Worcester Royal Grammar School.

Feedback:

“I can honestly say that in my 13 years at Capital One it was probably one of the most insightful ones that I have been on and I have walked away feeling empowered to go away and make changes with the tools provided.”
Rachel Cadman, Risk Operations Project Solutions Team; Capital One. Response to the Manager Excellence Programme, Cohort 8

“Clearly your life experience helps in facilitating such a course, but as briefly discussed it was a good mix of active participation, theory and some useful material/reference sites that I can use both for my own and teams benefit.”
David Bell. Virgin Media

“Just to say thank you again for an informative and enjoyable Advanced Leadership course; I think we all gained some useful insights to help us survive in these interesting times. May I also say how inspirational we found your own story; seeing you last week was a timely reminder that even extreme adversity need not be a barrier to success, but perhaps changes the path to it.”
Dr Suparna Sukumaran. Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Team Leader, Barnet CAMHS East Team

“I have had the pleasure of working with John for a number of years. During that time he has helped me navigate through the numerous challenges faced when leading a business. He has a great ability to get to the nub of the issue and always provides a mix of challenging and insightful support when thinking through potential solutions.”
Ian Barclay (AON Risk Solutions; Managing Director ¡V Private Clients) Coaching

“An excellent course and my favourite module by far. John Peters did an excellent job, and his style made the learning experience fun.”
Capital One