Justin 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... Read more
Justin 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.
As a result of some intellectual mid-life crisis, Justin has an MBA from London Business School and an MSt in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (both Distinctions). For the latter, he planned a thesis on pandemics but thought nobody would be interested (in 2017!), and instead analysed the threat posed by cryptocurrency to the financial order; he is currently sitting on a return of 1000%; unfortunately he only bought $30.
Highly engaging introduction to the key drivers of high-performance cultures based on 20y+ entrepreneurial and corporate experience, preceded by 12y as a fighter pilot and Executive Officer of the Red Arrows (250 displays).
Takeaways:
– Hire on attitude AND skill, but if you had to choose…
– Communicate...
At its heart, leadership is about exhibiting a set of behaviours such that others choose to follow you of their own free will. If they follow for a different reason, it’s probably seniority (ie they have to – that’s not leadership). It’s bringing people on the journey with you and...
Managing risk at a strategic level is about dealing with ambiguity. To do so, we need to gain a ‘better understanding of reality’ by mitigating cognitive and motivational biases. The most powerful tool to do this is to leverage the cognitive diversity of the team more effectively.
Takeaways:
–...
Good decision-making under pressure is not genius; it’s largely due to thought and preparation. We need to equip people with the decision-making tools and then empower them (ie not blame them for adverse outcomes) to use them.
Takeaways:
– Pre-plan responses to predictable situations
– Use dynamic rehearsal...
Resilience is not magic or just in some people’s DNA. For sure, some will be more naturally resilient, just like some are more natural leaders. However, everybody’s ability to ride out hard times and perform under pressure can be enhanced through the right mindset and the use of mental models...