Justin Hughes Keynote Speaker

Expert on building high-performance cultures
Executive Officer and Red Arrow Pilot, Royal Air Force (2000-02)
Author of 'The Business of Excellence'

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Justin Hughes's Biography

Justin Hughes is an expert on building high-performance cultures.

As a former fighter pilot, Executive Officer of the Red Arrows, senior corporate executive and current biotech entrepreneur addressing climate change, 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 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 experience as a fighter pilot, 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 who partners with senior leadership teams to improve organizational effectiveness. Clients have included Microsoft, the United Nations and Mercedes Formula 1, and he is a regular contributor to BP’s global Leading in Operations programme.

Justin 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.

Justin has an MBA with Distinction from London Business School and an MSt with Distinction in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. 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.

High Performance Cultures/Teams

Highly engaging introduction to the key drivers of high-performance cultures based on 20yrs of entrepreneurial and corporate experience, preceded by 12yrs as a fighter pilot and Executive Officer of the Red Arrows (250 displays).

Leadership

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 is distinct from working out the journey and the ability to execute.

Risk

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.

Decision-Making

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.

Resilience

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 and tools.