Professional Speaker
Airline Captain
Charity Founder & CEO
Emma Henderson MBE draws on her unique leadership experiences, empowering audiences worldwide through her range of high-impact keynote speeches for business and education.
“Emma captivated our global audience with a warmth and drive that clearly resonated with all”
As one of only 500 female airline captains in the world, I was trusted to fly multi-million pound passenger jets, working in a high-pressured, male-dominated environment, where a momentary lapse in leadership and performance risked catastrophic results.
These challenges are not unique to the aviation industry.
Leadership is a privilege, a role which comes with great responsibility and yet today’s leaders are dealing with challenges of stress, overload, imposter syndrome - and burnout.
As a leader, who do you turn to in times of crisis?
Leadership Talks For Business & Education
Through a range of leadership topics, designed for both a corporate or academic audiences, I support leaders and teams wanting to perform at the highest level possible, when everyone is looking to them for the answers.
Brought to life through my trademark blend of humility and humour, these are my unique leadership lessons and stories learned from a career in the cockpit.
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Leaders need to set the example. They need to let their people think they have all their ‘ducks in a row’ (even when most of the time we have no idea where our ducks even are!) To do this requires you to maintain a professional approach at all times and to be the leader your teams need to see.
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You have control - so take it! All the decision-making models in the world won’t work if no-one ends up making an actual decision. Using methods that have been tried, tested and used every day in cockpits across the world, I will show you how to make confident decisions and lead your team to successful outcomes.
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Leadership has never been more testing and today’s leaders demand a fresh new approach. The easy path isn’t always the right one and leaders sometimes need to have the courage to do the right thing. I explain why this matters and give examples to show that there is always more than one way of achieving the same outcome.
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As the saying goes, ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ but effective teams can only be built if the culture is right. Whether in a big business environment, or a small team on an aircraft, the leader sets the tone. In this talk, I will show you how.
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What’s in your capacity bucket? Understanding your capacity as a leader is key, but what does that actually mean? This is about knowing what “rocks” are in your bucket, how big the bucket is in the first place, how it fills up during the day, and how and when to empty it. Just as important is understanding that everyone has their own bucket - and it might be fuller than you think.
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From Airbus to Carebus: how the Space Shuttle sparked my dream, as a 10 year old - and my subsequent journey into, through, and unexpectedly out of aviation.
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This talk shows you how to reframe challenges as opportunities and take responsibility for your own mistakes. It’s not always someone else’s fault and taking ownership of your own errors will make you a stronger, more respected - and human leader. Challenges are there to refine us rather than define us if we only choose to see them from a different perspective.
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Hold tight - this is my First Class ticket to success! I explain the importance of having an effective decision-making tool, give you that tool, and explain in detail how to put it into practice in a business (or life) situation. There are two models: one for when there is time to think, and one for when you are flying at 600mph, 200ft above the ground and there’s a mountain in the way…
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Tunnel vision is not only ineffective, it can be dangerous. I learned this first hand, when I mistakenly prioritised work over my health. So this is about listening to our bodies before they scream at us or worse, just stop working. Prioritising health and mental health in the workplace without becoming a slave to “fads” is essential for a healthy workplace and a balanced life. I explain how and why.
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It turns out we can’t actually have it all and be ‘all things to all people’. Women especially are very good at saying yes to everything, and strong women just want to “get sh*t done” - but the most effective way of doing this is actually to learn to say NO - whether it’s in the boardroom or at home, delegation is what you need!
