Tag Archives: Leadership

Review “Sully” Movie

28 September, 2016 · by · in Back Stories, Leadership, News · 25 Comments

Summary “Sully” is a story of personal and team resilience. Sully made a difference for his passengers, crew, company and their friends. The real Sully Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles are larger in life than their characters in the movie.  Their values, words and actions provide life lessons for us all. Islands of human resilience like the […]

Aviation Pathways for Aspiring Aviators (version 118 – December 2021)

25 August, 2016 · by · in Airbus, Careers, Motivation, Qantas, Resources · 73 Comments

I urge not just aspiring pilots, but all people working towards a dream to read this article (Brandon Bullhorn) Latest Update: Pilot-Less Aircraft Contents Aviation Pathways Constraints Training Options Employment Options Employment Tests & Interviews Career Development Alternate Career Aviation Industry Aircraft Life Plan Money Where From Here? Summary For more Information Answers to Questions […]

“Resilience at the edge of chaos” (My interview with Mark Bouris)

10 July, 2015 · by · in A380, Back Stories, Cabin Crew, Leadership, Management, Neuroscience, News, Passengers, Personal, Phoenix, Psychological, Teamwork, Training · Leave a comment

I enjoyed being interviewed by Mark Bouris this week about “Resilience at the edge of chaos”.   We discussed issues ranging from the neuroscience of leadership to survive ‘Black Swan events’, to future technologies  and how robots will impact business and employment.  markbouris.com.au/episode-14-mark-bouris-podcast Mark’s Podcasts Mark’s fascinating podcasts are downloaded by about 275,000 listeners every […]

It’s Time to be a Pirate!

16 December, 2014 · by · in Airbus, Back Stories, Leadership, Motivation, News, Psychological, Security · 1 Comment

Below is the Occasional Address that I delivered at the 2014 Graduation Ceremony for the Arts Faculty at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at the Wagga Wagga campus on 15 December 2014. Deputy Chancellor of Charles Sturt University – Peter Hayes, Vice-Chancellor and President – Andrew Vann, Graduates of the Faculty of Arts – you did […]

My Next Book Announced

29 October, 2014 · by · in Back Stories, Books, Giving Back, Leadership, Management, News, Personal, Psychological, Richard de Crespigny, Teamwork · 4 Comments

I am excited to announce my next commissioned book.  The book has a temporary “working title” of “Phoenix”. Phoenix will be available released in September 2018 “Phoenix” will explain my values and beliefs and perhaps gives insight into all the elements of survival and success we need to face change, disruptionand uncertainty ahead.  It will […]

Mayday Mayday

12 February, 2014 · by · in QF32 Story, Reviews, Teamwork, Technical · 9 Comments

Flying east at 37,000 feet over the Indian Ocean (Photo R de Crespigny) Update 22 Feb 2012 I think the Canadian “Air Crash Investigation S13E10 – Qantas 32: Titanic In The Sky” production  (as shown on the National Geographic channel) is better. Mayday Mayday – Terror on QF32 Peter Overton presented “Mayday Mayday – Terror on […]

Book Review – “Good to Great” by Jim Collins

13 January, 2013 · by · in Leadership, Motivation, Psychological, Reviews · Leave a comment

I rarely publish book reviews for this is not my specialty and others do a better job of it than I do.   But today I find myself sitting in Frankfurt Airport having missed my connection to Toulouse by 5 minutes and now waiting for another 10 hours until my next flight.   I’ve been […]

Back Story QF32 p 124 – Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger

10 October, 2012 · by · in Back Stories, Management, Psychological, QF32 Story, Reviews, Teamwork, Technical Crew · 5 Comments

I have just added one more memory to my list of life’s great experiences. I spent many hours yesterday with Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the captain of US Airways flight 1549 that successfully ditched in the Hudson in 2009 and the captain who saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew. Sully is a quiet […]

Back-story QF32 p 340 – Chinese Symbol for the word ‘CRISIS’

1 August, 2012 · by · in Back Stories, Leadership, Management, Psychological, QF32 Story, Teamwork · Leave a comment

I received the following correspondence from Dr Derwyn and Carolyn Jones – passengers on QF32. In the spirit of the “glass being half full, not half empty”, I echo their thoughts and share them below: “When written in Chinese the word ‘crisis’ is composed of 2 characters. One represents ‘danger’ and the other represents ‘opportunity’. […]