Matt Lindley is a commercial airline and an ex-RAF pilot and has flown missions in the Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. In 2000, he was asked to serve on The Royal Squadron, flying Her Majesty The Queen, other members of the Royal Family and Government officials worldwide. He is also one of the first openly gay pilots in the RAF.

Due to the legislation at that time stating it was illegal for gay personnel to join the Forces, Matt kept his sexuality hidden for fear of being fired which resulted in years of low self-esteem and feelings of isolation as he endured hearing “banter” in the form of homophobic jokes and remarks by his colleagues. These negative emotions built up inside resulted in him failing the Top Gun examination. Matt shares his experience to highlight how inclusive leadership and allyship positively impacts culture which, in turn can transform the wellbeing of employees and the productivity of an organisation.

This difficult episode in Matt’s career fostered a deep interest in Human Performance Factors, understanding how cognition and behaviours in the workplace are affected by periods of high workload, high stress and poor organisational culture. Matt shares this knowledge using simple to understand psychology and real life examples, to up-skill the audience with practical tools they can implement straight away such as emotional contagion, developing trust and the power of empathy in building relationships.