Emma Henderson MBE
Equip your leaders with the ability to stay calm and make confident decisions through crises with Emma Henderson MBE, former airline captain. Emma provides leaders with practical frameworks to manage through change, allowing them to think clearly and act decisively when it matters most. Named among HR Magazine's Most Influential Thinkers 2025 and trusted by Natwest, Marriott Hotels, and NATO.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Through her keynotes, Emma translates aviation's rigorous protocols into actionable business strategies, helping leaders to make confident decisions under pressure. Her AVIATE™ decision-making model reveals how leaders can move from reactive to resilient, panic to purpose, and chaos to clarity, giving them the tools to think clearly, act decisively, and communicate confidently when it matters most.
Emma is also the founder and CEO of the national charity, Project Wingman Foundation Ltd, an initiative which provided a ‘first class lounge’ experience to offer rest and recuperation to thousands of NHS staff nationwide. In recognition of her work, Emma was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours list.
Emma has shared the insights gained from her trailblazing career in her bestselling book, GROUNDED, and in her TEDx talk. She has been recognised as the Booker's Choice at The Speaker Awards and named among HR Magazine's Most Influential Thinkers in 2025. She has also collaborated with major brands and organisations including Natwest, BNP Paribas, the NHS, Marriott Hotels, RBS, EDF Energy, and NATO.
Book Emma Henderson MBE when when your leaders require practical strategies to navigate turbulence and emerge stronger on the other side.
Topics, Sessions And Talks
In her signature talk, Emma Henderson MBE draws on 30 years of experience in aviation and leadership to teach leaders how to stay calm and make confident decisions through crises. Key takeaways include Emma's proven AVIATE™ decision-making framework, insights on Grounded Leadership, an understanding of how your atmosphere becomes your team’s climate and culture, and strategies to reframe challenges as opportunities.
Two experts. One mission: high-stakes leadership in a world of constant change. Airline Captain Emma Henderson and Futurist Matt O’Neill unite to help teams stay clear-headed when turbulence hits. Using Emma’s AVIATE framework and Matt’s signal-spotting tools, participants learn to stay calm under pressure, make confident decisions without perfect information, and turn disruption into progress. Real tools and real stories for leadership that actually work when everything goes sideways.
Emma Henderson MBE explores the twin metrics of leadership: altitude (your strategic vision) and attitude (your day-to-day execution of this vision). Emma shows how leaders succeed when both rise together and how drift occurs when vision outpaces culture. Drawing on her rare experience as a female airline captain, she highlights the importance of stepping up, creating equity, and lifting others as a leader. Audiences leave with a practical “flight-plan” to set altitude, calibrate attitude, and stay on course for stronger results.
In this session, Emma Henderson MBE shares how grounding is essential for effective leadership in today's turbulent world. She uses aviation metaphors to illustrate how leaders can remain anchored in their values while being agile and decisive. Attendees will take a deep dive Emma’s AVIATE™ decision-making model (Aviate, Validate, Investigate, Assess, Talk, Execute), learn the importance of leading with humanity, humility, and humour, and understand how to establish a "minimum safe altitude”. Emma's insights empower leaders to navigate challenges confidently and effectively.
An organisation’s culture is like the atmosphere: mostly invisible, yet entirely decisive for performance. In this talk, Emma Henderson MBE explains how leaders influence the cultural climate and how teams thrive in an environment of trust and clarity. Attendees will learn to conduct a “pre-flight check” on their culture, covering mindset, team, and environment. They’ll also learn how to implement practical language and rituals for shifting the atmosphere to create a safe and motivated workplace through briefings, debriefs, and check-ins.
Emma Henderson MBE discusses how leaders and organisations can overcome invisible barriers and entrenched assumptions, emphasising the need for courage and recalibration to defy our perceived limitations. Attendees will learn to identify and challenge cultural and systemic "gravity," manage expectations in high-stakes situations, and utilise a practical 3-step "lift-off" checklist. Leaders will leave with a clearer sense of how to reframe what’s “normal” in their organisation so they can build transformative momentum and elevate performance under pressure.
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