Airline and former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot, Matt Lindley was one of the first ever openly gay pilots in the RAF. A punishable offence at the time, Matt overcame the adversity of homophobic restrictions to pursue his childhood dream of flying, and his resilience led to a cultural change in one of the UK’s biggest organisations. Strengthened by his journey in the forces, Matt has since flown the royal family, embarked on a career as a diversity keynote speaker and drawn on his decades of experience to offer transformative leadership training to corporations across the world. Offering two equally dynamic and valuable talks, Matt Lindley is guaranteed to leave a long lasting impact on your audience.
Selected in 1995 to join the Royal Air Force, Matt knew he faced the ultimate decision of fulfilling a childhood dream or staying true to himself. As bisexual pilots were forbidden from the RAF, Matt used his experience to transform the mindset of the organisation. Remaining self assured, determined for change and defiant in the face of adversity throughout his career, Matt saw how the RAF adapted its culture from one of open hostility towards gay personnel to acceptance and support. Revered for not only his history defining journey, but his impeccable flying skills, Matt specialised as a VIP Flying Captain, responsible for transporting The Royal Family and UK Prime Minister, in addition to training others in the industry.
Since leaving the service in 2007, Matt has continued his career, now a long haul pilot for British Airways, alongside his role as the Director of Propel Performance. Founded in 2013, Matt aimed to combine his first hand experience of error management being a senior pilot and human factors consultant in healthcare, with his decades of keynote speaking. A secondary dynamic to the already inspirational diversity speeches he gives, Matt also focuses on improving performance in workplace environments through analysis of human error, training in risk management and developing comprehensive leaders.
Through his diversity speeches and Propel Performance consultancy work, Matt’s uses a variety of personal anecdotes and incidents from many different industries including aviation and healthcare, to highlight why everybody is vulnerable to making mistakes. His presentation mixes psychology, case studies, interactive exercises and real-life practical tips on how to change the way we work. Former clients that have benefited from Matt’s impressive talks include: The New York Times, The Home Office and Mars Pet Care as well as a popular TED talk ‘Fear: Fight or Flight’.
How to hire Matt Lindley
Contact the Champions Speakers agency to provisionally enquire about Matt Lindley for your event today. Simply call a booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at agent@championsukplc.com for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
When he's at corporate events, Matt is known to cover the following topics:
- Management lessons from the flight deck
- Leadership and behaviour
- Conflict management
- Stress fatigue and human performance
- Communication and assertiveness
- Decision-making under stress
"A very informative presentation - it was highly enjoyable learning about experiences from other industries and how lessons learnt elsewhere can be applied in the legal workplace"
"I really enjoyed it. I was (honestly) quite sceptical about this topic but I found it really helpful"
"Matt is a very engaging speaker who really knows his stuff - he uses diverse case studies across sectors to illustrate his points expertly well. I left the training as if I had really learnt something"
"A refreshing and engaging training session dealing with some of the softer skills which are often overlooked by the industry"
