Leading 4 Life "Stories"
I am Bob Judson and I spent over 34 years in the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom as a fast-jet pilot and then eventually as a senior leader, retiring from the military in 2015 as an Air Vice-Marshal (2* General). I subsequently transitioned to the corporate world as a consultant at Deloitte, but in 2019 I stepped away from all that and co-founded Leading 4 Life.
I am passionate about helping to develop the leadership skills of individuals and teams and that is what this podcast is all about. You will hear from me, and from a wide range of special guests, many of whom have had incredible leadership journeys and risen to the most senior level of their governments, militaries and corporations. The focus won't only be on success; there is also much to be learned from the failures along the way!
Thank you for listening!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob
Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/
Leading 4 Life "Stories"
E36 - Guests: Liz McConaghy, the "Chinook Crew Chick"!
I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message
It was an absolute pleasure to interview the effervescent and award winning Liz McConaghy for this week's episode. Author of the outstanding autobiographical book "Chinook Crew Chick", Liz is the longest serving female Chinook crewman, and during her 17 year RAF career, she completed an unbelievable 2 flying tours in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan. She accrued some 3000 hours in the Chinook and flew in some incredibly tough roles, including a lot of Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) work, recovering injured and sometimes dead soldiers from the battlefield.
Liz's story really only starts with her time in the RAF though. Once she left, she suffered very significantly from post traumatic stress and ultimately attempted to take her own life in 2020. She talks extensively about this dark chapter of her life in the podcast and provides a huge amount of great advice for dealing with mental health challenges both personally and with those around you. It is an incredibly inspirational story and Liz's work now focused on helping others to understand and handle mental health challenges in all walks of life.
Without doubt, this is one of the most important podcasts I have done and I am sure you will find what Liz has to say, valuable, emotional and inspirational in equal measure. I cannot recommend her book highly enough - it is a really great read!
You can find Liz on here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-mcconaghy-84a46822/
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/chinnychick
In this episode we cover the following topics (starting time in brackets):
- Liz' career journey (00.02.53)
- Operations in Afghanistan (00.04.22)
- Early motivations (00.16.06)
- Advice to a school age Liz (00.21.33)
- Leadership as a Chinook crewman (00.23.19)
- Role models (00.26.59)
- Liz' mental health story (00.30.17)
- Retraumatisation and "opening the box" (00.40.24)
- Mental health coping strategies (00.50.05)
- Highs and lows (00.57.13)
- Most significant achievement (01.01.19)
- Career low point (01.02.47)
- Emptying the bucket! (01.06.43)
- Reflections on the RAF (01.09.27)
- Most memorable event (01.16.05)
- Most difficult question (01.17.32)
Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.
You can find more about me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob
Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/