Leadership Lessons from NASA

ASTRONAUT LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE IN THE GOBI DESERT / LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE GOBI DESERT

Our August guest speaker, Gillian O’Neil of Moviecom, made a very passionate account of her time recently spent on an amazing adventure to an Astronaut Leadership Experience in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia with a small group of like-minded people.

She was quick to explain why she made the trip, what was learnt during the time in the desert and how she is already using the experience and skills back in her work and personal life; team building, relationships and how to be yourself.

The programme was part of the ISSET (International Space School Educational Trust), and set clear goals for developing leadership and team building in remote environments. The training was led by a ‘galaxy of stars’ including NASA Flight Commander Ken Ham – from NASA Shuttle Atlantis and Michelle Ham – a NASA Astronaut trainer and head of mission control, who led the team from Ulaanbaatar deep into the Gobi Desert to a mixture of terrain; from Ice Canyons, Flaming Cliffs and camel riding in the Khongoryn Els.

The event blasted off with a superb turnout and tasty breakfast followed by Gillian beaming from ear to ear as she ran us through video footage and interviews with the group leaders. Her 9 words that summed up the trip were:

• Think
• Plan
• Delegate/share
• Inspire/mentor
• Task/achieve
• Deliver
• Debate
• Celebrate

The audience, and there wasn’t a space in sight hung back on mass to find out more about the trip and Gillian in her usual way left us all full of enthusiasm for the day.

All our past Communications Breakfast events have been fully booked, so be quick! We’ve also created the Communications Breakfast Group on LinkedIn, so if you’re active there, why not join us and continue the debate online. We have also launched our new TV Channel