For 30 years I've uncovered the best and worst of human behaviour and endeavour. Now it's time to truly understand what we mean by leadership in a chaotic world. I've delivered live events to over 60, around the world as a leadership expert, author, opinion columnist and barrister. Each week I'll explore the power and potential of the human being with global experts, academics, rising stars, ambitious upstarts and disruptors across sectors, disciplines and geographies as we explore 'The Leadership Enigma.
See acast. JAN The moon landing had a big impact on Dan in his early years and he simply cold called NASA to see if he could get a job! To his luck, they answered and he found his way to Kennedy Space Centre. The Challenger accident occurred in January and it impacted all the individuals in the industry and halted the programme for a number of years. Dan himself watched the events unfold with his team and they were all reminded of the dangers of the work they were involved in.
Dan had been following the recent space race developments and Virgin Orbit working along side Richard Branson was an appealing challenge. Note: Virgin Orbit was set up to launch satellites whereas Virgin Galactic was focused on space tourism. Virgin Orbit was trying to be the first to launch a liquid rocket off the wing of an aeroplane. The X1 and X15 many years ago had been liquid propelled but none had been orbital. A liquid rocket is a complicated machine with multiple variables and unknowns.
The legacy of the space industry was the compelling reason Dan said yes to Virgin Orbit with high risk and high reward on the agenda. Why is space so compelling for iconic billionaires such as Branson, Musk and Bezos? Dan considers it to be the potential for limitless learning, legacy and impactful world changing technologies and scientific breakthroughs.
Dan remains excited as to the developments in space science such as expeditions to Jupiter and Mars to enhance our ability to understand the universe. Dan explains moving from Boeing to Virgin felt liberating as he took charge of a small, agile start up with a mandate to reinvent from the go. Great technical talent met creativity so anything was now possible. I ask Dan what it was like working shoulder to shoulder with Richard Branson? Dan talks about Richard's, awareness, inquisitive nature and visionary qualities allowing others to flourish and thrive.
