Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE

Leadership & Resilience 

Given his expertise in cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing within large, international and geographically dispersed organisations, Ash is skilled in bringing people together to create resilient, high-performing and adaptable teams built on a strong culture of trust and empowerment.

Takeaways:

• Citing stories from his military, business and sporting careers, Ash provides audience members with insight on how to maintain flourishing environments.
• Ash shares effective strategies to help clients maximise their potential.

Business Strategy and Change Management

Since retiring from government service, Ash has advised clients across multiple continents in sectors including multi-national healthcare, mining, energy, finance, technology and retail. As a former Senior Partner at McChrystal Group, Ash established and led the elite advisory services and leadership developemennt firm’s European practice before joining ground-breaking data analytics company Palantir Technologies, where he developed international strategic partnerships and led international business development.

Takeaways:

• Entrepreneurial thinking
• How Ash advises a number of innovative start-ups and is a non executive director of geopolitical advisory firm Gatehouse Advisory Partners.

Peak Performance & Teamwork

The fundamental importance of teamwork has been a recurring theme in Ash’s life. Whether singing on the international stage as a child, representing his country in multiple sports, becoming a counter-terrorist helicopter pilot and jungle survival instructor, or joining the renowned Brigade of Gurkhas, the requirement to build trust, demonstrate empathy and harness the diverse skills and experience of every team member has proved to be of paramount importance.

Takeaways:

• Ash demonstrates how to implement trust, empathy and diversity skills into the workplace
• The importance of teamwork

Team of Teams: Building and leading High-performance teams to win in today’s complex world

An organisation’s ability to adapt and innovate with speed and agility is critical to success. As a core member of General Stanley McChrystal’s Team of Teams, Ash shares examples from a caerre building and leading elite teams in the most challenging environments, both in battle and in business. He reveals the importance of trust and empowerment and the power of culture, open communication, a common purpose, and relationships, sharing experinces and principles to bring these themese to life.

Takeaways:

• The key ingredients for effective teamwork include trust, transparent communications, and a decentralised network that supports empowered decision-making.
• Building adaptable, interconnected teams capable of seamless collaboration and innovation to solve emergent challenges is critical in today’s complex world
• Effective leadership requires the right mindset and behaviour if organisations are to build strong inclusive and impactful cultures.

Geopolitics and relationship building

As has worked as a speechwriter and drafted strategic defense and policy documents for both British and Afghan governments, Between 2011 and 2014, Ash was a senior special advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Interior leading response to high-profile terrorist attacks.

Takeaways:

• Having been credited with the design and implementation of the Afghan National Crisis Response Strategy, now enshrined in national policy and his implication optimises organisations, Ash emphasises the requirement for active listening and trust.
• In spearheading the training and development of indigenous units tasked with the country’s most critical national security missions Ash helped leaders develop empathy and strong communications skills.