Leadership for a Sustainable Future, Damian Hughes at Manchester Metropolitan University

International speaker, best-selling business author and sports psychologist, Damian Hughes is speaking at Manchester Metropolitan University on Thursday 3rd November. This public event is part of the University’s World-Class Professionals Lecture Series, which is designed to enable leading business men and women to share their knowledge and expertise with a wide audience.

Damian’s fields of expertise are management and leadership and he has many years’ experience of integrating best practice from the worlds of sport and business. A former Manchester United football coach, he was a Human Resource Director for Unilever where he led a turnaround in performance before carrying out similar work in Africa and the US. Now he is a sports psychologist to members of the GB Rugby League team and Olympic winning boxers and, through his LiquidThinker management consultancy, works with companies and public sector organisations to inspire their staff to develop the next generation of adept managers and business leaders from within their workforce.

“Change is inevitable for all organisations and life in general,” said Damian. “You might want your team to act more responsibly at work, motivate colleagues, friends or family members to improve their health and wellbeing, or encourage your children to do better at school or college. Usually these topics are treated separately - there is 'change management' advice for businesses, 'self help' advice for individuals and 'change the world' advice for activists. However, all change has something in common – for anything to change, someone has to start acting differently.

“This lecture will show you how you can develop your leadership skills and inspire others. First, I’ll explain how the human psyche functions and how it affects our behaviour and our ability to make changes in our personal and professional lives. Then I’ll present some practical steps you can take to overcome our inbuilt resistance to change and become a leader for a sustainable future. I’ll also draw on examples from my career of working with different companies and sports organisations that have taken these techniques and put them into practice.”

“We are delighted to be hosting this event,” said Dr Sue Shaw, Head of Department of Management at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. “We enjoy a long-standing and close relationship with Damian which started when he studied here as a postgraduate on the Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management and continues in his role as a Visiting Professor to the Business School. He is respected by some of UK’s greatest achievers in sport and business including Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Richard Branson, Olympic Gold Medallist Daley Thompson and England rugby league captain, Jamie Peacock.”

This is a public event and doors open at 6pm when light refreshments will be available. The lecture will begin at 6.30pm and finish at approximately 7.30pm.

This event is free to attend but you must reserve your seat by emailing Tara Gordon at t.gordon@mmu.ac.uk, using ‘Leadership for a Sustainable Future’ as the title. Please state how many places you need and if you or any of your guests have any additional needs.