Skip to main content Skip to footer

Floyd Woodrow MBE DCM

Leadership - Goal setting - Building confidence

When you get a message from a long-time Associate and experienced headteacher saying she has just been on the best leadership training course she’s ever, ever been on, then you know you’re on to something special and need to find out more about what made it so good.

And when you find out that the person running that course, Floyd Woodrow, is a decorated former SAS major and head of the counter-terrorism unit and the training programme was about values and being human, you know it is even more special than you thought.

What makes Floyd stand out isn’t that he was one of the youngest ever recruits to the Special Air Service where he then spent over 20 years, that he received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work in Iraq and an MBE for his work in Afghanistan, or that he led the UK’s Counter Terrorism Unit and has ‘Hostage Negotiator’ on his CV.

It isn’t even the fact that his clients these days include organisations such as the Welsh and Scottish Rugby Football Unions or the English Cricket Board.

What makes Floyd stand out is that he has done all of this with a clear focus on values, integrity and compassion and it is this that comes through loud and clear in his work on leadership with adults and on achievement, aspirations and motivation with young people.

Recent titles include:

  • The Compass for Life
  • Finding Your North Star
  • The Secrets of Elite Leadership


‘I was given many leadership roles at a young age,’ he says, ‘but I never really understood what leadership actually was until my mid-thirties. I wish I had been taught some of the things I now know much earlier in my life.’

Working with young people and their teachers is now Floyd’s passion and the ability he has to take the lessons he has learned from all aspects of his fascinating life and make them real and relevant for this new audience is quite remarkable.

In particular, he has created a model by which we can navigate through our lives that helps us match our personal aspirations and ambitions with the values and ethics we need to be decent human beings in a world where it can be so easy to stray the darker side of things.

Passionate about self-development and our ability to achieve what we didn’t think was possible – he completed a law degree whilst on active service in the SAS, often studying in jungles and deserts during the lulls in active operations – he is also the author a number of books including Elite: The Secret to Elite Leadership and The Warrior, The Strategist and You which reached the finals of the People’s Book Prize in 2012 and is a contributor to our best-selling book The Working Class.

For an insight into human nature, achievement and what we are really capable of when we learn the right techniques and approaches, then you won’t find a better speaker with a more remarkable CV than Floyd Woodrow MBE DCM.

Floyd has the ability to unlock leadership skills in people

I wanted to let you know that we had Floyd with us today – sensational and beyond inspiring. Thanks so much for commending him to us

The best leadership training I have ever done

I’ve listened to many speakers over the years and have been inspired by most. However, only a few have made a difference. Thank you for inspiring me today and for making a difference

What's your Super North Star? Phenomenal input from @floydwoodrow, helping our leaders understand what their 'Compass for Life' looks like and how to travel along the journey

A superb finale to this year’s conference. Inspiring, engaging, highly motivational. Wow - what a choice!

Thought provoking and real nitty, gritty of leadership

OMFG- awesome practical inspiring!

Oh wow!! So inspiring, so moving, so challenging. I really feel this session will impact on my leadership.

Floyd Woodrow In His Own Words

"OUR SUPER NORTH STAR CAN BE PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL OR SOCIAL
BUT IF IT ENCAPSULATES ALL THREE THEN WE REALLY DO HAVE A LIFE
WORTH LIVING" - THE WARRIOR, THE STRATEGIST AND YOU

Enjoy a free consultation. Make a booking.
Haggle a bit. All acceptable.

Give us a call on +44 (0)1267 211432 or drop us a line at learn@independentthinking.co.uk.

We promise to get back to you reassuringly quickly. 

Let's assume you're happy to receive cookies from this website