Peter Brandl is a professional pilot, entrepreneur, flight instructor and past president of the German Speakers Association.
With almost 3,500 events in 30 years, he is one of the most sought-after and experienced speakers in Europe.
In his lectures, he combines the airliner cockpit with the boardroom. This unusual approach has brought him on stage with greats such as Richard Branson, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, German President Christian Wulff, tennis legend Steffi Graf and professional chef Tim Mälzer.
His clients include companies such as Deutsche Bank, Daimler, Lufthansa, Red Bull, AUDI, Airbus and many others.
In his keynotes and motivational speeches, Peter Brandl provides directly applicable business strategies that help you reach your goals even in turbulent times. Today, he works primarily as a sparring partner and co-pilot for numerous board members and top executives.
Peter Brandl Lecture topics
- Crash communication – why pilots fail and managers make mistakes
Communication is more than just talking – it is a survival strategy. In this lecture, Peter Brandl shows why communication errors in aviation can lead to disasters – and in business to conflicts, inefficiency and frustration.
With fascinating insights from the cockpit and practical tools from aviation – such as ‘closed loops’ and ‘rescue questions’ – participants learn how to avoid misunderstandings, de-escalate conflicts and take their communication to a new level.
Content:
- The biggest communication barriers – and how to overcome them
- Why we often talk past each other – and how to prevent it
- Strategies for ‘communication emergencies’
- How leadership is strengthened through clear communication
- Systematic de-escalation – staying calm when things get heated
A lecture that humorously, vividly and profoundly conveys why communication is the key to genuine cooperation and good leadership – in the cockpit and in the company.
- Never get lost – The art of making difficult decisions
Decisions are the fuel for progress – and yet we often find it difficult to make them consistently. In this lecture, Peter Brandl explores the question of why we so often get bogged down, projects fail or goals are lost sight of.
Using impressive analogies from aviation, he shows how professional pilots maintain their bearings and make clear decisions even in critical situations – and how these strategies can be applied to business, leadership and personal growth.
Content:
- Recognising and debunking decision-making myths
- FORDEC & FEAR: Decision-making strategies from the cockpit
- Head vs. gut: How we really make decisions – and what blocks us
- Fast and slow thinking: When each mode is helpful
- Motivation for personal responsibility: Empowering teams to make their own decisions
An inspiring impulse for people who want to navigate courageously and no longer get lost in the fog of options – whether as a manager, entrepreneur or in their personal lives.
- Be the Captain – Taking responsibility when it matters
In this talk, Peter Brandl shows why true leadership is not visible in calm phases, but under pressure. With impressive parallels to aviation, he makes it clear that in critical situations, it does not help to look for someone to blame – what counts now is responsibility, clarity and the ability to act.
Managers must learn to make decisions even without complete information, to take their ‘crew’ with them and to courageously shape change. In doing so, Brandl dispels excuses and speaks openly about the most common obstacles that prevent people from truly taking responsibility.
Content:
- Why it is irrelevant whether you like change – you have to lead it
- How to take responsibility and empower your team to do the same
- Success factors for your personal change story
- The real reasons why many never become ‘captains’
A wake-up call for more leadership courage, clarity in communication and actively shaping change.
- Remove before Flight – Error culture for a learning organisation
Mistakes happen – the question is how we deal with them. In this impressive presentation, Peter Brandl highlights why many organisations repeatedly fail due to the same problems: because mistakes are covered up and culprits are sought instead of talking openly about mishaps and learning from them.
Drawing on his experience in aviation, Brandl shows how a genuine learning culture can be created – beyond empty slogans. Only those who take responsibility and promote open communication about mistakes can create an agile, adaptable organisation.
Content:
- The three main categories of mistakes – and how to deal with them correctly
- Ending the blame culture – how assigning blame can become a willingness to learn
- Situational awareness – recognising problems before they escalate
- How teams become learning organisations
- Responsibility instead of cover-ups: what companies can learn from pilot
An honest, provocative and motivating impetus for more openness, trust and genuine learning within teams.
About Peter Brandl:
Peter Brandl is a communications expert, management trainer – and pilot. This unique combination makes him an exceptional speaker who impressively combines theory and practice. For over 25 years, he has been supporting companies and executives in change processes and in the development of communication and decision-making skills. ZEITMagazin calls him the most successful communications professional in the German-speaking world.
What sets him apart is his practical perspective: as a pilot, he is familiar with situations in which decisions must be made in a fraction of a second – mistakes here are not only costly, but potentially fatal. He impressively transfers this experience from aviation to the business world. With vivid examples, humorous anecdotes and clear language, he inspires his audience on international stages.
Peter Brandl is the author of several books, including the bestsellers ‘Crash Communication’ and ‘Communication 3.0’. His lectures are a wake-up call for more responsibility, better communication and bolder decisions in companies. He shows how teams function even under pressure – and what managers can learn from pilots about trust, transparency and learning from mistakes.
Whether as a keynote speaker, coach or source of inspiration, Peter Brandl inspires, motivates and stays in your mind.