Keynote SpeakersRory Underwood MBE is an England rugby legend, former RAF pilot, and motivational speaker who shares insights on leadership, teamwork, resilience, and high performance.
Rory Underwood is best known for his international rugby career. Between 1984 and 1996, he scored a record 49 tries for England and earned 85 caps.
He earned six caps on tours of Australia (1989) and New Zealand (1993) with the British Lions.
Rory Underwood was awarded the MBE in 1992 for his services to rugby.
Throughout his record-breaking rugby career, Underwood amassed 18 years of flying as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.
He introduced Crew Resource Management (CRM) training into the RAF, helping develop a culture in which personnel examine how teamwork and decision-making are affected in time-limited, stressful situations.
Rory Underwood Pilot and Rugby Keynote Speaker:
Rory has a particular interest in, and expertise in, effective communication and high-performance team leadership.
His experience and insight from his stellar rugby and RAF careers give him a different perspective on business team performance.
He is a Licensed NLP Practitioner, an experienced facilitator, psychometric profiler and performance coach.
Rory combines his inspirational experiences with practical performance activities, creating an environment where delegates can explore and challenge their view of teams and how they impact the business. He challenges delegates to examine their understanding of teams, high performance, and how to measure it.
Rory brings a different perspective to your stereotypical ‘team building’ workshop. Rory has collated all the issues and challenges that leaders and managers face as they try to grow their businesses and created a strategy implementation methodology called LIFT that enables organisations to deliver their strategy effectively. He explores the relationship between values and motivation, bound together by trust, to enable you to create and sustain a high-performance team ethos within the organisation.
Rory Underwood’s motivational speeches have proved successful with major companies such as Johnson and Johnson, PPMA, Michael Page Recruitment and The Prudential.
Representative Honours:
- 1979 – 1983
- Middlesborough RFC
- 1981 – 1983
- Durham County
- England Colts
- England Under 23
- 1982-83
- North of England – Divisional Champions twice (1988, 1989)
- Yorkshire – Finalists County Championship
- England B
- RAF Inter-Services Champions
- 1983-87
- Leicester RFC – Courage League Champions 1988
- Pilkington Cup Finalists 1989, 1994, winners 1993/97
- 1997-99
- Bedford RFC – Allied Dunbar Premier Division Two Champions
- 1983-99
- Barbarians
- 1984-96
- England – 85 caps 49 tries
- 4 overseas tours 2 British Lions Tour
- 1991,1992 and 1995 Five Nations Grand Slam Champions
- 1991 World Cup Finalist
- 1988/1995 Courage League Champion
- 1989 British Lion (Australia Tour) – 3 Tests
- 1993 (New Zealand Tour) – 3 Tests – 1 Try
- 1995 World Cup Semi-Finalist
- All-Time World Cup Leading Try Scorer 11
Awards and Qualifications:
- 1985 RAF Pilot’s Wings
- 1990 Leicestershire Sports Personality of the Year
- 1991 BBC Midlands Today Sports Personality of the Year
- 1992 MBE
