00
DAYS
00
HOURS
00
MINS
00
SECS
Count down to the celebration
REGISTER NOW
Come join in celebrating this significant anniversary
The 75th Anniversary of the surrender of the Germans and the ending of the Second World War – Victory in Europe or VE day - on the 8th May 1945 was celebrated extensively across the nation at the time and was due to be so again with a Bank Holiday weekend full events and parties over the weekend of the 8th-10th May.
However, due to the Covid 19 pandemic this significant celebration has been cancelled. We at LeadersMeets believe that it is important to not just remember but also celebrate an exceptional generation that brought to an end the years of Nazi tyranny in which millions died.
Our mission is to host regular leadership ‘conversations that matter’ and we intend to do this a day early on the 7th May by looking at the remarkable story of a forgotten war time leader.
Talk content
Many of us will have seen and enjoyed the film ‘The Great Escape’, a film that dramatizes the escape of Prisoners of War (POWs) from a Luftwaffe Prison Camp, Stalag Luft III. However, few of us neither know the real story nor of the actual people behind it, especially that of one of the instrumental leaders behind it. Stalag Luft III was a prison camp for Royal Air Force officers and as with all POW camps there was a Senior British Officer (SBO) in charge, in this instance Wing Commander Harry ‘Wings’ Day. Day was shot down whilst on a reconnaissance mission over Germany and captured on the 13th October 1939. During the next five years he was to serve as the SBO in many camps personally making 6 unsuccessful escape attempts that included ‘The Great Escape’ and one following that in leading a tunnel escape from the SS Concentration Camp at Sachsenhausen. He finally escaped from the SS in May 1945 and on this seventh occasion was successful in crossing through the German lines with the help of the Italian Resistance to meet up with the advancing US forces in Italy. He returned to England on the 13th May 1945.
Day’s story is one of human spirit as well as importantly a fascinating lesson in the leadership of people around a purpose and a mission in tough times of isolation, incarceration, and hostility far removed from normal life. Some 75 years what we can learn from leadership of Day is as pertinent to our current time as then.
During this event there will be the unique opportunity to donate to some charities that need our support more than ever.
Speaker: Howard Betts
Howard has over 35 years’ experience in the field of leadership and organisational development having in this time worked with organisations, both in the ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ sectors, nationally and globally. A past contributor to the MBA programme at the University of Exeter and a co-founder of the Centre for Leadership Studies, he was for some 14 years a key member of the faculty that created and delivered the Masters Leadership programme, the first such programme in the world.
A knowledgeable and practiced senior executive at both the strategic and operational level he has a strong track record in working closely with client organisations across a range of business sectors in developing leadership capability, collaborative skills, collaborative working cultures and work environments.
He is the senior partner of Executive Development.
Register now for your FREE ticket to this event.
There are a limited number of tickets available so we suggest you book as soon as you can.
On booking you will be sent a link to Zoom. .
REGISTER NOW