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SAS veteran turned writer and broadcaster, Colin has gone from undertaking life-or-death missions to sharing his lessons and experiences in books and on TV. With over twenty-five years working in high-risk, high-pressure situations, he reflects on his insights into elite leadership, resilience, teamwork and risk management.
View / Submit"His keynote was not only engaging and humorous but also deeply impactful"
Wayflyer
SAS veteran turned author and broadcaster, Colin MacLachlan is perhaps best known for his role in Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, as well as Channel 5’s Secrets of the SAS. He takes the lessons he has learned from some of the most dangerous situations imaginable to examine teamwork, leadership, communication and resilience.
Colin spent a decade in the Royal Scots and was selected for 22 SAS on his first attempt. He went on to be involved in some of the most high-pressure and dangerous missions, including Operation Certain Death, which involved trekking through swamps in Sierra Leone to track the movements of a guerrilla gang holding British soldiers captive. He has also worked on high-profile hostage negotiation cases and rescue missions, as well as being a hostage himself in Basra, Iraq. Blindfolded, beaten, and forced to undergo a mock execution, Colin survived long enough to be rescued by British troops.
After completing a program with the US special forces SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force, Colin left the SAS. He moved to a private security consultancy where he managed the security for the Saudi Royal Family, various A-List celebrities, and US media networks. He then left the security industry for academia, completing two Masters degrees in History and Terrorism, and to pursue a career in broadcasting and writing. He co-wrote SAS: Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces, and published The Pilgrim, an unflinching memoir tracking his extraordinary and moving story from traumatic, abusive childhood through the purpose and camaraderie of the military to a life of TV and media appearances. He also founded the charity Who Dares Cares, supporting veterans with PTSD.
Colin explores leadership, psychology, behaviour and change management. He discusses developing a resilient mindset in high-risk, stressful situations, as well as cultivating the right attitudes for high performance. He also considers how negotiation strategies can be applied to business, and looks at the intersection between communication, teamwork, and conflict resolution.
