An astronaut, aquanaut, jet pilot, ER doctor, scientist, CEO, father – Dr. Dave Williams is an exceptional leader with much to share! The former Director of Space & Life Sciences at NASA has flown once on the space shuttle Columbia and once on Endeavour, logging over thirteen million kilometers in space and over seventeen hours of spacewalks. He holds the Canadian spacewalking record for the most number of spacewalks and was the first Canadian to have lived and worked on the world’s only undersea research habitat. He is the recipient of six honourary degrees, the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.

The first episode of Season 2 of PowerUp Your Presence features Dr.Dave Williams discussing his latest book, “Leadership Moments From NASA,” co-authored with Dr. Elizabeth Howell. Dr. Howell is a Canadian journalist who has written extensively on space exploration for over 20 years, has witnessed rocket launches in the United States and Kazakhstan, lived on a simulated Mars base, and interviewed dozens of astronauts. Their latest book combines their expertise and experience in space exploration with leadership lessons NASA practices to provide readers with the knowledge of best-in-class practices employed by some of the most pioneering leaders today.

In this episode, Diane Craig and Dave explore exceptional circumstances that challenge leadership, test resilience, professionalism, taking risks when the cost of failure is high and how leaders can create an environment of psychological safety, particularly in encouraging teammates to speak up without fear of retribution, while practicing empathy as a leader, and much more!

Leadership Moments from NASA delves into the senior NASA Executive overcome tragedy and adversity and how they leverage it to develop a culture of competency that continues to attract the best and brightest from around the world. The podcast investigates how did they prioritize? How did they resolve differences while maintaining a culture of safety and innovation? How did they chart new territory? How did they build highly competent and resilient teams?

In addition to Leadership Moments from NASA, Dr. Dave Williams is also the author of a series of children’s books on being an astronaut and a memoir entitled Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe.

To learn more about Dr. Dave Williams, visit his website www.astrodavemd.ca, and follow him on Twitter @AstroDaveMD