Rob Hosking
Most workplaces still treat pressure as an individual problem. People are expected to stay sharp, stay well, and keep deciding clearly while the operating environment around them keeps changing. Leaders need a frank way to talk about what sustained pressure does to judgement, to mental health and to team performance, without reducing it to a wellbeing slogan.
Rob Hosking is a former Police Scotland frontline officer and TEDx speaker who helps organisations talk honestly about pressure, mental health and adaptability, and equips teams with practical lessons drawn from policing and his own recovery from PTSD.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Rob Hosking
- He has made decisions in 999 response situations where the cost of a poor call is measured in lives, and he can translate that experience into language a leadership team or frontline workforce will actually listen to
- His own breakdown, suicide plan and PTSD diagnosis sit at the centre of his keynote, which is why men’s forums, wellbeing networks and emergency-services audiences book him to start conversations that other speakers can only describe
- The “What’s in Your Vest?” framework gives audiences a concrete tool, built from a real police equipment vest, for thinking about the communication, composure and curiosity they carry into pressure
- Chris Evans nicknamed him “The Mighty Motivator” on national radio, and that platform, alongside Channel 4, Talk TV and GB News, has built the public profile that lets him land in front of senior corporate audiences at the London Stock Exchange, Kellogg’s and Heathrow
Biography highlights
- Former frontline Police Officer with Police Scotland
- TEDx speaker, “Always Choose Happiness”, TEDxUWE
- Author of Lessons from the Frontline – Your Unexpected Guide to True Happiness (Fisher King Publishing)
- Shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the 2024 Speaker Awards
- Featured on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show (Virgin Radio), Channel 4, Talk TV and GB News
- Co-founder of Rise of Happiness, Contributor to The Growth Hub, Associate Trainer for Wellity, trained mental health first aider
- Worked with the NHS, Kellogg’s, London Stock Exchange, Heathrow Airport, Parker Meggitt, Secret Escapes, LetterOne, NI Water and Bedfordshire Police
Biography
Most workplace conversations about pressure are theoretical. Rob Hosking spent his early career as a frontline officer with Police Scotland, attending 999 calls where every decision had a tight clock and a real consequence. The practical question for any leader, of how people stay clear-headed, communicate well and keep performing when the operating environment is hostile, is the question his career was built to answer.
Hosking left policing after a single shift in which he witnessed a young man take his own life and a colleague die of a heart attack. Months earlier, in July 2018, he had planned to take his own life and was interrupted by his dog. He has since been diagnosed with PTSD and trained as a mental health first aider. That sequence is the substance of his keynote, not its preamble, and it is what allows him to speak to men’s networks, emergency services and leadership audiences with a credibility that policy and academic content cannot match.
The work has earned a public platform. Chris Evans dubbed him “The Mighty Motivator” on Virgin Radio, and he has appeared on Channel 4, Talk TV and GB News. His TEDx talk “Always Choose Happiness” was delivered at TEDxUWE, and his book Lessons from the Frontline – Your Unexpected Guide to True Happiness was published by Fisher King Publishing. He was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the 2024 Speaker Awards.
His “What’s in Your Vest?” framework uses the contents of an officer’s equipment vest as a way of asking audiences what tools they carry into pressure, including communication, composure, clarity and curiosity. He has delivered this material for the London Stock Exchange, Kellogg’s, Heathrow Airport, the NHS, Parker Meggitt, Secret Escapes, NI Water, LetterOne and Bedfordshire Police, with men’s mental health, wellbeing, resilience and adaptability as the recurring themes.
Key speaking topics
- Performance under pressure
- Adaptability and managing change
- Mental health in the workplace
- Resilience and stress management
- Psychologically safe leadership
- Decision-making in high-stakes environments
- Workplace wellbeing culture
Ideal for
- HR, wellbeing and DEI leads programming mental health, resilience or men’s network events
- Leadership and management teams operating in high-tempo, high-consequence environments such as emergency services, healthcare, transport and infrastructure
- Internal conferences, all-hands and away-days where the brief is to open up the conversation on pressure and performance
- Wellbeing weeks, mental health awareness campaigns and employee network launches
Audience outcomes
- A frank vocabulary for talking about pressure, trauma and mental health at work, drawn from a speaker who has lived it
- The “What’s in Your Vest?” model as a shared reference point teams can return to after the session
- A clearer view of how sustained stress degrades judgement, communication and team trust
- Specific habits and behaviours, taken from operational policing, for staying decisive when conditions are unstable
- Permission, particularly in male-heavy environments, to speak earlier when something is wrong
Talks
A keynote built on Hosking’s frontline policing experience, examining how individuals and teams stay clear-headed and decisive when pressure is constant.
Key takeaways:
- Methods for holding mental clarity in chaotic, high-stakes situations
- A structured approach to rapid decision-making
- Habits that protect judgement and teamwork under stress
A talk on adaptability as a core capability for individuals and teams facing continuous change.
Key takeaways:
- Tools for responding to unexpected disruption at work
- How to develop an adaptable mindset at individual and team level
- Frontline lessons on accepting and working with change
A session that reframes workplace stress as a shared organisational responsibility, not a private problem.
Key takeaways:
- The effect of sustained stress on people and on output
- The role of culture, recovery and wellbeing initiatives in managing stress
- How addressing stress strengthens resilience and engagement
A keynote on men’s mental health, drawing on Hosking’s own experience of depression, suicidal planning and PTSD inside a male-dominated police culture.
Key takeaways:
- An honest account of what mental health stigma costs at work
- Practical ways of breaking down stigma through education and language
- The role of leaders and policy in creating cultures where people speak up
A leadership keynote that uses operational policing to examine trust, accountability and adaptability in leadership.
Key takeaways:
- The leadership behaviours that build empowered, engaged teams
- Why open communication and vulnerability matter in leadership practice
- Frontline lessons on accountability and leading through change
A talk on workplace cultures that take mental health, resilience and wellbeing seriously.
Key takeaways:
- The link between wellbeing, morale and organisational performance
- Practical approaches to supporting mental health at work
- How to build resilient, productive teams without burning them out