How Vulnerability Fuels Success

In a world where we’re expected to excel at hiring, team-building, and high-performance, success often comes down to our ability to take bold actions and step outside our comfort zones, and gaining a new perspective is sometimes what we need to make that happen.

Even the most seemingly unshakeable individuals have faced doubts and obstacles, and seeing that they’ve overcome them can be the catalyst for change that an audience needs.

In this 30 or 45 minute keynote, MACE takes her audience on a surprising and compelling journey through her career as a Fighter Pilot, culminating in her role as the Lead Solo Pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds.

MACE’s transformation from struggling with fear of failure to flying inverted only inches from other aircraft at 500 mph will inspire audiences to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Drawing on over a decade in high-performance aviation, MACE teaches audiences what they are capable of when they let go of fear, lean into vulnerability, and make bold choices despite facing self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

Are you ready to take flight and overcome your fears?

Michelle Mace Curran is a strong advocate for gender equality in the aviation industry. Her keynote on breaking barriers celebrates the achievements of women in a traditionally male-dominated field.

Through her experiences, she inspires both men and women to challenge stereotypes, embrace diversity, and pave the way for a more inclusive future.

We all feel the pressure to conform, gain approval, and meet expectations, regardless of our confidence and independence.

This pressure can make us self-critical and hinder our success.However, our inner critic can be transformed into our biggest advocate by understanding its workings and gaining a fresh perspective, thereby reducing its power.

In this workshop, MACE uses her valuable perspective on channeling her inner voice to work for her in a high performance environment to help you do the same. Participants will develop a better understanding of their inner critic and learn how to use it to tackle future goals.

Fighter pilot callsigns tend to sound at least kind of cool. However, they don’t get to choose them. They are given based on a mistake that was made as a young pilot. From that point on, they are worn on their name tags as a badge of honor.

This tradition is based on humility, in celebrating the obstacles overcome, and to shape a productive view of failure. They help create a culture where mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn and improve and where people feel safe to fess up when they misstep.

In this workshop, MACE takes participants into the world of a fighter squadron, where admitting errors and using them as learning opportunities is the norm. Participants will develop a new perspective on past failures that they can use to grow from future ones, culminating in earning their own callsign.

Aviation is no stranger to turbulence, and neither is life. Michelle’s keynote on embracing adversity shares powerful stories of overcoming challenges both in the air and on the ground.

Audiences learn how resilience, adaptability, and a positive mindset can turn turbulent situations into opportunities for growth.