From fighter jets to space dreams: Nicola Winter on building mental resilience

Nicola Winter is a trailblazing aviator, entrepreneur and mental resilience speaker - one of only three women ever to fly the Eurofighter in Germany and a member of the ESA Astronaut Reserve.

She now combines her high-pressure military and aerospace experience with leadership, resilience and innovation as a keynote speaker and lecturer in emergency and crisis management. 

In this exclusive interview with The Female Motivational Speakers Agency, Nicola reveals how leading in supersonic jets prepared her for life’s fiercest challenges, why empathy is essential in decision-making, and how she envisions the future of space exploration and leadership at the frontier.

Q: Space exploration is evolving rapidly. From your perspective, what do you see as the next major breakthroughs we should expect?

Nicola Baumann: “I think it will be two things. One is the real pioneers and the astronauts going out to push that final frontier - so Moon exploration, Mars exploration. I think Mars exploration will be a lot more difficult than most people think it will be.

“The other thing is, trailing right behind those, the tourists and those, yeah, more fun adventure-type things. And I think that will mimic every other exploration that we had in the history of mankind. 

“You know, where there was David and Clark running across the prairie, and then people in their bandwagons right behind.”

Q: You became Germany’s second female fighter pilot. How challenging was it to break barriers in such a traditionally male-dominated environment?

Nicola Baumann: “I actually have to admit that it wasn’t difficult to shatter those ceilings at all, and I never thought about it - I just did it. 

The German military allowed women very, very late, and I wasn’t raised with that mindset at all, so I didn’t give it any second thought. I just did my job, and I tried to do my best, and that was enough.

“And it’s also enough because flying deals a lot with professionals, with people who have received years and years of education. And we rely on each other pretty much for our lives. We don’t have time for that - or you’re a woman, or you’re this, or you’re that. 

“It’s just: can you do your job or not? And that’s all that counts. And I always found that very refreshing, and a very cool environment to be in.”

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Q: Combat aviation brings constant exposure to stress and risk. How did you learn to manage those pressures on the front line?

Nicola Baumann: “Well, in flying, and especially in combat aviation, stress and risk are very, very present, very much at the forefront of our minds. 

“So we manage that very consciously. You know, it’s not something that just happens on the side, but it’s the core of our everyday training.

“And there are two ways, or two aspects, to managing stress. One, we purposefully put ourselves under stress in training so that we get used to it. Right - it’s the nice and the unfortunate thing with humans, that we become numb to everything, even the craziest experience of life.

“140,000 horsepowers of fighter jet around - so when you’re in a simulator and you’re on the ground and it’s like: we need to go, we need to go, eventually that’s just what happens.

“The engine’s on fire, it’s cool, I’ve done this a thousand times before, I can handle it.

“Now, on the other side of that, I’ve always treated myself like a top professional athlete. I mean, I’m not, I’m just a normal human being, but I’m the only athlete I’ve got, right?

“My team’s one. So I try to be very conscious with my physical and my mental health too, and have the “go” times, but I also have my off days, relax.

“I’m a very nice trainer or coach with myself. I don’t just talk myself down or put that pressure. I’m like: okay, you did well this week, you can relax. But then, when it’s go time, it’s like: okay, am I prepared, do you have enough time? So I don’t put myself under extra stress.”

Q: Leadership often reveals itself most clearly in times of crisis. What principles guide you when leading a team through high-pressure situations?

Nicola Baumann: “Well, leading a team is always challenging. You have to recognise that being in a leadership position is a rather lonely task sometimes, because you cannot be… you’re the leader, you’re not one of the team, although you can be very close to them.

“Leading successfully in a crisis starts way, way before that crisis. So I believe the three things that you need in general to be a good leader are: you need to have a lot of empathy; you need to be good in observing your people so you can actually feel what they’re feeling, or understand, see what’s happening, understand your people and understand reactions to what you said and things like that; so observance and respect.

“And sometimes, or in every single team, there’s somebody who performs better than others. 

“You don’t just have the top, you have average people too, but you need to respect those, just because you’re human beings that got up to show up, to be there on that day and try their best.

“And with that respect, when there’s time right before the crisis, you explain your decisions, you take other people’s opinions into account, and you make rather democratic-type decisions. Meaning you gain the trust of your people and you gain credibility and authority.

“So when you have a crisis, this usually means you don’t have that much time anymore to gather around, get opinions, explain things like that. 

“You have the trust of your people to lead you through that. 

“And every now and then you can say: do it, do it now, I need that. And they’re like: okay, I know that she probably does this for a very good reason, I’ll do it, and if I have questions about it we can talk about those later.

“In my mind I always visualise trying to lead my team up a mountain, right? Like Mount Everest, if you want a grand picture. And the leader doesn’t need to know that whole way and every crest that you will need to trespass and things like that, but I need to know how I will find the way at every step of the turn. And that’s the mental picture and the image that I want to portray in my people’s mind.”

This exclusive interview with Nicola Baumann was conducted by Megan Lupton of The Motivational Speakers Agency.

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