NANDO’S ADAPTABILITY & CHANGE KEYNOTE
How Rob helped Nando’s leaders build a better relationship with change, and helped their teams see it as an opportunity
Nando’s is one of the most recognisable restaurant brands in the world, built on flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken, a distinctive culture and a loyal, passionate team. Like every hospitality business, it operates in an environment where change is constant: shifting customer expectations, rising operational pressures, evolving markets and the day-to-day unpredictability of running busy restaurants. For a brand with that much personality, how its people respond to change matters as much as the strategy behind it.
Leaders sit at the centre of this. How a leader responds when things shift, whether with tension and resistance or curiosity and calm, sets the tone for the whole team, and teams take their cues from the people in front of them. The way a leader relates to change doesn’t stay with them. It shapes how everyone around them experiences it.
Nando’s asked Rob to help their leaders get better at change. The brief had two parts: helping leaders improve their own relationship with change, and equipping them to help their teams improve theirs, so that change is seen as an opportunity rather than a disruption. Rob brought his experience of adapting to sudden, uncontrolled change in frontline policing to give leaders practical skills for building a better relationship with discomfort, the thing most people are really reacting to when change arrives.
"We recently invited Rob Hosking to deliver a keynote at our annual Global Gathering for 200+ employees, and couldn't be happier with the outcome. From the outset, Rob took the time to understand our business, our culture, and the outcomes we wanted to achieve. He didn't deliver a generic keynote. He fully took the brief onboard and tailored the session around our theme of Humans + AI and our goals of strengthening ownership, accountability, decision-making, and high performance. Rob has a unique ability to combine storytelling, practical frameworks, and genuine authenticity. Drawing on his experiences in policing, he made topics like psychological safety, resilience, adaptability, and decision-making engaging, relatable, and actionable. He struck the right balance between inspiration and practical application, leaving people with clear actions they could take away immediately. Many of the key takeaways and conversations from our three-day conference linked back to Rob's keynote, which is a testament to how strongly his message resonated with the team.
Rob is a naturally charismatic and relatable speaker who quickly built a connection with the audience. His mix of humor, authenticity, and practical insight kept people engaged from start to finish. Beyond the content itself, Rob was incredibly professional and easy to work with. He and his team were responsive throughout the process, well prepared, and a pleasure to partner with. If you're looking for a keynote speaker who is authentic, engaging, and focused on delivering real impact rather than just motivation, I would highly recommend Rob. We would absolutely work with him again."
- Ashley, Inflo
Client:
Nando's
Audience:
80 Senior Leaders
Location:
London, United Kingdom
Format:
Partner Meeting- Keynote
Challenge:
To help leaders improve their own relationship with change and guide their teams to see change as an opportunity rather than a disruption
Rob's Solution:
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A keynote drawing on Rob’s experience in frontline policing, where sudden, uncontrolled change is part of the job, giving leaders a credible example of adapting when there is no time to prepare
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A reframe of change as a relationship that can be improved, starting with how each leader currently responds when things shift
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A focus on building a better relationship with discomfort, since discomfort is what most people are really reacting to when change arrives
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The principle of practising discomfort in a controlled environment: deliberately stepping outside comfort zones, and taking teams with them, so that when uncontrolled change arrives, they are better equipped
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Practical skills leaders can use straight away, including challenging themselves, creating safe stretch for their teams, and modelling a positive response to uncertainty
Outcome
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Leaders left with a new way of thinking about change, as something they can get better at through practice
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A clear understanding of why comfort zones limit adaptability, and how small, deliberate challenges build resilience
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Practical ways to bring this into their teams, helping people approach change with curiosity rather than resistance
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A shared language for talking about change and discomfort, making it easier to have honest conversations when things shift
Why this matters for your industry
Most organisations are good at planning for change and poor at preparing people for it. Plans can be communicated in an email, but a person’s relationship with change is shaped by their relationship with discomfort. Teams that have practised stepping outside their comfort zones adapt faster when change arrives unannounced. Rob’s work with Nando’s shows how leaders can lead this shift, starting with themselves.
For hospitality, retail and customer-facing organisations where change is constant and teams are under pressure, the leader’s response to change sets the tone for everyone else. If you want a keynote that gives your leaders practical tools to build adaptability in themselves and their teams, Rob’s team responds within one working day.
Similar sectors Rob works with: Hospitality, food and beverage, retail, FMCG, consumer goods, leisure
Q&A Section
Q- How can leaders get better at change?
A- By improving their relationship with the discomfort that change creates. Leaders who deliberately put themselves outside their comfort zones in controlled settings become more comfortable when uncontrolled change arrives. Rob draws on his policing experience to show how this works in practice.
Q- How do you help a team see change as an opportunity?
A- Teams take their cues from their leaders. When leaders model curiosity and calm in the face of uncertainty, teams are far more likely to follow. Practising small, safe challenges together also builds the confidence to approach change as something that can be navigated rather than feared.
Q- Why is discomfort important when it comes to adaptability?
A- Most resistance to change is a reaction to discomfort rather than to the change itself. People who have built a better relationship with discomfort can stay clear-headed and open when the unexpected happens, instead of defaulting to avoidance or defensiveness.
Q- Can a keynote help an organisation handle change better?
A- A keynote can shift how leaders think about change and give them concrete skills to practise. It won’t remove the discomfort of change, but it gives people a framework for working with it, which is where lasting adaptability starts.