Motivational Speakers - After Dinner Speakers - Environmental Speakers | Pen Hadow - Polar Explorer

SPEECH THEMES

• Motivation
• Climate Change
• Innovation
• And on Failure

• Leadership
• Team Performance
• Supporting Activities
• Book Signing

Motivation

Motivation, for both individuals and teams, is a state of mind that can be focused, nurtured, and harnessed, to achieve goals. So what is it that the Poles offer, in terms of a powerfully attractive vision, that can be replicated in the workplace?

Did you know you've always had the option of having your own personal coach? Yes ... it's You! You can identify and review all the components which affect your performance, and then come up with your own plan to raise your game. There's no official register of performance coaches for going solo in the polar regions, so I had to do just this for my solo endeavour.

It's possible to develop psychological tactics specific to you, so that you can tap into your own motivational forces in predictably difficult situations – approaching an ice rubble-field or thin ice on the Arctic Ocean required just such techniques. I used to run a ‘mental video' of my little boy, Wilf, picking daffodils for his mother. I had to stay in one piece, and get back home to him. This simple device stopped me from taking unnecessary risks.

Self-confidence is one of the keys – it's not a fixed mental state, it's a dynamic process which requires constant re-affirmation by you that you are making progress towards your goal. The idea of enduring, yet alone travelling, ‘for another 60 days like today' was too much for me going solo in the early stages, so I had targets that were achievable over the forthcoming hours rather than days.

Real confidence, out of which so much more becomes possible, is grounded in realistic, progressive goal-setting, and a trustworthy support system for individuals and teams. Armed with this type of confidence, any disappointments and difficulties that arise are seen by all for what they are, transient and surmountable challenges on the path to the inevitable success beyond.

Climate Change

With the total disappearance of the North Pole ice cap predicted by some scientists within the next fifteen years, Pen is uniquely well-placed, given his passion and first-hand knowledge of the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean, to bridge the communications gap between the warnings of the scientists and the policy-makers and general public back home.

Close working relationships have been developed by Pen with the world’s foremost research organisations whose attentions are focused on the issue of global climate change, notably NASA, ESA, the UK Met Office, Cambridge University and the Naval Postgraduate School (California), together with a range of other concerned governmental, commercial and charitable groups.

Pen gave the key-note speech on climate change at the J8 Summit at Edinburgh in 2005 at the request of the Department for Education & Skills and the Morgan Stanley International Foundation – and he is now in constant demand for lectures on this theme both nationally and internationally.

For organisations looking to flag up their concern for, and contributions to, the solutions demanded by this issue as part of their CSR agenda, Pen can give an unusual and stirring first-hand account of what ‘global climate change' – or what he likes to refer to as the ‘household weather crisis' - is all about – and what the numerous very serious geo-political consequences of the disappearance of the North Pole ice cap will be.

Innovation

Sometimes it's innovative-thinking applied to the familiar problems, rather than the new challenges, that can bring the greatest rewards. Finding a strategic solution to ‘straighten' the route to the Pole, rather than having to circumnavigate around thin ice and open water, would prove key to maximising the probability of my solo success.

With the onset of global warming creating more areas of open water, the value of designing new equipment was becoming ever greater. The creation of an inflatable skin, enabling the sledge to be converted into a boat with unprecedented stability and buoyancy even when fully loaded, was a breakthrough for extensive water crossings.

Innovation can involve taking risks. The role of the explorer has always been to report back his findings and experiences, so I arranged for a famously skilful interview journalist from The Times to interrogate me twice-weekly – I was extremely vulnerable to exploitation but the relationship worked – with The Times recording a measurable increase in sales.

Sometimes the ideal resources are not available, so being prepared to think of alternative solutions can be a winner. With no low-temperature gun oil, a rapidly rusting gun, and a polar bear hunting in the immediate vicinity, the nearest substitute I could think of to oil was the butter from my ration packs!

And On Failure

If you're never prepared to risk failing, you'll never know what you were truly capable of achieving. After two failed attempts – both in the public eye - at achieving the goal I'd set myself, I had to learn the hard way that my failures were not defining the limits of what I could do, but rather revealing the issues and obstacles I needed to address if I really wanted to break through to reach my goal on the other side.

No-one likes experiencing failure – it's an uncomfortable, depressing and even frightening place to be … but if one can just see it for the positive things it brings too, it can provide the keys to future success. It's a learning experience! It gives clues. For those that grit their teeth and persevere, it can be a catalyst for performance at the next level.

And two of the simpler truths … ‘You haven't failed until you give up' … and … ‘You can't beat a person who never gives up'. So persevere, persevere and Persevere.

Leadership

Leadership is not essentially about you – it's about those for whom you're responsible. Applying your powers of observation to what individuals are really trying to tell you – and taking appropriate action - can make or break a performance. The toughest, fittest, most adventurous team I ever led was the one that failed to reach the Pole…

The more ambitious the end-goal for the team, the more valuable the notion of progression, and it's the leader's role to plot the route to the goal – even the toughest journeys are merely a series of manageable steps, but identifying and planning those essential steps is for the leader to do.

Different teams in different situations benefit from different styles of leadership – when guiding our 100km Pole expeditions I would start by being prescriptive while directing from the front, but within a few days I would have worked my way back down the line adopting a more coaching role, and by the end I was simply a resource if they needed me.

Leadership comes in many different personality types. The good news is almost everyone is already a leader at one level or another - so it's more a matter of scale and quality.

Becoming a better leader is mainly a matter of applying oneself to on-going incremental improvements in selected aspects of leadership. The debate over whether great leaders are born or made is a non-issue. If there is passion born of conviction much else will follow.

Pen is an occasional lecturer for the The Centre for Leadership Studies (CLS). Established in 1997, the CLS is the only university centre in Europe to concentrate solely on developing leaders for the future. CLS is at the leading edge of contemporary research and teaching, examining perspectives on leadership, considering leadership styles and ideas, provoking debate, and assisting leaders to manage change and become better leaders.

Team Performance

A real sense of project-ownership by team members is one way in which you can elevate team performance. Whenever I found myself leading novice teams to the North Pole, I always strove to enable the team-members during the expedition to navigate and run their own show, and it was they who had to locate their Pole – not me.

An environment of open and honest communication, without fear of reprisal, between the team and with its leader keeps everyone focused, feeling supported, and positive – even when under severe pressure in the most extreme places on Earth.

To improve performance, it's often much easier to have a team embrace a large number of small changes over time than one large one right now …!

Let teams find their own solutions and the solutions are much more likely to work well for that team – we were confident they'd reach the Pole, but no-one knew how the first all-women team was going to do it. In the event, the women, led by professional women guides on the Arctic Ocean for the first time, developed working practices no man had ever conceived.

Supporting Activities

Since 1995, Pen has developed and directed motivational and team-building courses, on Dartmoor, to prepare would-be polar clients for the rigours of life in the polar regions - the only team not to go through it was the only one, of his guided teams, not to reach the North Pole. The course structure is unique to Pen's guiding company – The Polar Travel Company.

In addition to audience presentations, as part of the day's activity-entertainment, Pen has also used his experience in running his outdoor courses to develop special activities, either in support of his presentation themes or simply for entertainment, to take place at the speaking venue.

For example, the creation of a Rapid Response Team Challenge was a great hit recently at Bovey Castle (Devon) meeting a specific client brief from a management consultancy. It required 2-hours from the participants' briefing to the prize-giving; was fun, involved a high degree of teamwork, and brought a wide range of normally untapped skills to the fore.

Book Signing

Pen's best selling book 'SOLO' is available for bulk purchase as a gift to delegates at special rates. Just give us a call to discuss discounts. Pen is more than happy to do a book signing (with dedications) session at the end of your event.

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