Teamwork Stories That Inspire. Messages That Land.
A Captivating, Relatable Story
This isn’t a story from the rarefied world of elite sports.
This is the story of team of normal, relatable people becoming stronger together and achieving the extraordinary.
This team didn’t win because their leader was the best sailor or strategist, but because they created a collaborative, change-embracing teamwork culture, that stayed focussed on their vision, fostered ownership and emerged stronger from every adversity they faced.
A Custom Teamwork Keynote, Crafted In Partnership with you
Brendan crafts his speeches by combining story blocks, each containing-
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A Dramatic Narrative
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A Clear Call To Action
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A Memorable Phrase
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A Useful Teamwork Model
Far from being a disjointed series of vignettes, Brendan weaves the story blocks together, into a narrative arc with a pacey start, exciting middle and emotionally satisfying conclusion.
Select The Teamwork Messages You Want The Team To Hear
You select the story blocks and the key messages you want your team to hear, then in collaboration with Brendan on a 60 minute zoom call, you refine them to make them applicable to “Your team, Right now.”
Ownership Culture
Brendan’s team was the most empowered, entrusted and autonomous team in the race, where every crewmember took full ownership.
At a minimum, Brendan needed to ensure they could get the boat to safety if he was killed or incapacitated, but the ownership they felt became the key to their high performance.
Call to Action
“What backward steps can you take today, micro-coaching somebody below you to step forward?”
Memorable Phrase
“Ownership isn’t about being a controlling puppet master, but a crafter of culture that allows others to step up.”
Teamwork Model
Emotional Intelligence
Brendan’s team learns the need for Emotional Intelligence in their teamwork, observing how their moods influenced each other.
Brendan’s realised his moods and emotional responses were closely emulated by the team.Â
Call to Action
“You need to be very aware of how your mood influences others in your team.”
Memorable Phrase
“Your mood becomes their mood”
Teamwork Model
Growth Mindset
In the aftermath of a disasterous accident, Brendan’s team discusses how they should respond to failure and the statistically inevitable problems they will encounter on their journey.
They decide to treat every failure as a learning opportunity and vowed to be the team that reflected on their experiences and only learned the hard lessons once. Â
Call to Action
“Your team need to collectively learn from your successes and failures, by reflecting on them in honest, vulnerable conversation”
Memorable Phrase
“We don’t learn from our experiences, we learn from reflecting on our experiences, together”
Teamwork Model
Blame Culture
Brendan’s team realised having learning conversations is impossible, when people are afraid of being blamed.Â
His team develop a strategy to talk in a no-blame way, with a high level of disclosure, vulnerability and support. Â
Call to Action
“You need to remove the blame from your meetings and conversations if you want people tofeel safe enough to speak up or admit mistakes”
Memorable Phrase
“Only use blame in the event of gross negligence or malice. Everything else is a learning experience.”
Teamwork Model
Trust
Brendan displayed some negative behaviours that impacted negatively on the trust in the team. After receiving feedback, he realised how crucial maintaining trust is. Â
Using the Trust Equation, Brendan changed his behaviours, the trust rebuilt and performance soared.  Â
Call to Action
“What do you need as a team to feel a high level of trust? What key relationships do you need to increase the intimacy?”
Memorable Phrase
“Trusting you is my decision. Proving me right is your choice.”
Teamwork Model
Mental Wellbeing
Brendan’s team learned that there can be a big difference between a person’s outwardly normal behaviour and their internal world. High-functioning anxiety is important to recognise and can affect the people you’d least expect.   Â
Call to Action
“How would somebody tell if you were struggling inside?”
Memorable Phrase
“When you get a feeling something isn’t right, ask about it”
Teamwork Model
“A professional and thought provoking session that helped us better understand our current organisational challenges.”
“A brilliant story about team dynamics which makes us reflect on our own behaviour.”
A Perfect Fit For These Events
Annual Corporate Conference
Brendan delivers his inspiring keynote to open your conference, setting the theme for the day and getting your audience in a positive, energised frame of mind.
Brendan closes conferences with a keynote, adapting the content to the key messages already delivered and pulling them together. Â
New Team Energiser
The ‘Adrenalin Shot’ speech, for when a new team comes together and faces a big task ahead.
He gets them started on the right foot, working in an open and collaborative way with actionable tools and take aways.Â
Team Offsite
Brendan specialises at Leadership Team Offsites.
A smaller group means a more interactive session, thoughtful reflection and challenging discussion to drive positive change. Â
A Companion Book, Packed With Extra Value
Featured in BBC, Sunday Times, Dialogue, Ecomonia, Reconteur, Yachting World, Business Uncovered.
A compelling story of a race on the edge, a young skipper’s journey leading a team through adversity and change.
“His style, approach and engagement had everyone gripped. The feedback has been brilliant.“
“Awe inspiring – Brendan turns a personal challenge into valuable collaboration lessons for all.”
The World's Most Demanding Yacht Race
The Clipper Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other.
With no previous sailing experience necessary, it’s a record-breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on 70-foot ocean racing yachts.
Normally the domain of seasoned pros, this supreme challenge is taken on by ordinary, everyday people. Taxi drivers rub shoulders with chief executives, vicars mix with housewives & students work alongside bankers.
Why Should You Book Brendan For Your Event?
A Proven Track Record & Zero Risk
Nobody wants to be the person who hired “the conference speaker that flopped”.
You want a speaker with a proven track record for delivering speeches that inspire audiences, has relevant key messages and works in partnership with you, in the lead up to your big event.
Brendan is trusted by top-tier organisations that demand the best.Â
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Actionable Take AwaysÂ
Brendan’s keynote delivers actionable takeaways – Calls to action, memorable phrases and teamwork models your team can implement immediately. Your delegates will leave thinking “I’m going to try this tomorrow in my team”
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A Master Storyteller
Brendan trains and rehearses with professional actors and theatre directors, working on developing a story-telling delivery style that delivers tension, emotion, laughter and total engagement.
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Adds Value All Day
Brendan is there from the start of your event, listening to all the speeches before his, then making links back to them when he’s on stage or screen, maintaining the ‘golden thread’ that runs through your event.
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Flexible & Easy To Work With
Brendan is ultra-reliable, diligent and works with you in partnership to make sure your event runs smoothly. He understands the stress an event organiser is under in the lead up and ‘on the day’.
His mission is to be the one thing they don’t even need to think about, because he’s ALL OVER IT.
“Brendan listened to the brief and delivered exactly what we wanted. Fantastic feedback from the team”
“The room was spellbound. You could hear a pin drop in the dramatic pauses.”
What to expect when you work with Brendan
Complete reliability
Brendan is always on time, returns messages and phone calls promptly, and comes fully prepared for all eventualities
Trusted Delivery
Hiring a speaker can be a risk, but Brendan’s proven track record shows he
consistently deliver effective speeches with exceptional results.
Customised for you
Brendan gathers important insight about your organisation during your briefing call to customise his speech to your specific challenges and event goals.
Real Takeaways
Brendan’s speeches are more than just inspirational. They’re packed with
takeaways that are immediately applicable, because action creates change.
Value for money
The qualitative behavioural ROI your company will gain through improved leadership behaviors and performance far outweighs your investment.
Understands Bookers
Brendan understands the position of the speaker booker. Their reputation is tied to him delivering excellence. Part of his job is to make them look awesome in front of their stakeholders.
A Transparent, Zero-Hassle Booking Process
1. Enquiry
Get in touch. Brendan will check his availability and send you a detailed proposal, with a fully inclusive fee (nothing to pay later).
2. Confirmation
Made your decision? Brendan raises a digital speaker agreement letter which outlines mutual commitments. Sign it online in seconds.
Booking DONE.
3. Preparation
Brendan arranges a 90 minute briefing call, typically 2-3 weeks before your event, to fully understand the objectives of your event and how to create maximum impact.
4. Tailoring
After our briefing call, Brendan works to tailor his speech, so it’s just right for your event.
5. Tech Check (Virtual)
At a convenient time for you, Brendan will log onto your virtual meeting platform with your tech facilitators and perform a 15-point tech check, so you can be assured of zero glitches on the day.
6. Social Media Buzz
Brendan engages with your people on social media, using appropriate # and @ tags. He creates a welcome video for your delegates and post it 24 hours before his presentation.
7. On The Day
Brendan will arrive as early as possible to get a feel for the event before his digital presentation He connects his content to key messages already delivered on the day.
8. Afterwards
Brendan stays on the meeting platform as long as is valuable for you, hosting a fireside chat or participating in a Q&A panel
9. Follow-up & Feedback
Brendan’s speech is followed up with a video to help your audience implement ideas from his digital presentation into your organisational environment.
He also seeks feedback from all event organisers.