Stepping into the unknown is often terrifying. But if there’s one thing Ben Pobjoy knows, it’s that when we trudge through our doubts and fears — and become comfortable with what makes us most uncomfortable — we can transform ourselves and achieve the unimaginable.
Since 2015, Ben Pobjoy has completed 840+ freestyle marathons across six continents. In aggregate, he has walked more than 75,000 kilometres across planet earth; solo, sans road crew, and without the financial support of corporate sponsors.
In 2023 alone, Pobjoy completed 242 freestyle marathons in nearly 70 different countries as part of an unsupported DIY attempt to set a new world record. His ‘Marathon Earth Challenge’ project was a success, and earned 92 million organic impressions across TV, print, radio, and web.
Paradoxically, Ben Pobjoy isn’t a professional athlete. Frankly, he does not possess a single God-given physical talent, and was morbidly obese less than a decade ago. However, Pobjoy ultimately faced up to his own BS, took a scary first step towards reinvention, kept going, and the rest is news-making history.
Combining punk rock pragmatism with a penchant for storytelling gleaned from a career as a marketing executive, Ben Pobjoy delights in speaking about the learnings he has derived from his global marathon challenges. And he does so candidly — and with much humour — because Pobjoy has forced himself to excel in bad conditions (from wet bulb temperatures to earthquakes) while navigating bad faith actors (who have robbed him, slashed him, and somewhat held him hostage on his treks).
Whether you need to turn it around personally or professionally — or aspire to tackle the impossible — Ben Pobjoy is ready to give you a pep talk, and furnish you with real-world tips for unlocking otherworldly results.
In 2015, Ben Pobjoy lost 100 pounds in just eight months by simply walking more, and he did so while contending with the suffocating stresses and heavy demands of being an agency-side marketing executive. In doing so, Pobjoy cracked the code on work-life balance, discovered how to implement simple-but-effective lifestyle changes, and has sustained his joyful bipedal practice for nearly a decade…all while moonlighting as a freestyle marathoner and global adventurer. If you crave a sound mind and body, Pobjoy is ready to bring the noise…and arm you with sure-fire tips and tricks to not just thrive but totally transform yourself.
Imagine this; you’re the creative lead on a multi-million dollar pitch by day…yet choose to complete a marathon that evening in a foreign place full of unknowns, exposures, and dangers. Yes, it is preposterous, but it is how marketing executive turned global adventurer Ben Pobjoy once stacked his life; doing so to test his ability to perform in a self-woven tapestry of ridiculous challenges. From mindset, adaptability, problem solving to resolve, Ben Pobjoy will spill the beans on how to be your best (and perform accordingly). Let’s go!
242 marathons across nearly 70 different countries in a year. A non-stop 24 hour-long ultramarathon. 9 marathons in 9 different countries in 9 days. 5 ultramarathons across 5 cities in 5 days in Oceania. 11,000+ kilometres by foot in a pandemic year. Ben Pobjoy’s list of DIY endurance accomplishments goes on and on. The kicker? Ben Pobjoy isn’t an athlete. Rather, he’s just a Regular Joe turned problem solving wizard, one with a quirky knack for setting audacious goals which he successfully crushes. From impossible to I’m possible, Pobjoy will motivate you to aim for the stars while he shares teachings that will help your tenacity twinkle.
Courage or recklessness? It’s always a matter of perspective…and admittedly, Ben Pobjoy doesn’t know which of the two camps he falls into. Over the past two decades, Pobjoy has switched lanes from being a business owner to an art gallery curator to a music executive to a marketing executive. Most recently, he obliterated his cosy, comfy, and stable life to go nomadic and do 242 marathons across nearly 70 different countries in a single year; done to either set a new world record or fail miserably. Time and time again, Pobjoy has left easy money on the table to instead go do hard, risky, and uncertain things; done to chase stretch opportunities, develop new skills, and grow beyond his wildest expectations. Surrendering to serendipity, Pobjoy has leapt himself forward to unimaginable outcomes, and this talk aims to nudge you out of your comfort zone to awaken your dormant magic…which always seems to reside on the other side of discomfort.
In 2023, Ben Pobjoy completed 242 marathons across nearly 70 different countries. Physically, he did nearly 11,500 kilometres by foot as well as nearly 132,000 metres of elevation climb (which is akin to scaling Mount Everest nearly 15 times). Logistically, he took 5 boats to 5 countries, caught 75 flights, flew around the world 3.5 times, and spent 290 nights abroad in 72 different accommodations. The kicker? He layered a creative exercise on top of the aforementioned physical exercise; simultaneously chronicling his ‘Marathon Earth Challenge’ project by writing nearly 230,000 words, making nearly 800 editorial quality photographs, and creating almost 400 pieces of social content…while averaging 4.66 marathons a week. Anecdotally, Pobjoy is also a published author, has made photographs that have appeared in Rolling Stone and Vice (et al.), and has exhibited his photography in galleries in Toronto, Montreal, New York, London, and Melbourne. Today, Ben Pobjoy creates under the toughest conditions worldwide, and will speak to the steps, systems, and shortcuts you, your team, or your organisation can employ to creatively deliver like never before.
Leadership doesn’t necessarily require one to lead others. Rather, leadership has everything to do with how one leads — and lives — life itself. Essentially, leadership has less to do with being a captain and more to do with one’s approach to conduct and comportment as well as how one cultivates character. While Ben Pobjoy is a seasoned marketing executive that has been part of senior leadership teams — and led creative departments — he has actually learnt everything he’s ever needed to know about leadership by way of his global marathon challenges: Planning complex, international, year-long projects. Navigating threats and disasters. Persevering through problems. Performing at all costs. Extreme adaptability. And total accountability for success or failure. This isn’t the boardroom, it is Pobjoy’s marathon projects…every facet of which he is on the hook for. This talk will ignite those who aspire to trump and triumph in any adverse situation or scenario.
Since 2015, Ben Pobjoy has completed 840+ freestyle marathons across six continents. In aggregate, he has walked more than 75,000 kilometres across planet earth; uniquely documenting it by way of camera and pen every step of the way. Pobjoy has had thousands of interactions with fellow earthlings in liberal democracies, theocratic kingdoms, autocratic dictatorships, etc. The big takeaway? It’s that humans are more alike than we are dissimilar, and that our weird and wacky world is definitely worth caring about. Today, we’re on the receiving end of too much divisiveness, and this feel-good talk intends to set the record straight; when we globalise our worldview, we can universalize empathy, compassion, and kindness…and ultimately make the world a better place. Commonality is our humanity, so let’s put that into practice!
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