Yachtsman Brendan Hall is a compelling keynote speaker and management coach who understands what it takes to make and motivate an unbeatable team. He uses his unique experience of forming and leading a group of amateur volunteers in one of the most highly-pressurised environments on the planet, and explains how... Read more
Yachtsman Brendan Hall is a compelling keynote speaker and management coach who understands what it takes to make and motivate an unbeatable team. He uses his unique experience of forming and leading a group of amateur volunteers in one of the most highly-pressurised environments on the planet, and explains how the skills he learnt can transform the boardroom and culture of any workplace.
Brendan is one of just ten skippers who have crewed a racing yacht to victory in the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race, a 40,000-mile dash around the globe. All of the boats have identical specifications; leadership and teamwork are the only factors that turn competitors into winners. His story is one of learning to communicate a clear vision, upholding strong values and developing the capabilities of individuals in order to create an unbeatable team.
In 2012, Brendan published Team Spirit: Life and Leadership on the World’s Toughest Yacht Race, which has become a valuable text for business leaders. It has been featured in the Sunday Times and Economic and to date has sold 38,000 copies. Team Spirit: Life and Leadership on the World’s Toughest Yacht Race was also shortlisted for the Mountbatten Book Award.
Hall is an adjunct lecturer at Cranfield Business School and Ashridge Executive Education and has given keynotes and masterclasses to some of the world’s most exceptional brands. These include Coca-Cola, Porsche, Tesco, McKinsey, BUPA, Louis Vuitton, HSBC, Financial Times, Toyota, Sainsbury, GSK and PWC.
Brendan Hall’s speeches explore the individual factors that come together to create a winning team, presented in a thrilling, edge-of-your seat performance. He focuses on embracing change, ensuring psychological safety, emotional intelligence, fostering autonomy, instilling trust and creating a culture of full ownership of both success and failure.
Brendan is both a superb presenter and a natural storyteller. He is adept at demystifying the mixture of psychology, teamwork and leadership practice that was needed to push himself and his crew through their epic odyssey. As well as keynotes and team talks, Brendan runs tailored masterclasses in which participants take episodes from his experience and re-contextualises them into issues relating to their organisation.
The importance of listening to your team.
Creating a team culture and ethos.
Understanding that what got you here won’t get you there.
The perfect mix of authenticity and authority in a role model.
How to transform a diverse group of people into a high-performing unit.
Creating a mission statement that everyone can get behind.
Why attitude matters over aptitude.
Learning from your mistakes and ensuring they are a one-off.
Giving autonomy to the team creates optimum results.
When to hide your fears and when to share them.
The best opinion is not necessarily that of the highest-paid team member Using collective intelligence to build consensus.
Every team member’s voice has equal weight.
Debrief and decompression after the event matters.
Sharing opinions to create unbeatable strength.
A team that shares its thoughts out-learns and out-develops its rivals.
Crowdsourcing opinion to create the best possible outcome.