Motivational Speakers | After Dinner Speakers | Keynote Speakers | JLA Speaker Bureau - JLA

JLA: How do you give people confidence in the future?
JA: If people believe their company has a structure and strategy that will lead them forwards, they’ll feel hopeful and confident. But just as Obama’s followers were starting to find, hope alone is not enough.

JLA: How do you make sure everyone is pulling their weight?
JA: It must be made clear to everyone throughout the entire organisation, especially those who aren’t outward facing, that when they don’t do their own job well overall performance drops.

JLA: So it’s all a question of teamwork?
JA: Not exactly. Once we understand individuals’ complexity and allow them to bring all their natural resources to the workplace, we start to get the most out of our human capital – when it’s most needed.

JLA: How do you persuade the cynical or the nervous to embrace change?
JA: Any culture will contain a small percentage of innovators at every level who can enact massive change. These people make wonderful advocates; they need to be identified and empowered.

JLA: In practical terms, what can a manager learn from a sportsman?

KB: Apart from the setting, the business world is no different to sport. We both compete to be the best, to do whatever it takes to leave the opposition in our wake, and to deliver results.

JLA: What’s your formula for beating the competition?

KB: I have a very disciplined approach. Being the best is rarely a coincidence. With most of us it’s the result of a tried and tested formula, on or off the pitch: Talent + preparation + innovation + leadership = success.

JLA: What do you do to ensure your presentation has a lasting impact?

KB: I use video footage that’s never been broadcast to illustrate just how the England rugby team rose from ‘nearly-men’ to the best in the world – with lots of practical examples for delegates to apply in their own teams.

JLA: What motivates you?

KB: Mohammed Ali's mantra - 'if I’d been a dustman I'd have been the best dustman there is.' It’s all about being the best you can be in whatever you do.

JLA: What motivates you?
AC: Passing knowledge down to the next generation. In particular I think concerns about climate change are very real, and I’m working on educational base expeditions. It’s not just about personal dreams any more.

JLA: What can a typical corporate audience learn from your experiences?
AC: Most companies want to encourage leadership in the workplace, and there are great parallels between the corporate world and the Arctic. It’s about project leadership through adversity.

JLA: What’s the secret to building a strong team?
AC: Honesty and 100% trust. As a leader you need to make decisions based on fact, and you can only do that when there is honesty in the team. Then you lead from the back, getting the team to take responsibility for their actions.

JLA: Your presentation talks about defining roles – what do you mean?
AC: Within the realms of practicality, people should be able to do each other’s jobs. Most don’t have a clue about what their colleagues do. It all boils down to communication.

JLA: How do you ensure your conference message has a lasting impact?
AC: I leave them with five key things that I do on expeditions. People don’t really want to listen to someone with an MBA - they want to listen to someone who has actually been a leader.

JLA: What can a manager learn from an explorer?
RF: One example is the need to balance short-term caution against long-term dangers. Maybe it’s best to press on today even if the conditions are risky, to avoid delay causing even greater hazards tomorrow.

JLA: How can you re-build confidence when the situation seems hopeless?
RF: There’s never any point crying over spilt milk. In order to win some of your big goals you are bound to lose others along the way. The key is to learn from the failures and keep going.

JLA: What is your formula for beating the competition?
RF: It’s bad practice to allow your chief rival a clear run at the main prize without even mounting a challenge. Beware of putting successful rivals on a pedestal, feeling inferior and believing them to be invincible. This will only lead to a loss of the very self-confidence you will need to battle on.

JLA: How do you help your whole team adapt to change?
RF: Be flexible most of the time, but remember that one option is to be inflexible some of the time. Trust your instinct and experience.

JLA: Do you see rugby offering any lessons for business?
AH: Absolutely. I’ll give you two examples: both rely on discipline but also need to encourage inventiveness. And in both cases part of the leader’s role is to make sure everyone is flexible – right down to their thought process.

JLA: How did you gain a competitive edge?
AH: I discovered that to win you have to know more, prepare more and push harder – literally expend more energy than your competition. Remember, if winning were easier it would be far less enjoyable.

JLA: What motivated you, apart from money?
AH: I was the highest paid player, but it was never what drove me. I think the most successful are always motivated by achievement rather than money.

JLA: What have you learned about dealing with setbacks?
AH: There are two things you can’t fake in sport or business: momentum and confidence. When you find yourself on the back foot, it’s vital to go back to solid ground – 100% calls – and start to rebuild.

JLA: In practical terms, what can a manager learn from a mountaineer?

BN: Trust your people, make sure that they feel the same about you and demonstrate it by delegating - building confidence and ownership within the team.

JLA: How can you re-build confidence when the situation seems hopeless?

BN: In the mountains discussion is key. We’re constantly faced with problems - you have to tackle them head on, talk them through until a plan emerges and not stop until a solution is found. The key is to start with a clear goal, and understand that the boundaries of prior risk assessments have changed - your chance of failure is already higher, as are the risks you might have to take.

JLA: How can you motivate others with limited resources at your disposal?

BN: The only resource required to motivate people is their own imagination. Keep goals alive, but be realistic. Break down a big task into small projects – and inspire others with your own resolve.

JLA: How do you ensure your message has maximum impact?

KB: It's a very clear, visual message. I wasn’t a climbing prodigy and I don’t have an army background. The advantage I have is my own determination. Delegates can see me start off taking small steps towards the big goal, until I take those last few steps to the top of the world.

JLA: How can you re-build confidence when the situation seems hopeless?

ES: The first phase is clarity of analysis. The second is broadening the consensus about how to make things better. The key is understanding that some people will grasp it intellectually, others intuitively, some not all – they need to be carried along by momentum. To achieve cultural change as a leader you need a majority of people on your side – but not absolutely everyone. Instead of concentrating all your time and effort on intransigent opponents, devote that energy to winning over the waverers. In a team of 11, if you have 5 supporters, 2 detractors and 4 undecided, it might be better to isolate your problem players by working closely with the 4 in the middle. The temptation is to drive yourself crazy banging your head against a brick wall with the detractors.

JLA: How do you help your team adapt to changing circumstances?

ES: Good teams have to be light on their feet, always changing and adapting. You can’t afford a mindset of ‘We’ve got this dead right, all we have to do is repeat what we’re doing forever.’ Instead, you want to encourage inquisitiveness and a continual quest to get better.

JLA: What is motivational speaking all about for you?
AW: I can understand some people finding inspiration in climbing mountains, sailing oceans and trekking to the Poles - fantastic! But my interest is in what motivates people in the real world to get out of bed, climb their own mountains and make a difference in their workplace - day in, day out.

JLA: How did you start?
AW: Out of necessity - to get my own IT sales force to deliver extraordinary results on shoestring budgets. It was during quite a tough economic downturn and I had to motivate and try to retain a team of 150 very diverse people. My fun motivational ‘chats’ and irreverent delivery proved popular and I found myself being invited to go and talk to other companies. I haven’t looked back since.

JLA: So how can a leader motivate when times are tough?
AW: A fun, game-winning environment needs to be created. Everybody has to have a sense of belonging. Managers must become what I call SONAR leaders - engaging people, looking for positives and teasing the best out of them. Most of all the team has to pull together as a family unit and stay focused on gaining and maintaining an edge over the competition.