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Mark Denton

Around the world race skipper, Leadership, Team and Resilience Expert

Captivating and Award-Winning Speaker who led an Amateur Team to success in the ‘World’s Toughest’ Around-The-World Yacht Race. Mark shares the secrets and rewrites the rules of how to achieve the seemingly impossible, when facing constant adversity, change and competition

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Mark Denton's videos

What Mark Denton's clients say

Here is some of the feedback from audiences and clients who have worked with Mark.
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"Exceptional speaker, remarkable story, profound insight"

Jonathan Hirst, 
CEO, 
Dreams PLC

"Mark’s story gave us some very powerful messages about leading people in an engaging, human and well-grounded manner. Entertaining, refreshing and so thought provoking!"

Lorraine Mildner, 
Group HRD, 
IBP Group

"A game-changing speaker everyone will remember forever"

Pierre Olivier Landry, 
HRD, 
Ceva Logistics

"It couldn’t have been more perfect from our perspective. The feedback has been extremely positive with everyone saying it was the most impactful session of the day, and people are already referencing the ‘NAVIG-8’ model"

Victoria Roberts, 
Commercial Director, 
Draeger Medical

"It exceeded my expectations which were already sky high, and aligned so well with the key messages we are trying to drive out to the teams this year around the need for resilience"

Adam Tesan, 
CRO, 
Chargebee

"A truly inspirational speaker who provided so much transferable learning for our members who are really challenged by change"

Mark Campbell, 
Head of Learning and development, 
AHDB

"An inspirational and enthralling session which was utterly captivating and resonated so well with our audience"

Rob Miatt, 
Chief Communications Officer, 
Balfour Beatty PLC

"The highlight of the conference and very well received by all participants who felt it was just so relevant"

Johanna Schmidt, 
Programme Director, 
Mckinsey & Co

"I’ve seen hundreds of speakers over the years, Mark stands head and shoulders above them all. Relevant, captivating, Insightful"

Rachel Wakeley, 
Head of Sales, 
Chiesi Pharmaceuticals PLC

"Outstanding! We were hanging off every word and we also really enjoyed the psychological safety session. Some brilliant points to take back to the business and incredibly inspiring!"

Sara Hetherington, 
HEAD OF L&D, 
Dreams PLC

"We couldn’t have hoped for more from the 1 day Virtual Masterclass sessions we ran. 100% attention, 5 star feedback and our leaders visibly moved afterwards by what they’d experienced and heard. It was everything we were hoping for!"

Sunny Lin, 
Human Resources Director, 
Geodis China

"Everyone should see this! I’ve never come across anything as impactful that grips leaders in a way that this remarkable story does"

Sam Holland, 
Head of L&D, 
Leicester City Football Club

"A highly skilled coach and a very capable speaker who prides himself on striving for excellence in all that he does whether in business or sport – I totally recommend him"

Richard Olver, 
Chairman, 
British Aerospace

"An exceptional example of leadership speaking that educates and inspires"

Judges, 
International Visual Communications Association Awards

Available for

Mark’s speaking themes

Languages: 

  • English
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Mark Denton's 2024 biography

Meet Mark Denton

Mark is a Leadership, Teamwork and Resilience expert, with vast experience navigating turbulent waters. As a professional sailor and Captain, he’s raced in many of the sport’s most gruelling events. But it was the opportunity to lead an amateur team in the ‘world’s toughest’ around-the-world yacht race that was to be his making, an experience so rich that it’s Mark’s sole focus for his speeches.

This epic event sees 12 teams in identical yachts vying for glory across 10 months and 32000 miles, the ‘wrong way’ around the world. But these are not crewed by hardy professionals from the rarefied world of elite sport. Rather 100% amateurs, male and female, of different ages, backgrounds and nationalities, 70 % having never sailed before!

It’s the toughest Leadership and Team challenge in the book, and the ultimate laboratory to discover what culture really allows a disparate group of people to achieve the extraordinary when facing constant adversity, change and competition. And the results were surprising, in many ways rewriting the rules of how Leaders and Teams need to be to thrive in a brave new world.

And so it’s been Mark’s mission since to share the learning, recognising that the parallels for business were remarkable. And his audiences from many of the world’s greatest Organisations agree, captivating them in over 31 countries to date, and with consistent 5 star reviews.

Mark is a Leadership, Teamwork and Resilience expert, with vast experience navigating turbulent waters. As a professional Sailor and Captain, he’s raced in many of the sport’s most gruelling events. But it was the opportunity to lead an amateur team in the ‘world’s toughest’ around-the-world yacht race that was to be his making, an experience so rich that it’s Mark’s sole focus for his speeches.

This epic event sees 12 teams in identical yachts vying for glory across 10 months and 32000 miles, the ‘wrong way’ around the world. But these are not crewed by hardy professionals from the rarefied world of elite sport. Rather 100% amateurs, male and female, of different ages, backgrounds and nationalities, 70 % having never sailed before!

It’s the toughest Leadership and Team challenge in the book, and the ultimate laboratory to discover what really allows a disparate group of people to come together and achieve the extraordinary when facing constant adversity, change and competition. And the results were surprising, in many ways rewriting the rules of how Leaders and Teams need to be to thrive in a brave new world of constant disruption.

And so it’s been Mark’s mission since to share the learning, recognising that the parallels for business were remarkable. And his audiences from many of the world’s greatest Organisations agree, captivating them in over 31 countries to date, and with consistent 5 star reviews. He’s also won a coveted IVCA Gold Award, the Judge’s statement a perfect summary of the value Mark brings:

“An exceptional example of Leadership speaking that truly educates and inspires whilst capturing the energy of a great human adventure”

But it’s not just his speaking that has won him praise. Mark is also a sought after Performance Consultant and Executive and Team Coach, helping Organisations reshape their cultures and improve their resilience, to deliver better, faster and more sustainably, especially in times of disruption and change. As such he’s twice taken Organisations into the prestigious ‘Times Top 100 best companies to work for’.

This shows just how ‘in-tune’ Mark is with the challenges and opportunities Organisations are facing right now, and his skill at ensuring his interventions move hearts, educate heads, and inspire hands to embrace these with confidence. And amongst his many accomplishments, he was a key contributor to the Henley Management School MBA Text ‘Staying Afloat in Turbulent Times’. And he’s also a partner to Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson’s ‘Fearless Organisation’, the number 1 authority on how to build psychological safety in Teams. Which means the insight and techniques Mark shares are also in-step with the latest academic thinking, and can be put into practice the very next day.

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Mark Denton's 2024 talks & topics

LEADERSHIP: ‘HEART ON MY SLEEVE’ - rewriting the rules for a brave new world

‘HEART ON MY SLEEVE’ is Mark Denton’s signature Leadership Keynote, taking audiences on a roller-coaster of a journey through the twists, turns, triumphs and tears of leading an amateur team to success in the world’s toughest around-the-world yacht race.

This gripping multi-media account, challenges many of the existing outdated beliefs of how a Leader should be, rewriting these with new and proven frameworks that deliver sustained performance for a brave new world. Mark will inspire and equip your leaders to:

  • Blur the lines between Individual, Team and Organisation Purpose
  • Let go of control in favour of collaboration
  • Value being vulnerable rather than being invincible
  • Overcome obstacles with questions not answers
  • Set bold goals and achieve more than you ever thought possible

And it’s all summarised neatly in his 3C’s model of how leaders need to be to deliver sustained performance in these turbulent times: Compassionate, Collaborative and Courageous.

Great for: Challenging mindsets of Leaders & Managers at every level, and for educating those looking to step up

TEAMWORK: ‘TOGETHER WE TRIUMPH’ - making the impossible possible

‘TOGETHER WE TRIUMPH’ is Mark Denton’s signature Teamwork Keynote, an ‘edge of your seat’ multi-media journey through the ups, downs, twists and turns of an amateur team taking part in the ‘world’s toughest’ around-the-world yacht race.

This gripping account also reveals what allowed this team to thrive when facing constant adversity, change and competition. Mark summarises these into the 3 cultural factors that teams must embrace in order to achieve the seemingly impossible, no matter how choppy the waters:

  • Safe: Create an environment of psychological safety that supercharges collaboration and unlocks high performance
  • Happy: Prioritise Team, Customer & Stakeholder happiness to achieve sustained success
  • Fast: Embrace experimentation and reframe failure as the catalyst for learning, innovation and agility

Great for: All staff conferences and department events with a mix of Leaders and Team Members

RESILIENCE: ‘NAVIGATE THE STORM’ - 8 steps to unstoppable

‘NAVIGATE THE STORM’ is Mark Denton’s signature ‘Resilience’ keynote, a roller-coaster multi-media journey through the ups, downs, twists and turns of an amateur team taking part in the ‘world’s toughest’ around-the-world yacht race.

And as the gripping account unfolds, Mark shares his unique perspective on what kept him and the team resilient, including top-tips on how to nurture the 8 key factors summarised in the ‘Navig-8 Compass Model’; Purposeful Direction, Collaboration, Emotion Regulation, Optimism, Creativity, Anticipation, Courage and Persistence.

This simple but comprehensive framework that’s shared with attendees post event, equips them to:

  • Recognise that resilience is multifaceted and accessible to all
  • Understand the different factors, and why each are key
  • Learn practical ways of accessing these, to get back on track
  • Navigate any storm in their personal or professional lives

Great for: Leadership/Management conferences and All-Staff conferences, especially where Organisations are facing turbulent times

NAVIGATE THE STORM – READY TO RACE

A deep dive into the pre-race preparations that the team did to build a high performing culture for the race ahead, based on the eight key factors in the CULTIV-8 Compass; Establishing and aligning around your True North (purpose) and your North Star (vision), establishing customer needs in relation to that, and the same for your employees. Identifying critical operational success factors, and agreeing what behaviours will be required to deliver all this by encapsulating them in a set of Values. And lastly, having an enabling structure and the right supporting systems that allows the team to optimally perform.

NAVIGATE THE STORM – STORM TO PERFORM

A deep dive into Leg one of the race when performance was suffering in the early stages due to the team experiencing some classic dysfunctions including internal competition, silo working, poor communication, unhealthy conflict and a lack of accountability to voice the issues due to low psychological safety and trust. But on day 3, Mark decided it was time to build psychological safety and confront the issues, unite the team to overcome the challenges, set new goals, gather diverse perspectives and ideas as to how to move forward, experiment with solutions, establish effective communication channels, and focus on delivering the results which are the 8 factors within the COLLABOR-8 Compass.

NAVIGATE THE STORM – LIFT THE TROPHY

A deep dive into what it took to turn the team around from a mixed set of results through Legs 1,2,3 of the race to emphatically win leg 4. Topics covered and summarised in the DOMIN-8 Compass include building psychological safety, setting big bold goals, establishing critical success factors, challenging self-limiting beliefs, creativity and innovation to introduce fresh approaches, trying ideas out with low-risk experiments, learning from failure, and executing with courage and persistence

Mark Denton's 2024 speaking fees

Mark travels from:
  • United Kingdom

Specific fees fall within the ranges shown. These are presented as a guide only and are subject to change without notice.

To get an exact quote for your event, click the button below.

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How would Mark Denton deliver their presentation at your event?
Please provide details of your budget for Mark Denton's speaking fee, including currency.