Oli France
Senior teams are being asked to make decisions in conditions they were never trained for: compressed timelines, incomplete information, real consequences for getting it wrong. The instinct is to retreat to process. The cost is composure, judgement, and the ability to ask people to follow you when the route ahead is genuinely unclear.
Oli France is a British expedition leader and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society who uses world-first human-powered journeys to teach senior teams how composure, vision and decision-making hold up under sustained pressure.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Oli France
- He brings continuously updated, documented evidence rather than a single career anecdote. The Ultimate Seven Project, currently mid-sequence, gives every keynote a fresh expedition reference point that has happened in the last twelve months.
- His material is built around named, verifiable terrain, including Iraq’s highest peak, militia-controlled forest in DR Congo, the Aleppo region of Syria, and the 405-mile solo crossing of frozen Lake Baikal hauling a 60kg sledge.
- The Death Valley to Denali expedition, a 3,588-mile, 64-day journey covered by BBC, The Times and National Geographic, gives the keynote a credible decision-making case study with real, named risk variables.
- He is the founder of Wild Edge and host of The Wild Edge Podcast, which means his speaking content is built on conversations with operators in extreme environments, not borrowed leadership theory.
- He works fluently across formats: small executive groups, conference audiences of 500-plus, and virtual delivery, with named bureau credits across UK and European corporate, healthcare, and industrial buyers.
Biography highlights
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and qualified Winter Mountain Leader, holding a BA in Outdoor Leadership and the British Mountain Leader summer and winter awards.
- Author of The Trail of the Mountain Folk (2017), based on a 108-day solo winter crossing of the mountainous spine of Asia from Hong Kong to Istanbul, covering eleven countries and fourteen mountain climbs.
- Founder of Wild Edge, host of The Wild Edge Podcast.
- Currently completing The Ultimate Seven, a world-first series of human-powered journeys from lowest point to highest summit on each continent, being filmed by True to Nature for broadcast.
- Death Valley to Denali, 3,588 miles in 64 days, the first person this century to complete the journey by human power. Coverage in BBC, The Times, National Geographic and Red Bull.
- Has led expeditions in over 75 countries including Iraq, DR Congo, Somalia, Socotra, Siberia, Tajikistan, and the Aleppo region of Syria.
Biography
Lac Assal in Djibouti is the lowest point on the African continent. Kilimanjaro is the highest. Oli France cycled and climbed the 1,636 miles between them in 28 days, the first leg of an ongoing world-first sequence called The Ultimate Seven. The South America leg followed in January 2025, 1,730 miles from Laguna del Carbon to Aconcagua in 34 days, through 49 mph Patagonian winds and 43-degree desert heat.
The pattern matters because it is not a single career chapter. France runs a continuously updated expedition record, each leg of the project giving him fresh, documented material on planning under unknowns, leading small teams through compounding risk, and holding composure when the route ahead is genuinely unclear. The Death Valley to Denali leg in spring 2024 was covered by the BBC, The Times, National Geographic and Red Bull.
His credentials sit underneath the work, not in front of it. France is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, holds a BA in Outdoor Leadership and both summer and winter British Mountain Leader awards. His first book, The Trail of the Mountain Folk, was published in 2017 after he travelled overland alone from Hong Kong to Istanbul across the spine of Asia in winter, eleven countries and fourteen mountain climbs over 108 days. He founded Wild Edge to lead small groups into hard-to-reach terrain, and hosts The Wild Edge Podcast, where he interviews operators working at the extreme end of human performance.
For senior audiences, the value is specific. France gives leadership teams a decision-making case study with real, named consequences: minefields, militia, illness, dehydration, weather windows that close inside an hour. The keynote is built for groups looking to test how their own composure holds up when the comfortable version of the plan stops working.
Key speaking topics
- Resilience under sustained pressure
- High-performing teams in remote and high-risk environments
- Decision-making with incomplete information
- Self-leadership and composure
- Expedition planning and risk management
- Vision, commitment and ambitious goal-setting
Ideal for
- Executive leadership offsites and CEO summits where the brief calls for a credible non-management voice on resilience and judgement
- Sales kick-offs, all-hands and conference keynotes seeking a specific expedition narrative rather than generic motivational content
- Programme leads responsible for high-stakes change rollouts, restructures or operational pressure points
- After-dinner and award ceremony slots where authority and storytelling matter equally
Audience outcomes
- A working language for composure: how senior people hold their judgement together when the plan stops cooperating
- A specific, recent expedition case study attendees can reference with their own teams afterwards
- A reset on what counts as an obstacle and what counts as a decision under uncertainty
- A renewed appetite for ambitious, defensible goals tied to a credible planning method
Talks
A keynote on translating an ambitious vision into a planned, executable journey through commitment, trust and shared focus.
Key takeaways:
- How to set a goal that survives contact with reality
- The role of trust and shared vision in keeping teams moving when conditions deteriorate
- Practical planning behaviours from expedition leadership applied to organisational ambition
A keynote on perspective and decision-making in high-risk situations, drawn from expeditions through conflict zones and extreme environments.
Key takeaways:
- How perspective is shaped, and how senior leaders can shape it deliberately
- The difference between a problem and a decision under pressure
- Frames for treating adversity as input, not interruption
A keynote on accessing deep self-confidence to pursue bold ambitions personally and professionally.
Key takeaways:
- Where durable confidence actually comes from
- How to act ahead of certainty without being reckless
- The role of preparation in building credible boldness
A keynote on building and leading high-functioning teams in demanding environments.
Key takeaways:
- Decision-making and communication in compressed time and high consequence
- Reading human dynamics inside small teams under stress
- Translating expedition leadership lessons to senior organisational settings