Leadership

Why organisations work with Paris Norriss The Grit Code gives organisations a repeatable method for developing resilience: not a motivational moment, but a structured framework built from both extreme first-hand experience and interviews with more than 50 documented high performers. It can be applied, not just felt. His source material is verified broadcast content. The adventures Paris describes are not anecdotes: they are documented on productions distributed via Amazon Prime and Apple TV. When the Pacific storm or the 40-foot wave hits, no one questions whether the stakes were real. He draws a distinction most resilience speakers do not: between teams that perform well when conditions are manageable and teams that hold when those conditions break down. The gap between the two is where most organisational performance is actually lost. His career spans investment banking, media production, and extreme endurance sport, which means he can translate the mechanics of sustained performance directly into commercial and operational terms, without forcing the adventure metaphor. His speaking record runs from the US Military in Hawaii to DHL in Athens to COP28 in Dubai. The breadth of context is itself evidence that The Grit Code’s framework transfers across sector, culture, and seniority level. Biography highlights Creator of The Grit Code, a structured resilience framework built from extreme endurance experience and research with more than 50 high performers Rowed 4,800km across the Pacific Ocean (California to Hawaii) with the Brothers N Oars team over 39 days (2023), raising funds for the Blue Marine Foundation and the Invictus Games Completed the World Marathon Challenge: 7 marathons on 7 continents in 5 days and 21 hours (2025), having previously run a single marathon Host and Executive Producer of “Guy in Dubai” and “Guy in the Sky,” distributed on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, OSN, and Emirates Airlines across more than 120 countries Founder of Blazing Sand Studios (formerly GID Media Production), an Abu Dhabi-based production company established in 2017 Regular contributor to Dubai Eye radio; business columnist for The National MA (Hons), Business Studies (Finance), University of Edinburgh; earlier career in investment banking and private equity Biography Most organisations discover they have a resilience problem not during planning but when things go wrong. A skilled, well-resourced team will perform competently under normal conditions. Whether that same team can sustain judgement, cohesion, and output when conditions break down is a different question: and one that most leadership development programmes never directly test. Paris Norriss has spent a decade answering it under conditions where the cost of failure was not theoretical. In 2023 he rowed 4,800 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean with the Brothers N Oars team over 39 days: navigating two storms, 40-foot waves, and a near-collision with a cargo ship. In 2025, having previously run a single marathon, he completed the World Marathon Challenge across seven continents in 5 days and 21 hours. The experiences are not the argument. The argument is what they required: a decision-making framework that holds when resources, morale, and conditions are all working against you. The Grit Code is that framework. Structured from both Paris’s own extreme experiences and interviews with more than 50 high performers, it gives organisations a repeatable method for developing the mental durability that sustains performance under real pressure. Paris has applied it across audiences spanning the US Military, DHL, Nokia, and COP28; contexts with little in common except the fundamental challenge of keeping a team functional when nothing is going to plan. His parallel career as founder of Blazing Sand Studios and executive producer of “Guy in Dubai” and “Guy in the Sky”, distributed on Amazon Prime and Apple TV across more than 120 countries, separates him from other speakers working in the same space. He has not merely survived extreme experiences; he has spent a career converting them into narrative form for mass audiences. That capacity to distil high-stakes experience into something transferable and usable is precisely what The Grit Code delivers in an organisational setting. Key speaking topics Mental resilience and performance under pressure Team cohesion in high-stakes environments Leadership in adversity Decision-making under stress The Grit Code framework for building organisational resilience Visual storytelling and narrative in business Adventure filmmaking and destination media Ideal for Leadership and senior management teams preparing for high-pressure transformation, restructuring, or sustained competitive pressure Sales, operations, and commercial teams where consistent output under difficult conditions is a performance priority HR and L&D leaders looking to embed resilience as a systemic organisational capability rather than a wellbeing initiative Conference organisers serving Gulf, Middle East, and international markets seeking a speaker with verified regional credibility and global media distribution Audience outcomes A working definition of grit as a learnable, structured capability – not a fixed personality trait Practical tools for identifying the internal motivational triggers that determine how individuals perform under sustained adversity A clear framework for distinguishing teams that hold under pressure from teams that only perform when conditions are favourable Insight into the mechanics of leadership and decision-making during the specific period when resources, morale, and conditions are all depleted simultaneously Understanding of how internal purpose and motivational alignment sustain team output beyond the point where conventional incentives and management techniques lose traction

Why organisations work with Peter Nelson He has run the same flagship influence programme at Henley Business School for over fifteen years, which means executive cohorts arrive at a method that has been stress-tested across hundreds of senior leaders, not a workshop assembled for the brief. He pioneered the use of professional actors in corporate influence and pitching training, and built the rehearsal-led methodology now common across UK executive education before it was standard practice. His client base spans law firms, asset managers, oil majors, professional services, the European Commission and Army HQ, which gives him a working vocabulary for influence in highly regulated, technically complex and politically sensitive environments. He works at the level of behaviour and live performance, not frameworks: leaders rehearse the actual conversation, board moment or client pitch they will face, with feedback in the room. Biography highlights Executive Fellow, Henley Business School; lead faculty on the “Influence and Impact” programme for over 15 years. Member of the Executive Faculty, Southampton Business School. Works with Cambridge Judge Business School, Warwick Business School and Duke Corporate Education on senior executive development. Pioneered the use of professional actors in business roleplay for influence and pitching training in the 1990s. Client roster includes Man Group, BP, BMW, Motorola, Allen & Overy, Baker & McKenzie, Barclays, Deloitte, ING, McLaren, the NHS, the European Commission and Army HQ. Signature programmes: Influence and Impact, Influencing and Negotiating, Business Pitching, Client Relationship Management, Team Effectiveness. Biography Most executive education on influence stops at the framework. Leaders leave with a model of stakeholder mapping or persuasion archetypes, then walk into a board meeting and revert to slides. The gap between knowing the theory and behaving differently in the room is the practical problem of senior communication, and it is the problem Peter Nelson has spent more than three decades working on. At Henley Business School, where he is an Executive Fellow, Nelson has led the “Influence and Impact” programme for over fifteen years. The same method now runs across Cambridge Judge Business School executive clients, Warwick Business School corporate cohorts, Duke Corporate Education and Southampton Business School, where he sits on the Executive Faculty. Cohorts include senior partners in global law firms, asset managers, professional services boards and policy leaders inside the European Commission and Army HQ. The methodology is distinctive in its mechanics. Nelson brought professional actors into corporate influence and pitching training in the 1990s, before it was standard, so leaders rehearse the actual conversation they will face: the regulator briefing, the new business pitch, the board update, the difficult client renewal. Feedback is delivered live, in the moment, on behaviour rather than theory. The result is a body of practice rather than a body of writing. Clients include Man Group, BP, BMW, Motorola, Allen & Overy, Baker & McKenzie, Barclays, Deloitte, ING and McLaren, and Nelson is most often booked when an organisation has identified that its senior people are technically excellent and commercially under-converting in the moments that matter. Key speaking topics Influence and persuasion at senior levels Executive presence and leadership impact High-stakes business pitching Negotiation skills Senior client relationships Presentation skills for leaders Team effectiveness Ideal for Partners and senior leaders in law, professional services and asset management preparing for client pitches and renewals Executive committees and boards developing presence and senior communication capability Sales, business development and relationship management leaders selling to sophisticated buyers HR and L&D heads commissioning executive development on influence, negotiation and leadership impact Audience outcomes A concrete sense of how senior audiences read presence, and what to change in the next conversation that matters Sharper command of the pitch, the board update and the negotiation set-piece, rehearsed against live feedback rather than discussed in abstract Specific tools for moving from technical credibility to commercial conversion in client-facing moments A working vocabulary for coaching their own teams on influence and impact after the session

Why organisations work with Andy Storch He has facilitated talent and leadership programmes for Salesforce, Oracle, Google, Toyota, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, Cisco, Sony, and Tiffany & Co., which means he has tested his career-ownership material against the most demanding corporate L&D functions in the market. He runs the room where his buyers meet each other. The Talent Development Think Tank conference, community, and podcast give him a working view of what CHROs and L&D leaders are actually trying to fix, before they brief a speaker. His thesis is concrete and actionable: career ownership is a learnable practice, not a slogan. Own Your Career Own Your Life breaks it into specific steps employees and managers can apply on Monday. His 2025 follow-up with Mike Kim, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career, gives organisations a practical handle on personal brand as a retention and internal mobility lever, not a LinkedIn exercise. He works equally credibly as a keynote, workshop facilitator, and community host. For talent functions running multi-day events, that flexibility is rare. Biography highlights Author of Own Your Career Own Your Life (2020) and co-author with Mike Kim of Own Your Brand, Own Your Career (2025). Founder and host of the Talent Development Think Tank podcast, conference, and community, sponsored by Advantage Performance Group. Has consulted, taught, or facilitated for Salesforce, Oracle, Google, Toyota, State Farm, Red Bull, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, HP, Sony, Cisco, and Tiffany & Co. MBA, USC Marshall School of Business (President of the MBA programme); BS, University of Florida. Host of three podcasts: The Talent Development Hot Seat, Own Your Career, and My NFT Journey. Workshop facilitator for global enterprises since 2011. Biography Career development inside large organisations has become a quiet contract failure. Employees assume their employer will plot the path; employers assume employees will take initiative; the middle is where engagement and retention disappear. Storch built a practice around closing that gap from both sides. His book Own Your Career Own Your Life sets out a step-by-step approach to career ownership for individual contributors and managers. The 2025 follow-up with Mike Kim, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career, extends the argument into personal brand as an internal-mobility and retention lever rather than an external marketing exercise. Both books are direct and operational, not motivational. The proof point most relevant to corporate buyers is who he works with. Salesforce, Oracle, Google, Toyota, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, Cisco, Sony, and Tiffany & Co. have used him to facilitate leadership and talent programmes. He has been running these workshops since 2011, which is what allows the keynote material to land in language a senior L&D function recognises. The Talent Development Think Tank, his podcast, conference, and community, gives him an unusual position in the market. He is not commenting on the talent development field from outside it; he is the convener inside it. For a CHRO or head of L&D, that means the speaker on stage has heard, in private, the same problems they are trying to solve. Key speaking topics Career ownership and employee development Talent development strategy Personal brand and internal mobility Leadership for managers of professionals Employee engagement and retention Future of work and talent trends Ideal for CHROs, heads of L&D, and talent development leaders running enterprise development programmes Annual talent and leadership offsites for managers of professionals Employee resource groups and internal high-potential cohorts Sales and account leadership conferences focused on retention and growth of top performers Audience outcomes A working definition of career ownership that managers and employees can apply to weekly conversations Specific tools to make personal brand work as an internal mobility and retention asset A clearer line between what the employer owes the employee and what the employee owes their own career Language to frame development conversations that does not collapse into performance review template A view of where talent development practice is heading, drawn from a sitting community of CHROs and L&D leaders

Why organisations work with Jose Manuel Calderon Fourteen NBA seasons across seven franchises, each requiring a different role, system, and relationship with coaching staff. Few speakers can describe reinvention at that frequency from inside the experience. Captained the Spain national team through its most decorated era, winning the 2006 FIBA World Cup, the 2011 EuroBasket, and three Olympic medals across 2008, 2012, and 2016. Holds the NBA single-season free throw record at 98.05 percent. The story behind that statistic is a precise account of preparation, repetition, and composure that translates directly to high-stakes performance. Now operates inside the business of sport as Special Advisor to the Cleveland Cavaliers, strategic advisor to technology firm Sngular, and co-founder of sport technology venture OWQLO. The post-playing view is operational, not nostalgic. Biography highlights 14 NBA seasons with Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, and Cleveland Cavaliers. NBA single-season free throw record holder at 98.05 percent (2008-09, Toronto Raptors). 2006 FIBA World Cup champion and 2011 EuroBasket champion with Spain. Three Olympic medals with Spain: silver in 2008, silver in 2012, bronze in 2016. Special Assistant to the Executive Director at the National Basketball Players Association from 2019. Special Advisor to the Cleveland Cavaliers, strategic advisor to Sngular, co-founder of OWQLO, UNICEF Ambassador. Biography Fourteen seasons in the NBA is not a tenure. It is seven different working environments, seven coaching philosophies, and a constant negotiation of role. Across Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Cleveland, the work was the same every season: arrive, read the room, and become useful to a group of people who did not pick you. That career line is the substance behind Jose Manuel Calderon’s speaking. He captained the Spain national team through the most decorated period in its history, winning the 2006 FIBA World Cup, the 2011 EuroBasket, and three Olympic medals across 2008, 2012, and 2016. The Spanish “golden generation” is studied because it sustained excellence across more than a decade, with changing coaches, ageing key players, and rising rivals. Calderon was a central figure in how that group held together. The detail that travels well into corporate rooms is his free throw record. In 2008-09 he made 151 of 154 attempts, a 98.05 percent season that still stands as the NBA’s highest. The talk that emerges from it is about repeatable performance, not natural talent, and it lands cleanly with audiences who are measured on consistency rather than peaks. After retiring, Calderon moved directly into the business of sport. He served as Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the NBA Players Association from 2019, advises the Cleveland Cavaliers, sits on the advisory board of Spanish technology firm Sngular, and co-founded sport technology venture OWQLO. He is also a UNICEF Ambassador. The result is a speaker who can speak to senior teams in the language they use, drawing on a playing career that is genuinely rare at the level it reached. Key speaking topics Leadership under sustained pressure Team performance across changing line-ups High-stakes decision-making Captaincy and standards Inclusion and identity in elite sport Reinvention across cultures and systems The business of professional sport Ideal for Senior leadership teams under prolonged performance pressure CHROs and people leaders building cohesion across changing structures Sales and commercial leaders who manage on consistency rather than peaks Board and executive offsites looking for a credible outside voice on team dynamics Audience outcomes A practical account of how elite teams hold standards through line-up change, coaching turnover, and external scrutiny. A clear picture of what daily preparation looks like at the level that produces records, not anecdotes about motivation. A working language for captaincy, the responsibility of senior players inside a team, and how that maps to senior leaders inside an organisation. A perspective on inclusion built from a long career across multiple national, cultural, and locker-room contexts.

Why organisations work with Pau Gasol Two NBA championships, three Olympic medals and a FIBA World Cup title give him a working definition of high performance grounded in repeated wins across cultures, coaches and rosters, not a single peak. He speaks credibly about the operating reality of elite teams: ego management next to a generational star (Kobe Bryant), role clarity, and the unglamorous habits that hold a group together across an 82-game season. A Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2023 and a retired Lakers jersey place him among the small group of athletes whose authority on team and leadership is taken seriously inside a boardroom, not only on a stage. His work outside sport (Gasol Foundation on childhood obesity, IOC Athletes’ Commission, Gasol16 Ventures) shows a leader who has built institutions, not only played in them. The J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is the NBA’s formal recognition of that. He presents fluently in English and Spanish, with direct experience of US, European and global organisations, which suits international leadership audiences without translation overhead. Biography highlights Two NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers (2009, 2010); six-time NBA All-Star; four-time All-NBA selection. 2002 NBA Rookie of the Year, the first non-American player to win the award. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Class of 2023; jersey No. 16 retired by the Los Angeles Lakers. FIBA World Cup champion and MVP 2006; three EuroBasket golds with Spain (2009, 2011, 2015); two-time EuroBasket MVP. Three Olympic medals with Spain: silver in 2008 and 2012, bronze in 2016. President and co-founder of the Gasol Foundation; UNICEF Global Champion for Nutrition and Zero Childhood Obesity; member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission; 2012 NBA J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. Biography Two NBA Championships, three Olympic medals and a FIBA World Cup title are not won by the same individual playing in different teams. They are won by leaders who help different groups behave the same way under pressure. Pau Gasol spent two decades inside the highest-stakes team environments in professional sport, with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, alongside his brother Marc on the Spanish national team, and across rosters in Memphis, Chicago, San Antonio and Milwaukee. The interest for senior leaders is not the trophy count. It is what it took to sit beside a generational star like Bryant and still deliver, year after year, in the locker room as much as on the court. Role clarity, ego management, honest conversations between named individuals, and a standard that did not move with the score. Gasol’s account of that period is one of the more credible insider readings of elite team performance available from any speaker in the market. His record off the court is unusually substantive for an athlete. He co-founded the Gasol Foundation in 2013 with Marc Gasol, working on childhood obesity and child wellbeing in Spain and the United States. He serves as UNICEF’s Global Champion for Nutrition and Zero Childhood Obesity, sits on the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, and runs Gasol16 Ventures, an investment platform in sport, health and wellness. The NBA recognised the community work with the 2012 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023, with his number retired by the Los Angeles Lakers the same year, Gasol now speaks to leadership audiences in English and Spanish on what it actually takes to build a team that wins more than once. Key speaking topics Leadership and team performance under sustained pressure Building trust and role clarity inside elite teams Resilience and self-leadership through injury, transition and setback Sport as a model for organisational culture and standards Purpose-driven leadership and life after a professional career Child health and the leadership case for long-term social investment Ideal for Senior leadership offsites and CEO conferences focused on team performance and culture Sales kick-offs and annual conferences seeking a credible voice on resilience and standards Sports, health and consumer-brand audiences engaging with athlete leadership International audiences requiring delivery in English or Spanish Audience outcomes A working picture of what elite team performance looks like behind the result, told by someone inside it A direct view of how leaders manage ego, role and trust around a dominant individual Specific reference points for resilience and decision-making through injury, transition and public scrutiny A leadership case for long-term investment in people and purpose beyond the immediate quarter

Tom Bowen’s Early Life and Rugby Beginnings Tom Bowen’s rugby journey began at the tender age of six, igniting a lifelong passion for the sport. His early years were marked by a dedication to mastering the game, leading him to significant milestones and recognition in his youth. Plymouth Albion Breakthrough In 2012, Bowen’s career took a pivotal turn when he joined Plymouth Albion. Initially playing as a centre, his agility and speed soon saw him transition to the wing. His exceptional performance earned him the title of Plymouth’s young player of the season for two consecutive years, showcasing his potential and skill. England Sevens Career In 2014, Bowen’s hard work paid off when he made his debut for the England Sevens team. Over the next eight years, he played on the global stage, competing against top-tier teams and making a name for himself with his lightning-fast pace and strategic gameplay. His tenure with the team was marked by numerous highlights and a relentless drive to excel. Adaptability and Teaching During COVID-19 When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the sports world, Bowen adapted by channeling his expertise into teaching rugby and fitness. Partnering with England teammate Megan Jones, he reached out to aspiring athletes through online platforms and school programs, demonstrating resilience and commitment to the sport. Olympic Involvement In June 2021, Bowen’s dedication was further recognized when he was named a reserve player for the Great Britain Rugby Sevens squad at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. This achievement underscored his unwavering determination and exceptional talent. Speaking Engagements and Themes As a speaker, Tom Bowen brings the same energy and passion to the stage that he displayed on the rugby field. His talks focus on themes such as: Leadership: Sharing insights from his experiences in high-stakes sports environments. Motivation and Inspiration: Encouraging audiences to overcome adversity and strive for excellence. Resilience: Highlighting the importance of adaptability in the face of challenges. Teamwork and High Performing Teams: Drawing on his extensive experience in team sports to foster collaboration and success in organizations.

Why organisations work with Tara Renze Twenty years inside CareerBuilder and Stella & Dot give her a sales-floor credibility that few EQ speakers carry. She has run the number, trained the new hires, and built a multi-million-dollar book of business before stepping onto the stage. She works in the practical intersection of Shirzad Chamine’s Positive Intelligence and applied emotional intelligence, translating both into language that revenue teams and women’s networks will sit through, take notes on, and act on. Her core framework, “Be Who You Came To Be”, is a trademarked through-line across keynote, workshop and book, which gives client teams a shared vocabulary that survives past the event. Repeat work from operationally serious clients including T-Mobile, Pfizer, Aflac, Amazon, Shaw Industries and Women’s Foodservice Forum, not only inspiration-circuit buyers. Biography highlights Author, Be Who You Came To Be, published by Amplify Publishing Group (second edition). Host, Be Who You Came To Be podcast. Certified practitioner in Emotional Intelligence and Shirzad Chamine’s Positive Intelligence methodology. Former Sales Leader of the Year at CareerBuilder.com; led the company’s national new hire sales training programme. Founder of a multi-million-dollar nationwide social selling business with Stella & Dot. Degree from the University of Kansas; executive leadership studies at the Wharton School and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Biography A sales floor is one of the more honest places in a corporation. The number is the number, the pipeline is the pipeline, and the people carrying the quota tell you quickly whether the culture, the leadership and the personal motivation are real. That environment is where Tara Renze spent two decades before she ever called herself a speaker, first as Sales Leader of the Year at CareerBuilder.com, then as the founder of a multi-million-dollar national social selling business with Stella & Dot. She moved into the emotional intelligence and positive intelligence space with that operating background still attached. Her practitioner work draws on the EQ tradition and on Shirzad Chamine’s Positive Intelligence methodology, which she applies to the specific tensions she watched up close for twenty years: high performers who lose their edge, women leaders who hide their ambition, sales teams whose self-talk eats their pipeline. The frame she has built around this work, “Be Who You Came To Be”, anchors a book published by Amplify Publishing Group, a podcast of the same name, and the keynote and workshop programme she takes into clients including T-Mobile, Pfizer, Aflac, Amazon, Shaw Industries and Women’s Foodservice Forum. The through-line is consistent. Authenticity is treated as a performance variable, not a wellness slogan, and mental fitness is taught as a learnable discipline with practical tools that a sales manager or a CHRO can actually deploy on Monday morning. What clients tend to book her for is the combination buyers struggle to assemble otherwise: a speaker who can hold the room on confidence, self-leadership and EQ, who has also personally carried a quota, run a sales training programme and built a national business. Key speaking topics Emotional intelligence in commercial environments Positive intelligence and mental fitness Authentic leadership for women Sales leadership and seller mindset Self-sabotage and saboteur patterns at work Culture, engagement and team performance Ideal for Chief Revenue Officers and sales leadership teams running enterprise sales kick-offs. CHROs and L&D leaders designing manager development and women’s leadership programming. Direct-selling and field-force organisations where individual mindset determines revenue. Industry associations and women’s networks (Women’s Foodservice Forum profile) seeking a keynote that holds an executive room. Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for the internal patterns (self-doubt, saboteur voices, performance anxiety) that quietly degrade individual and team results. Specific Positive Intelligence techniques for interrupting those patterns in real working conditions. A practical reframe of authenticity as a performance discipline, not a personality trait or a wellness extra. A shared language across a team or sales force that survives past the event and can be reinforced by managers.

Why organisations work with Hamilton Mann He runs digital and AI transformation at Thales across 68 countries in defence, aerospace, cybersecurity and digital identity, so the advice he gives boards is the advice he himself has to act on inside one of the most regulated operating environments in the world. Artificial Integrity is a published, named framework with a Wiley imprint behind it and a Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in Digital Thinking. Buyers get a defensible reference point, not a personal opinion. He teaches AI strategy at INSEAD, HEC Paris and EDHEC Business School, which means the content travels at executive education register without being either academic or vendor-coloured. He bridges the two AI conversations boards are stuck between: the engineering question of what the system can do, and the governance question of what the organisation can defend. Most speakers credibly cover one side. Biography highlights Group Vice President, Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation, Thales (defence, aerospace, cybersecurity, digital identity, 68 countries). Author, Artificial Integrity: The Paths to Leading AI Toward a Human-Centered Future (Wiley, October 2024). Thinkers50 Radar 2024 (top 30 emerging business thinkers globally); Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in Digital Thinking, 2025. Senior Lecturer at INSEAD, HEC Paris and EDHEC Business School; Mentor, MIT Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center. Forbes US contributor on AI; published in Stanford Social Innovation Review, California Management Review, Rotman Management, Knowledge@Wharton, INSEAD Knowledge, I by IMD, Harvard Business Review France. Host of The Hamilton Mann Conversation, a podcast on Digital for Good. Biography The harder problem in enterprise AI is no longer model performance. It is the gap between what a system can do and what an organisation can defend in front of a regulator, a court, a journalist or a customer. Hamilton Mann named that gap and gave it a discipline. His book Artificial Integrity, published by Wiley in October 2024, argues that AI design has spent a decade optimising for intelligence and almost no time on integrity, by which he means systems that demonstrate ethical, moral and social reasoning and remain continuously assessable in that capacity. The argument earned the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in Digital Thinking in 2025 and a place on the Thinkers50 Top 10 New Management Books list the same year. The credibility comes from operating reality as much as from publishing record. As Group Vice President for Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation at Thales, Mann runs digital and AI initiatives across 68 countries inside a defence, aerospace, cybersecurity and digital identity business, the kind of environment where a poorly governed AI decision has consequences beyond reputational damage. He carries that lens into his teaching at INSEAD, HEC Paris and EDHEC, his mentoring at MIT’s Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center, and his Forbes US column on AI and society. For a board or executive committee debating AI deployment, the value is concrete. Mann sits at the intersection of three conversations most organisations try to hold separately: the technical, the governance and the strategic. He has a published framework, an operator’s track record and the standing to challenge a leadership team without retreating into either ethics theory or vendor pitch. Key speaking topics Artificial Integrity as an AI design discipline Responsible AI deployment in regulated industries Digital and AI transformation at enterprise scale AI governance for boards and executive committees Digital for Good and the paradoxes of technology Human-centred AI strategy Leadership in the age of AI Ideal for Boards and executive committees setting AI policy and risk appetite Chief AI Officers, CIOs, CTOs and Chief Digital Officers responsible for enterprise deployment Regulated industry leadership in defence, financial services, healthcare, energy and public sector Senior leadership programmes and executive education on AI strategy Audience outcomes A working definition of Artificial Integrity that a leadership team can use to evaluate its own AI portfolio A clearer view of where current AI deployments create defensibility risk and where they create operating advantage The vocabulary and framework to challenge vendors, internal AI proposals and governance gaps with the same standard A reference point grounded in both a published Wiley title and an active operating role at one of Europe’s largest technology groups

Why organisations work with Bonita Norris Her “Focus Not Fret” framework gives teams a specific, repeatable mechanism for redirecting attention under pressure, from what cannot be controlled to what can. Clients at Google and Alpine cite it by name as something still in use after the event. Her trajectory from complete novice to holder of two world records in three years is structurally identical to the challenge organisations face when asking teams to achieve stretch goals from a standing start, which is why the analogy lands rather than simply inspiring. The “Data Over Dogma” keynote reframes the 1953 Everest ascent as a triumph of scientific evidence over institutional resistance, creating a bridge to data and AI audiences that most expedition speakers cannot credibly make. She is the first British woman to summit Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain: a credential that goes beyond Everest and signals sustained, multi-year commitment to extreme performance, not a single peak. Winner of Best Speaker Storyteller at The Speaker Awards 2024, with verified feedback from organisations across financial services, technology, FMCG, and professional services, not a single sector cohort. Biography highlights Youngest British woman to summit Everest (2010); youngest person to reach both the summit of Everest and the North Pole First British woman to summit Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain (2012) Attempted to become the first British woman to climb K2, widely regarded as the world’s most dangerous mountain Author of The Girl Who Climbed Everest (Hodder & Stoughton, 2017); Amazon No. 1 in mountaineering and adventure (2022) Winner, Best Speaker Storyteller, The Speaker Awards 2024 Appearances on BBC News, ITV’s Lorraine, and BBC World Service; featured on HSBC’s Power Up Your Goals podcast (2024) Biography The question most organisations ask after a high-pressure failure is: what went wrong with the plan? The harder question and the more useful one is: what went wrong with the mindset? Bonita Norris has spent fifteen years developing a practical answer. She began climbing at twenty, having never touched a mountain. Two years later she stood on the summit of Everest, the youngest British woman to do so. A year after that she reached the North Pole, becoming the youngest person to hold both records simultaneously. None of it was the product of innate talent. It was the product of a specific way of managing fear, uncertainty, and the pressure of stretch goals: principles she has since codified and delivered in more than 650 corporate engagements worldwide. Her framework centres on three named concepts: “Success by Smallness”: the principle that ambitious goals are won through consistent, process-driven small actions; “Mountains of the Mind”: the argument that the limiting factor is almost always cognitive, not physical; and “Focus Not Fret”: a tool for redirecting attention from what is uncontrollable to what is actionable. These are not metaphors. They are structures that clients at Google, Clifford Chance, BlackRock, and Microsoft have applied directly. Her memoir, The Girl Who Climbed Everest, published in 2017, reached No. 1 on Amazon’s mountaineering and adventure chart in 2022. In 2024 she was awarded Best Speaker Storyteller at The Speaker Awards, recognition grounded in a consistent record of audience engagement across industries, not a single standout performance. Key speaking topics Resilience and mindset under pressure High performance in high-stakes environments Goal-setting and stretch ambition Overcoming fear and cognitive limitation Team cohesion and shared-goal culture Marginal gains and process-driven performance Data, evidence, and overcoming institutional resistance to change Ideal for Senior leadership teams navigating high-pressure transformation or uncertainty Sales and commercial organisations working toward stretch targets CHROs and L&D leads designing resilience or performance programmes All-hands and conference audiences where cross-functional alignment and shared motivation are the goal Audience outcomes A named, portable framework – “Focus Not Fret” – for managing attention and decision-making under pressure Clearer understanding of why ambitious goals fail at the mindset level, and what specifically to do about it A reframed relationship with failure: practical insight into how mistakes accelerate rather than derail progress Greater awareness of how small, consistent actions – not heroic moments – produce exceptional results over time A shared reference point for team culture conversations around resilience, ambition, and collective performance

Why organisations work with James Lang He brings live, professional rugby experience of operating at fly-half, the position responsible for in-game decisions under crowd noise, time pressure, and immediate consequences. That is a useful analogue for senior teams that have to make calls quickly in front of an audience. His career spans Harlequins (79 senior appearances) and Edinburgh Rugby in the United Rugby Championship, with six Scotland caps. The credentials are specific, verifiable, and current. He works in concrete language: setbacks, dropped balls, missed kicks, recovery between phases. Audiences leave with examples, not generic motivation. Useful for sessions where the buyer wants athlete-translated content on pressure and team trust rather than a corporate leadership lecture. Biography highlights Senior debut for Scotland against Canada in Edmonton, 9 June 2018, starting at inside centre in a 48-10 win. Six caps for Scotland between 2018 and 2021. 79 senior appearances for Harlequins between 2016 and 2021. Signed for Edinburgh Rugby in 2021, playing in the United Rugby Championship. Early career with Welsh side Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC1404) before returning to the Harlequins academy. Educated at St Mary’s University and Bangor University. Biography Fly-half is the most exposed position on a rugby pitch. Every decision is public, every kick is counted, and recovery has to happen between phases of play. Lang has spent his senior career in that role, including a Scotland debut against Canada in Edmonton in June 2018 and 79 senior appearances for Harlequins before signing for Edinburgh Rugby in 2021. His route to professional rugby is itself part of the content. He left the Harlequins schoolboy programme for Welsh side Rygbi Gogledd Cymru as a teenager, then returned to the Harlequins academy in 2016. The detour gave him competitive minutes that more conventional pathways do not provide, and it shapes how he talks about non-linear progression. On stage he focuses on the practical mechanics of pressure performance: preparation routines, handling mistakes mid-game, and the team trust that holds when results do not. The reference points are specific moments in named matches, which makes the content useful for internal team sessions, sales kick-offs, and events where the brief is high performance and recovery rather than strategic leadership. The honest framing for a buyer: this is athlete-experience content. It is most powerful when the room wants a credible voice on composure and team dynamics, paired with substantive business speakers for the strategic agenda. Key speaking topics Performance under pressure Team trust and collaboration Resilience and recovery from setbacks Self-motivation and elite habits Leadership in high-stakes moments Adversity and non-linear careers Ideal for Sales kick-offs and internal team conferences seeking an athlete’s voice on pressure and recovery. People and culture events focused on team trust and collaboration. Talent and graduate development programmes covering early-career resilience and non-linear progression. Audience outcomes A concrete picture of how elite athletes train composure rather than rely on it. Specific examples of recovery routines used between high-pressure moments. Language for talking about team trust that holds when results turn negative. A useful contrast between athlete preparation habits and typical corporate working patterns.