The most enjoyable part of the day was the speech by Andy Kirkpatrick...as here's a man that takes calculated risks for a living, knows they are much higher than normal but accepts it and gets on with it.
- BP
Talking business
Climbing a face eight times the size of Canary Warf, deep in the wastes of Patagonia, where winds can exceed 200 mph, and temperatures drop to minus 30, requires self-belief and control, a willingness to try and to fail, the ability to break through barriers both physical and mental, and the tenacity to keep on fighting until you reach the summit. Andy brings these qualities to any presentation, making him one of the most exciting young speakers on the international circuit.
Andy has built a reputation as a man who can suffer storms within and without, and be able to maintain his momentum and focus on success. From the granite walls of Yosemite, to the North faces of the alps Andy brings a very human insight into his climbs and how they were achieved.
Andy brings a refreshing openness and honesty to the world of corporate speaking, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions from his experiences, whilst at the same time offering a inspirational and motivating experience.
Andy's motivational speaking philosophy
“A few years ago I gave the key note talk at a conference entitled "Training for war fighting", speaking to a room that contained men and women who had just returned from active duty on the front line in Afghanistan, pilots who had been shot down and captured in Gulf War I, and members of the special forces, who thankfully kept what they'd been up to
to themselves.
I gave a fifty minute talk about stress, and how this effects team dynamics and how it has to be managed and overcome in order to reach goals. As usual I spoke honestly about how I’d often crumbled under the strain, after all with an audience like this there was only room for truth.
The talk went well, with enough laughs to keep people focused after a long day of words, and a high enough dose of red blooded action to see hands fly up at the end.
In the bar later I told a Tornado pilot that I hoped that I'd managed to link what I did with what he did, after all I'm just a guy who goes climbing.
Laughing, he said "Andy, we're all very clever people in this room - we can make our own connections".
Since then I've always just told my story, and left it up to the listener to draw their own conclusions. In my view any other approach leads to over simplification of
ideas, making them bite sized and easily digestible by the audience.
Personally having seen a lot of speakers I find this approach often patronising and clichéd, and I'd like to think that the art of motivating and inspiring and audience has moved on. I take it for granted that my audience knows more than me, and even if what I have to say requires a little more digestion, the results will be longer lasting. The days of climbers talking about Everest, about "pulling together for the summit", are past in my mind. Climbing, business and life is more than that, and it deserves more than that to do it justice.”
Presentation Themes
“I knew then I was about to die”
Redefining the calculated risk
In these risk averse times it is easy to view all risk as fool-hardy, yet for Andy risk is a central part of his life and success. Understanding how to calculate a risk and set the odds in your favour, when the possible outcome is death, is the foundation of extreme climbing. Andy talks about the thought process involved in reducing risk and the value of risk itself.“If you’re not failing you’re not trying hard enough”
Turning failure to your advantage
At the age of 13 Andy still was unable to tell the time, tie his shoe laces, or read and write properly. Twenty years later he completed a string of world class ascents.
What was it that took a poorly educated boy from a council estate to the summits of some of the hardest climbs on the planet?
The value of Andy's story is that his greatest climbs and achievements are built on the ruin of many failed attempts, and it is his ability to bounce back and succeed that’s established him as one of the UK’s top mountaineers.
Andy brings a sharp wit and an openness to this story that will both entertain and inspire, a presentation that will be talked about long after the event.
“Eating the elephant”
breaking through mental barriers
How can a lone climber set off to scale the hardest, most dangerous route on the planet, a line that scales an overhanging wall five times higher than Canary Warf Tower? The answer lies in eating elephants. This talk is all about breaking down mental barriers, overcoming fear, and understanding that reaching the summit does not, in itself, signify success.
“There’s no I in team – but there is in die!”
Understanding the importance of the team when things go wrong.
An effective team is one that understands the goal, and when you’re stuck in a storm on top of a mountain, with very little chance of making it out alive, you become acutely aware of the importance of team work. More importantly close encounters with death and intense fatigue teach us that we must learn to pre-empt possible disasters by planning as a team
“The RIGHT time is THEN”
Overcoming the fear of imagined incompetence
The hardest climbs are not always climbed by the best climbers. In fact often it’s the novice who succeeds, primarily due to their ignorance of just how difficult their climbs are. Like having a baby, there is no right time for success, and often you just have to go for it and believe you can make it.
“Beyond the summit”
The path to the top, not the top itself
There is nothing at the summit of any mountain apart from a view much more easily bought on a postcard. The value of that place is the journey there.
