"HEROIC EPIC INSPIRING HISTORIC"
-- Sir Richard Branson
Best known as the first (and so far only) woman to row solo across the world’s “Big Three” oceans - the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian - Rosalind Savage inspires audiences to think again about what is possible, and encourages them to step up fully into the potential of their highest selves.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in law, Roz spent the first eleven years of her career working as a management consultant, braving nothing more intrepid than rush hour on the London Underground, before an environmental epiphany led to a radical personal transformation into a world class adventurer.
During the seven years of her ocean rowing career, Roz Savage had more chance than most to explore the far horizons of courage. Spending up to five months alone at sea on a 23-foot rowboat, thousands of miles from land and humanity, at the mercy of winds, waves and currents, she evolved from a nervous novice adventurer into the world's foremost female ocean rower.
While crossing a total of fifteen thousand miles of ocean she had to redefine her comfort zone on a daily basis, and reach deep into her inner sources of strength, self-discipline, and commitment to her goal. She discovered the vital importance of keeping a cool head in life-endangering situations, to optimise her capacity for smart decision-making, accurate risk assessment and creative problem-solving.
She now combines her self-taught life skills with principles from neuroscience, psychology, personal development and leadership theory, to inform and inspire corporate audiences. She has spoken to tens of thousands of people across six continents, including Google, eBay, Hershey, Disney, Kaiser Permanente, National Geographic, the Royal Geographical Society, TED and TEDx, plus numerous schools, universities and corporations.
Roz has appeared on numerous TV channels including CBS, ESPN, Fox News, Channel Four and the BBC, and has been a frequent guest on various radio stations including NPR, BBC (Radio Four, World Service), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
She has been featured in a wide range of newspapers including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Financial Times and the Evening Standard. Magazine features include Sports Illustrated, Grazia, Red, Outside Magazine and Fortune Magazine. She has written for numerous magazines and websites including Forbes and the Huffington Post, and contributed to over a dozen books on conservation, adventure, lifestyle and women.
A documentary based on her Atlantic voyage, “Rowing the Atlantic”, was screened in 32 countries as a finalist in the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival.
Roz has authored two books: “Rowing The Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean” (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and "Stop Drifting, Start Rowing” (Hay House, 2013).
In 2010 she was named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. In 2012 she was a World Fellow at Yale. In 2013 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to fundraising and the environment. In 2017 she took up a position at Yale, lecturing on Courage in Theory and Practice.
TOPICS
Mindset and Motivation
Taking on a big challenge - be it organisational change, project implementation, a complex negotiation, or an ocean - can be daunting. Motivation, courage and resilience are essential, but don’t always show up on demand, especially when external factors throw the best laid plans into disarray. When Roz was making her maiden voyage as an ocean rower, across the Atlantic, she experienced a steep learning curve as she faced storms, setbacks, equipment failures, loss of communication, and her inner demons of self-doubt and self-criticism. In this inspiring presentation, she shares the very practical tips she discovered on how to strengthen mindset and find motivation in even the most challenging of circumstances, ultimately enabling her to row solo across 3,000 miles of hostile ocean.
Motivation > Fear = Courage
Drawing on materials from a course she taught at Yale on Courage in Theory and Practice, Roz shows why the world needs courage now more than ever, as we face an increasingly uncertain future. She offers practical techniques for overcoming fear to serve our highest purpose. Her central premise is that courage is not the absence of fear - in fact, there are times when fear is a perfectly rational response to circumstances - but when our motivation is great enough, we are able to move past our fear to courageously do what is right. Roz often felt fear on the ocean, but was able to overcome her fears by reconnecting to her greater purposes - her environmental mission, and the desire to live her life as fully as possible. This presentation will inspire audiences to step up into their highest potential as forces for good in the world.
VUCA: Leadership from the Inside Out
VUCA is a military acronym, meaning situations that are Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex, and Ambiguous - much like many business environments. How can we thrive in such uncertain times? By learning to lead ourselves with strength, courage and calmness, no matter what is going on around us. Roz presents an alternative VUCA - Vision and Values, Ultimate Flexibility, Courage, and Awareness - to help business leaders keep themselves and their organisations on an even keel throughout the storms of change.
Re-Thinking Reality: The Stories We Tell Ourselves
As individuals and organisations, even as families, communities, and countries, we hold an underlying story about who we are. Consciously or subconsciously, for better or worse, we make true in our external world whatever we beliefs we hold in our internal world. Sometimes these narratives only become apparent when we produce a surprising - even shocking - result. The good news is that, once we become aware of these narratives, we can change them in order to craft the outcomes that we want. In her mid-thirties, Roz went through a major personal transformation. She shares how she changed her operational narrative in order to create a life of achievement, meaning and purpose, and invites us all to reconsider the reality that we are creating for ourselves - and to take control of it.
The Best Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It
Creating a sustainable future for humanity has been a driving force in Roz’s ocean rowing career. She advocates a “deep ecology” approach, likening these environmental threats to a many-headed sea monster; we can keep cutting off the heads representing plastic pollution, deforestation, ocean acidification, and so on, but the monster will simply grow new ones. What we need to do is get to the heart of the monster - the disconnect between humans and nature. Roz draws on her firsthand experiences of the awesome power and beauty of nature, coupled with her perception that our planet is surprisingly small. She also reminds us that, just like the 5 million oarstrokes it took her to cross three oceans, one oar stroke may not get us very far, but millions of tiny actions add up to huge transformation.
Testimonials
“Roz was energetic, passionate, engaging and real. Her connection with both our employees and our clients, and the dialogue it sparked both within the room and beyond was tremendous. Everyone left with a little optimistic spring in their step, inspired to make changes and live their lives a little differently. It was an amazing experience to share her world for that hour.” - Jill Ford, Credit Suisse
