The summit of any mountain is merely a basecamp for greater challenge.
One word describes Andrew Lock. RESILIENCE. He is the only member of the entire British Commonwealth to have climbed all fourteen of the world’s 8000-metre - death zone - mountains, all without oxygen, guides or Sherpa support.
That journey took 16 years. He was buried in avalanches, fell into innumerable crevasses and survived multiple -30C bivouacs at night, at 8000 metres, without oxygen, tents or sleeping bags. He lost more than 20 friends to those mountains. And that is just part of his story. He has dragged sleds through the Arctic winter in -60C darkness when even the locals said it couldn’t be done. He has sailed small yachts to Antarctica and won his division in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. He has managed the largest international counter-terrorism exercise ever conducted in Australia and led teams of scientists on official Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions to its most remote, storm-swept outposts.
But to Andrew, RESILIENCE does not mean stubbornness or dogged
determination when things don’t go according to plan. His powerful messages are about adapting, creating opportunity out of obstacles and making the journey the goal, rather than a path to get there. It means leading with empathy and achieving organisational success through enabling people.
Andrew Lock OAM is the RESILIENCE EXPERT who will ENTERTAIN and INSPIRE your team to seek challenge, embrace uncertainty and adapt with purpose.
Talking Points
SUMMIT SECRETS - Leading to Succeed
Great challenges require commitment and perseverance. In times of extreme adversity however, it is inspirational and authentic leadership that keeps teams going to the end. Andrew Lock’s sixteen year project to climb every 8000 metre peak on earth, including Mt Everest and thirteen other - death zone - mountains, without guides, oxygen or Sherpas, demanded project management, goal setting, perseverance and team skills. But when climbers died and the teams he joined, failed, he developed his own leadership skills to drive both his success and that of his teams. In doing so, Andrew became the only Australian, indeed the only member of the British Commonwealth, to climb every 8000 metre peak on earth. In this inspiring keynote, Andrew shares the journey, the many important lessons he learned through both failures and successes, and reveals the three overarching leadership traits needed to create winning teams that succeed against great adversity. SUMMIT SECRETS - Leading to Succeed
Key themes - Leadership, self-leadership, creating high performing teams, succeeding against adversity.
RISK - It IS worth it
‘Climbing isn’t worth dying for but it is worth risking dying for.’ This quote by acclaimed mountaineer, Todd Skinner, sounds a bit hollow doesn’t it? Or does it? After 25 extreme altitude expeditions and over 100 exploratory, research and remote area adventure expeditions to every continent on earth, Andrew Lock knows about risk. He succeeded, and survived, where more than 20 of his friends were lost to the mountains. In this keynote, Andrew draws upon his experiences of climbing the world’s highest and most dangerous mountains, as well as his many years of OH&S, Risk Management and Risk Response training. You will learn his risk management approach, understanding risk attitudes and human response processes and his philosophy of proactive risk management strategies to leverage opportunities, rather than retreat from threats, which saw him succeed, where so many others failed. RISK - It IS worth it
Key themes - Risk management, Fear management, OH&S.
SUMMIT 8000 - The Farthest Goal
Andrew Lock’s dream to climb Mt Everest took 15 years to achieve because he climbed without guides, Sherpas or oxygen. It was an extraordinary journey for a boy from the suburbs of Sydney with no prior climbing experience. But the realisation of that dream was not the end of his journey. Rather, the summit of Mount Everest became a stepping stone to an even greater challenge; to climb every 8000 metre - death zone - peak on earth, a 16 year project on the world’s highest, hardest and most dangerous mountains. Along the way he was immersed in immensely spiritual foreign cultures, caught in the firing zone of military conflicts, suffered numerous near death experiences and lost more than 20 of his friends to the mountains. In this moving, sometimes hilarious but always inspiring keynote, Andrew shares the journey, the lessons learned along the way and the hard fought for successes that saw him acclaimed as one of the world’s great high altitude alpinists, the only Australian and indeed the only member of the British Commonwealth, to climb every 8000 metre peak on earth. SUMMIT 8000 - The Farthest Goal
Key Themes - Goal setting, project management, resilience, motivation and inspiration.
EMBRACING UNCERTAINTY - The Alpine Style Organisation
Like traditional climbing expeditions, most organisations embrace a comfortable, structured, ‘siege style’ approach to business. Today’s corporate world however is one of constant change and uncertainty. In this keynote, Andrew identifies the tools used to create modern, light and fast, ‘alpine style’ organisations that can respond quickly to threats and opportunities and become comfortable with uncertainty. He draws upon his own expedition experiences to the 8000 metre - death zone - mountains, including Mt Annapurna, the most dangerous mountain in the world, and K2, the hardest mountain in the world, where he developed Alpine style teams that achieved unparalleled successes on unclimbed routes in the face of extraordinary adversity, change and uncertainty, while all other teams failed on even the simplest routes. EMBRACING UNCERTAINTY - The Alpine Style Organisation
Key themes - Uncertainty, organisational culture and resilience, change management.
Video
ANDREW LOCK - SUMMIT 8000
Australian mountaineer Andrew Lock is attempting to summit the world's highest and most dangerous peaks - all fourteen of them. This season he will attempt to enter the record books as the fifteenth man ever and the FIRST Australian to do with his summit of Shishpangma.Andrew Lock Keynote Speaker
Andrew Lock is the most accomplished high altitude mountaineer in Australian history and one of Australia's most acclaimed adventurers. In 2015 he was named as one of Australia's top 50 explorers ever. He is a professional keynote speaker who specialises in messages of Leadership, Risk Management, Goal Setting, Planning and Team Work.I applaud Andrew on his approach and commitment to our Forum. It is rare to find a key note speaker who is willing to commit so much time and energy into getting to know and understand the o ... keep reading Alan Scott, Principal, Asmosys
We were looking for an exceptional speaker for our recent Client Conference. After looking at quite a few speakers, we settled on Andrew Lock. Personally I am very grateful for having Andrew speak at our conference. I was very moved by his presentation, as were the 100 people in the room. Andrew does a great job. He truly makes a difference. Our clients are still talking about every facet that Andrew spoke about - the systems under adversity, leadership at the highest level, culture, risk analysis, to name a few. My advice is to book him now!
An incredible, inspiring, exhilarating and motivating presenter. Andrew had a complicated presentation brief but he delivered it perfectly. He was humble yet inspirational; he was elite yet convincing. Andrew delivers a very strong message in regards to tackling everyday tasks in addition to the importance of team work and leadership. Andrew's story and real-life images captivated the audience and added great value to the day. I highly recommend Andrew as a keynote for any event looking to inspire and leave your audience in awe.
Your address inspired and motivated delegates encouraging each of them to question and challenge their individual approach to project management and how they contribute. The response to your address has been overwhelmingly positive. Your presentation reinforced values of getting things done, working together and having the courage to make a difference.
You engaged with the 99% women’s audience with uncanny ease! Not what you would naturally expect discussing the extreme sport of high altitude mountaineering. We all went away inspired, motivated and able to make very clear and useful connections between your story and our daily lives.
Thank you very much for your speech, Andrew. You were thorough to learn about our company, our management and adapt your talk to our company. We appreciated having you in the event for most of the day, people were really happy they could approached you and had a chat after your speech. Truly inspirational
