John Amatt
- Mount Everest climber
- The World's Best Adventure Speaker
- Author of Straight to the Top and Beyond
Travels From
Canada
John Amatt Speaker Biography
Mount Everest climber, CEO, and author of Straight to the Top and Beyond, John Amatt has given over 1500 presentations to audiences of more than 750,000 people in 25 countries around the world. John was recently described by International Celebrity Management of Australia as The World's Best Adventure Speaker.
For over 30 years, John Amatt led expeditions to remote regions of Northern Norway, Peru, Nepal, China and Greenland. He has explored areas of Arctic Canada on six occasions, making many first ascents of previously unclimbed peaks. At the age of 20, John spent two weeks lashed to minute ledges while making the first ever ascent of Europe's highest and steepest mountain precipice, the 5000 foot Vertical Mile Troll Wall in Norway. Later in 1981, he was the leader of an early mountaineering expedition to Western China, which made a lightweight ascent of the 24,757 foot Mount Muztagata. This is the highest peak in the world to have been ascended and descended entirely on skis. More recently, John fulfilled a lifelong dream by organizing and taking part in Canada's first successful expedition to reach the top of the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain.
John Amatt's mission is to encourage people to push beyond their self-imposed limitations, to be more personally accountable for their own actions, and to embrace effective teamwork by valuing the contribution of others. John's best-selling book, One Step Beyond: Rediscovering the Adventure Attitude, conveys his belief that people must apply the spirit of adventure to the challenges of daily life if they are to cope with rapid change and convert it to their own advantage. In his latest book, Straight to the Top and Beyond, he uses the metaphor of adventure to develop a nine step approach for scaling the heights in today's unpredictable global environment.
"John Amatt knows about tough times and the value of struggle in bringing out the best in teams of people! After all, he was a leader of an Everest team, which suffered four tragic deaths in two unpredictable accidents before putting six climbers on top of the world. His experience on Everest taught him about the danger of falling into the trap of complacency and the importance of always questioning the status quo in seeking new ways of succeeding in a rapidly changing world. He is the perfect motivational speaker to assist your team in navigating through the turmoil of today’s global economic crisis."
To book John Amatt, call Executive Speakers Bureau at 901-754-9404.
No Mountain Too High
In his new keynote, “No Mountain Too High”, John uses his amazing storytelling ability and the power of metaphor to address the following themes:
- Setting Realistic Goals and Expectations
- Taking Calculated Risk and Being Adventurous
- Embracing Fear and Anxiety
- Avoiding the “Trap of Complacency”
- Understanding the Values of Commitment
- Learning from Setbacks and Applying the Lessons
- Questioning the Status Quo by always asking “WHY?”
- Building Trust within an Effective Team
- Leading by Personal Example
- Taking Pride in Your Individual Contribution
- Anticipating the Future and Being Prepared
Straight to the Top and Beyond
Change is inevitable ... and increasing! Rapid and radical change is the primary challenge facing corporations and professionals today. We cannot stop this change, nor can we ignore it. But we can increase our ability to adapt, to manage change effectively, and to benefit from the numerous opportunities that change creates. In these rapidly-changing times, the metaphor of adventure is the perfect vehicle for articulating the strategy that will help us address this challenge. By definition, adventure involves dealing with the uncertain, the unpredictable and the unknown, just as change involves moving towards a future in which there are no guarantees. To succeed in the uncertain world of the 1990's and the 21st century, we must learn to embrace change, and to become visionary and adventurous in dealing with the economic, social, and political environments in which we must all operate.The key to future successes will be to develop the "Adventure Attitude"™ philosophy - a pro-active approach based upon the following acronym:
A- Adaptability
D- Desire and Determination
V - Vision and Values
E - Experience
N - Natural Curiosity
T - Teamwork and Trust
U - Unlimited Optimism
R - Risk Ability
E - Exceptional Performance
Straight to the Top and Beyond will motivate your staff to embrace new opportunities in a changing world, to open up their minds to new realities, and to develop the "Adventure Attitude"™ strategies that will be the key to success in the future.
Climbing Your Own Everest
John Amatt's most popular presentation, the highly innovative and inspirational 'Climbing Your Own Everest' explores the metaphor of striving to reach the top of the world. Illustrated by magnificent colour photography from his successful expedition which climbed Everest, and supplemented by music, sound effects, and taped radio conversations, this presentation investigates the qualities we must all bring to bear in climbing to the top in the difficult and unpredictable economic environments of the 1990's.Concepts explored include:
- Teamwork
- Preparation
- Commitment
- Adapting to Changing Environments
- Setting Realistic Goals
- The Role of a Positive Attitude
- set against the life and death struggle on the mountain!
By drawing the analogy between the challenge of climbing to the top of the world and the equal challenge of "Climbing Your Own Everest" in a personal and professional sense, this presentation lends special focus to the challenges facing us all in the future. Speaker support for this presentation is available in wide screen, nine projector format, as well as single screen, two projector dissolve.
Meeting the Challenge of Change
John Amatt presents seminars/ workshops of three to five hours duration, which focus on the theme of "Meeting the Challenge of Change" in corporate and professional life. Designed as an in-house program, this thought provoking seminar has also been effectively integrated into annual meetings or conventions. Content can be summarized as:
A. The Mountain of Challenge
- A global perspective
- The art of progress
- The paradox of comfort
- Change is inevitable
B. The Age of Discovery
- From known to unknown
- Oceans of uncertainty
- A place to sleep in safety
- The choice - adapt or perish
- Complacency and tunnel vision
- The bubble of invincibility
- Leaving the beaten path
C. Seven C's for Success...
- Curiosity
- Courage
- Commitment
- Creativity
- Cooperation
- Communication
- Concentration
D. What it Takes to Get to the Top
- The struggle of life itself, upwards and forever upwards
- Overcoming fear
- Respecting basic beliefs and core values
- Developing peripheral vision
- Teamwork based on trust
- Learning from experience
- F.8... and be there
- Continuous improvement
- Positive dissatisfaction
- Penetrating the barriers of self-imposed limitations
E. Living the Adventure
- Attitude is the key to success...
- Nine principles for achievement
F. Global Leadership
- Characteristics of Leaders for the 21st Century
G. Journey Towards the Next Millennium
Meeting the Challenge of Change will motivate your staff to embrace new opportunities in a changing world, to open up their minds to new realities, and to develop the "Adventure Attitude"™ strategies that will be the key to success in the future.
