Speaker fees:
Topics:
Matt Garman knows what it’s like to bet everything on a business and not be sure it’s going to work.
He’s built and sold two companies with the second to a PE-backed acquirer. Along the way he’s made most of the mistakes in the book. He’s hired the wrong people, lost an industrial tribunal, and once ended up collapsed on a pavement in Brighton from stress. He doesn’t hide any of it, because he thinks that’s where the real leadership lessons live.
He’s also rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in a three-person crew, swum the English Channel, and completed multiple Ironman triathlons, experiences that taught him as much about focus, decision-making and trusting the people around you as anything he learned in a boardroom.
Today Matt works with entrepreneurs and business leaders on the stuff that determines whether a business thrives or stalls: leadership capability, team development, and building something that doesn’t fall apart when the founder steps back. His mindset and methodology give business owners a practical, structured way to move from vision through to execution, not through theory, but through the kind of honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations that create real change.
Matt’s sessions personal, practical and deliberately vulnerable. He tells stories that people recognise from their own experience and he leaves audiences not just motivated but genuinely clearer on where they’re heading and what’s been getting in the way. He is the author of three books: An Unconventional Journey Into Leadership, Learning the Ropes, and Why So Many Sales Hires Fail.
A map you can’t fully read, a crew you haven’t tested yet or an island that might not even have treasure on it. And you’re the one who has to get everyone there alive. Sound familiar?
That’s the feeling nearly every entrepreneur or business leader has on day one. The difference is, once we get stuck into the daily grind, most business leaders forget they’re on an adventure. The map gets buried under spreadsheets, board packs and the relentless noise of running a company. The crew starts pulling in different directions and one day the leader looks up and realises they have no idea where they’re heading anymore.
In this keynote, Matt takes the audience on a voyage through the world of Treasure Island, and their own leadership journey. Finding the map, choosing who gets on the boat and addressing the potential mutiny that nobody saw coming. The storm that changes everything, as well as the moment you finally sight land and must question – was the treasure what you thought it was?
Every stage is brought to life through Matt’s own story, building and selling two businesses, rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, and the brutally honest moments of doubt, failure and discovery in between. It’s funny, it’s personal, and it lands.
Audiences will leave with:
Available as a keynote or a 3-hour interactive workshop (with delegate workbook and map).
There’s an uncomfortable and often ignored truth – the most valuable leadership lessons you’ll ever learn won’t happen in a training room. They’ll happen at 3am when you can’t sleep because you’ve just bet your house on a business, you’re not sure will survive. Or in the middle of an ocean when a Boxing Day storm is trying to capsize your boat. Or maybe even on a pavement in Brighton when your body finally tells you what your brain refused to accept.
Matt Garman has had to address all three. He’s convinced that these raw, unscripted, and often terrifying moments teach more about leadership than any curriculum, case study or MBA module ever will do.
This session challenges conventional leadership development head on. Instead of starting with theory and hoping it survives when challenged, Matt starts with some reality – the mistakes, the gambles, the moments of genuine vulnerability, as he pulls out the lessons that stick. It’s often not comfortable, its not always corporate, but it’s brutally honest, experience-driven learning that changes how leaders think and act long after they leave the room.
Audiences will leave with:
Available as a keynote or a 3-hour interactive workshop (with delegate workbook and map).
Matt was so fun and easy to talk to in the lead up to the event and then captivating from the very start of his presentation, with everyone listening intently and completely engaged. He blew us all away with his recap of “The Toughest Row in the World”. It was inspiring to hear the highs, lows and lessons learnt from his challenging 49 day row across the Atlantic Ocean I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Matt if you are considering him to speak at your event
After listening to Matt speak at an event, I knew we wanted him to speak at our annual summer lunch. Delivered in his unique and engaging style, he hit the spot perfectly with our guests. We all felt like we were in the boat with him
