Mark Agnew

Mark Agnew is a two time world record setting adventurer. He spent an incredible 103 days completing the notorious Northwest Passage by kayak. His speeches recount the epic adventure and lessons from the Arctic.

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4 Client reviews

Photo: Ben Duffy

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Mark’s mix of honesty, humour, success, and failure made him an instant selection as a professional speaker, fit for the specific purpose we had in mind. Mark enables true adventure to be relatable to the day to day working life of corporate employees by his engaging storytelling and transparent approach to articulate his trials and tribulations. I’d highly recommend Mark for your event or professional speaking needs, easy to work with, great content and a fast turnaround time. Exactly what we were looking for!

Craig Clarke

Senior Manager, UKIMESA Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

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Why you should book Mark Agnew for your next event

He will share gripping tales from a record breaking 103 day expedition in the Arctic.
Mark can tailor his message to suit your company's goals and messaging. He can adjust the length to match the event format.
Mark blends stories of failure, success, humor and honesty in his talks, making him an instant success with all audiences.

Non-binding request for Mark Agnew

Adventurer, freelance journalist & keynote speaker.

Mark is a record breaking adventurer. He and his team set two records in the Arctic's Northwest Passage - first to kayak the historic route and first to do it using human power, with no motors or sails, in a single year. The expedition took 103 days.They faced down polar bears, were almost crushed by ice and had incredible encounters with whales. Mark's talks focus on building resilience in the workplace, how to bounce back from failure and understanding your own motivations. He talks openly about mental health issues. His lessons are based on interviews with psychologists and give a robust framework for his audience to apply to life and work. His clients range from small intimate groups of just 10 people, to large audiences like the End of Year Event for Marks and Spencer and the annual sales meeting for Fortune 500 companies including Heinken and Bosch.

Mark and his team made history when they completed the Northwest Passage by kayak. The fabled Arctic route has been sought by adventurers for centuries - the most well known expedition in the passage was John Franklin, who became famous when he and all his crew perished after their ships became stuck in the ice.

Mark's journey and success in the Northwest Passage is astounding. And yet, Mark focuses first on his failed expeditions. He tried to row the Atlantic twice and was forced to abandon his boats just a few days in. The failure crushed him. It sent Mark into a mental health crisis.

Mark rebuilt his resilience and reexamined his motivations to go on and set two world records - the first to kayak the Northwest Passage and the first to do it under human power, no motors or sails, in a single year.

During his talk, Mark shares his journey from failure to success, with actionable lessons for your audience and workforce. Fundamental to Mark's recovery and success was letting go of extrinsic expectations and having his own intrinsic goals, like being immersed in nature and building camaraderie with his teammates.

Mark expertly weaves his lessons into fascinating, death defying stories from the Arctic. During the expedition they covered ultramarathon distances day in, day out, experienced extreme weather conditions and had unbelievable encounters with whales and polar bears. It is a talk sure to inspire your audience.

Photo: Ben Duffy

Customer Reviews

Craig Clarke Senior Manager, UKIMESA Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Mark delivered a very engaging and inspiring talk to our sales team. He had the ability to entertain and keep the audience gripped, while at the same time sharing some quite personal and emotional insights. His misadventures were funny and his determination to keep going were heart-warming. His research into the psychology of human behaviour was fascinating, especially when talking about teamwork and affability versus performance.

Rachel Day Marketing Great Britain, Bosch Rexroth

It was an absolute pleasure to have Mark come and talk to our GP trainee group. As well as him being very responsive to our communications, his talk was inspiring, engaging, entertaining and poignant. We shared in the highs and lows of his experiences as an adventurer, and along the way learnt that even what might be considered a failure has value for learning and personal growth. I would highly recommend Mark.

Debra Harper NHS, GP Training Programme Director

Mark delivered an excellent and captivating keynote webinar on this topic at the recent Fettes College careers day for students from Fettes and for in excess of five hundred senior five and six students from Edinburgh high schools. Mark's captivating session was a strong start to a morning designed to provide young people at this critical stage with insights to effectively explore and develop their Higher Education options. We would recommend him as a speaker.

Karen Jones Community Engagement Manager, Fettes College

Keynotes

Keynote by Mark Agnew:

Motivational Keynote Speaker

Your people will walk away inspired by stories from Arctic adventures, about polar bears, storms and near death experiences, with a deeper understanding of how to become more resilient, work as a cohesive team and overcome setbacks. The takeaways are immediately actionable for your people and your business.

Your audience will reap the rewards of Mark's astounding career as an world record setting adventurer, as he grips your people and delivers lessons in the psychology of resilience and teamwork.

Signature Talks:

How To Find Your Polar Bear.
A Team As Solid As Ice.
Trump, Greenland & An Arctic Adventure.
Tales from The Arctic with European Adventurer of the Year.

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Keynote by Mark Agnew:

Trump, Greenland & An Arctic Adventure

Mark Agnew, political journalist and adventurer, has the most unique and insightful perspective into rising tensions in the Arctic. Your audience will be gripped, on the edge of their seats and leave with a new understanding of geopolitics in the Arctic.

Mark Agnew and his teammates kayaked through the Arctic's Northwest Passage for 103 days. They witnessed close up disappearing ice, surveillance planes, NATO fuel tanks, Early Warning towers and Canadian soft power.

No one on earth is able to explain the nuances of the Arctic geopolitics by weaving it into such an exciting first hand story like Mark Agnew.

Key Takeaways:

Your audience will be amazed by incredible tales from the Arctic, weaved into explanations of Arctic tensions.
An exciting story of Arctic adventure packed with polar bears and ice bergs.
Trump and Greenland: A clear understanding into why President Trump wants to expand the US's Arctic Coastline by acquiring Greenland and Canada.
Increased military tensions: Insightful explanation about commercial shipping routes in the Arctic and why they increase military tensions, due to Naval ice breakers.
Ripe for military miscalculations: A first hand account of the remote nature of the Arctic, and how lack of satellite coverage may result in military miscalculations.
First hand Arctic experiences: Visceral descriptions of life in the Arctic, what it really feels like to be in an "ice free" Arctic ocean and first hand experiences of Arctic conditions.

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Keynote by Mark Agnew:

How To Find Your Polar Bear

To thrive in adversity, the key is to let go of the outcome. Mark stopped chasing world records, found his inner polar bear and achieved one of the greatest expeditions of our time as a result.

Key Takeaways:

Resilience is not static. It can be learned, honed and training.
Mark will teach your people how to 'sit with discomfort', so they can feel stressed and thrive in their tasks anyway.
Mark will help your audience reframe past failures as learning opportunities, so even failure empower resilience.
Intrinsic motivations diversifies your company's KPIs, which is the ultimate resilience.
Entertaining tales from the Arctic.

Benefits & ROI:

Resilient people thrive during tough times, giving your company a competitive edge when it needs it most.
Resilient staff bounce back faster from setbacks, saving your company time and money.
Reframing obstacles as challenges empowers your staff to solve issues before they escalate to costly problems.

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Keynote by Mark Agnew:

Teams As Solid As Ice

Mark and his teammates met for the first time just four days before going to the Arctic and achieving one of the most historic feats of our time. In adventure, you depend on each other or you die - learn how to create the ultimate resilient team culture.

Key Takeaways:

How to build team cohesion quickly.
Knowing difference between task and social cohesion, and how the two concepts interact, will take teamwork to the next level.
Your people can empower each others' resilience by helping each other 'sit with discomfort'.
Amazing stories from the Arctic.

Benefits & ROI:

Socially cohesive teams spend more time on completing the task, and less time on inefficient politics.
A happy team goes further faster than a qualified group of unhappy individuals.
Employee turnover is lower in happy, productive teams.

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Keynote by Mark Agnew:

Tales from The Arctic with European Adventurer of the Year

A awe inspiring tale of 103 days through the Arctic's Northwest Passage, on a journey that made history.

Key Takeaways:

Gripping stories about polar bears, sea ice, storms and near death experiences.
The story of one of the greatest expeditions of modern times.
Focusing on the process over the outcome makes you more resilient and empowers you to enjoy the journey.

Benefits & ROI: