Around-the-world yachtsman and Inspirational leader.
 

Conrad Humphreys is an inspirational team leader and world-class British yachtsman, as well as a renowned personality throughout his home region of South West England and on the international yachting scene. At 33, Conrad has already crammed a lifetime of adventure and achievement into his life enduring some of the most hostile oceans of the world. Conrad has sailed around the world three times, in three different races: As a crew member in The Whitbread Round the World Race (now Volvo Ocean Race) in 1993-94; as race skipper in the 2000-01 BT Global Challenge, when at just 26 years old at the time, Conrad led his team to the finish in 1st place and in so-doing became
the youngest skipper ever to win the prestigious round-the-world race; and most recently, solo in the non-stop single-handed round the world Vendée Globe yacht race in 2004-05, in which he became only the 5th British sailor to ever complete the race.

Conrad regularly delivers motivational speeches, and using stories from the challenges he experienced in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet, powerfully draws out key business and interpersonal lessons. Conrad’s thought-provoking and inspirational messages are brought to life with slides and incredible footage captured during his voyages. The speeches are tailored to the theme of the conference or workshop and illustrate inspirational and practical examples of how to apply critical lessons to the business-place to include:

• Leadership – how to create winning teams

• Teamwork – building and sustaining team cohesiveness

• Motivation – inspirational leadership for superior performance

• Self-belief – winning in turbulent times

From his early days and throughout his career, Conrad has shown his vision and ability to lead and inspire teams. Conrad won the Cadet Junior World Championships, and led his University Team to victory in the BUSA National Yachting Championships. During the BT Global Challenge, Conrad and his team onboard the 72 ft ‘LG Flatron’ performed consistently well, winning four of the seven legs of the race and taking podium positions in a further two legs. Conrad attributes this to the winning attitude cultivated within the team, the driving philosophies being “winning is infectious” and “self-belief is everything”.

In 2003, Conrad sailed the Open 50 ‘Hellomoto’ to victory in Class 2 of the Transat Jacques Vabre with his co-skipper Paul Larsen. Conrad’s ambition did not stop there as he launched an Open 60 campaign to compete in the non-stop single-handed round the world Vendée Globe yacht race in November 2004. Despite suffering major technical problems including a broken rudder, causing
him to have to find shelter in a bay near Cape Town to inspect and replace the rudder with a spare carried onboard without any assistance; having to deal with generator failure; keel ram failure; and engine failure, Conrad’s single-minded determination and self-belief ensured he completed the Vendée Globe race. He fought back from 17th place, nearly 4000 miles behind the leading boat after his rudder-repair, to take 7th place on ‘Hellomoto’ when he crossed the line at on 20th February 2005, after 104 days 14 hours 32 minutes 24 seconds racing alone at sea, becoming the second British skipper to complete the 2004-05 Vendée Globe. Conrad’s captivating story of the 2004-05 Vendée Globe is now available on a DVD film “Against the Odds”.

Conrad’s next ambition is to compete in the next Vendée Globe race in 2008-09, in a new Open 60, with the aim to be the first Brit to ever win the race.

Testimonials:

“Conrad gave a very effective, thought provoking presentation on the challenges faced by his team and the leadership style necessary to achieve results and bring the crew through their adventure to ultimately win the world's toughest yacht race. Highly recommended.” - Frank Stone, Head of
Communications, BTexact Technologies

“Conrad Humphreys delivered a powerful and highly relevant talk on ‘leadership’, to a group of Ericsson's Next Generation Executives. His style is low-key and engaging and his message is well presented and carefully thought through. What gives his presentation the greatest impact is his own credibility. He 'is the message that he puts across' and that immediately clicks with everyone in the group.”- Steve Newman, Program Director for Executive Development, Ericsson University

“Conrad was inspirational… his messages were clearly articulated. The challenges he has faced on the oceans provided a great metaphor for our business conditions” - LEK

"Your stories of motivating your team and leading them across the Southern Ocean have left a huge impression on our management team. Well done!" – Microsoft

"The entire team was enthralled throughout Conrad's talk, an exceptional tale which left us very motivated as a team. Highly recommended!” - Natwest

‘Our senior team remained attentive, competitive, energised and above all took some profound learning back to Motorola. You made a real difference!’ – Motorola

“Your speech was very inspiring and received excellent feedback from all our guests" - Oracle

“Conrad provided the Pfizer team with an inspirational presentation which had the whole audience on the edge of their chairs. An incredible achievement delivered in a moving and emotional way.” - Pfizer

“Your excellent presentation at our conference has proved to be one of the most memorable events of that day. I have no hesitation in recommending yourself in connection with similar events to other organisations.” - PPMA

Previous Clients:

Conrad has delivered leadership and team building workshops and inspirational speeches to Barclays, BT, England Netball Team, Ericsson, Gill, GlaxoSmithKline, Henley Management College, Hull City Council, IMPACT, LEK, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, NatWest, Oracle, Pfizer, PPMA, RBS Insurance, Salespage Technologies, Trader Media Group, UBS, Yell.