Signature keynote · Teamwork and candour
Teams that don't crack
Oxford 2022 and the America's Cup: two elite environments, the same ambition, different outcomes. How the best teams say the hard thing, and hear it without taking it personally.
Keynote speaker
How high-performing teams and individuals think, talk, and act to achieve excellence.
Keynotes, workshops and team days on the water, from a two-time Olympian, Boat Race winner and America's Cup sailor.
- 2× OlympianRio 2016, Tokyo 2021
- World Championship silver2018
- 2× U23 World Champion2013, 2014
- Boat Race winnerOxford, 2022
- America's CupCaptain of the cyclors, Alinghi Red Bull Racing
- Swiss ergometer record holderSince 2020 · 2,000m, 5:40.0
- Oxford MBASaïd Business School
Keynotes
A few starting points. Every talk is built around your event.
Improvement and resilience
From last place to first
From dead last at my first Swiss championships, to World and European medallist. No cinematic turning point, just a slow, stubborn decision to go all in and care about improving.
Performing under pressure
Breaking through
Mental hurdles and how I overcame them. Some I never fully explained: the trap of being the favourite, the Tokyo disappointment, and how to learn from them.
Career transition and reinvention
Starting again
From Olympic rower to cyclor in the America's Cup, then into the start-up world. What it takes to rebuild yourself, as an adult, inside a new elite environment.
Not on the list? Tell me what your audience needs, whether that is leadership, change, resilience, performance or teamwork, and I will shape a talk around it.
What the room leaves with
Five principles from teams that held together.
- 1Values chosen from within, not imposedValues a team writes itself hold under pressure.
- 2Radical transparency about pressureSay what is at stake before race day.
- 3Productive conflictName the elephant in the room. Aim criticism at the work, never at the person.
- 4One system, over individual optimisationBuy-in first, refinement second.
- 5A controlled narrativeUnderdog on the outside, absolute certainty on the inside.
One thread runs through all five: say the hard thing, and hear it without taking it personally.
Ways to work together
Three formats, in order of depth.
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Keynote
Any of the talks above, shaped to your event.
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Workshop
The ideas from the keynote, applied to your team's own situation. Designed with you, no fixed programme.
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On the water
Your team in a boat on Lake Geneva, or indoors on rowing machines, all year round. Sized to your group, from one crew to a full department.
The offsite day
Keynote in the morning. On the water in the afternoon.
One booking, and a team that has put the ideas to work together before it goes back to the office.
Plan an offsite dayIn English or French, with Q&A and team conversations also in German · In person or online · 20 to 2,000 people · Based in Lausanne and Barcelona, travels internationally
Some engagements continue as one-to-one work.
Recent talks
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AI Summit Barcelona
Be-Athletes: The human edge in the AI era
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Global Leverage Challenge
Booking
Check availability.
Tell me about the event. I reply personally within two working days.
Fee on request, adapted to format and audience.
Prefer email? barnabe@barnabedelarze.com