Mark Pollock Keynote Speaker

Endurance explorer, innovator and collaboration catalyst
Extraordinary insight into crisis leadership and performance
Pioneering a cure for spinal cord injuries using robotic technology

Mark Pollock's Biography

Everything Mark Pollock does is about inspiring leaders and their teams to build resilience, optimise performance and collaborate with others so that they achieve more than they thought possible.

Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He also won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up an international motivational speaking business.

In 2010, a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide to cure paralysis in our lifetime.

Chairman of Collaborative Cures and founder of the global running series Run in the Dark, Mark has been involved in catalysing collaborations worth over $100 million on his mission to cure paralysis. He was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, served on the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement and the Advisory Board of Cybathlon. In addition, he is a Wings for Life Ambassador (Europe) and was on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) for a decade.

Currently Mark is pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance (Sport) at Dublin City University, he is author of ‘Making It Happen’ and is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries’ Blind Man Walking ’and ‘Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story’. Mark has been awarded honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and also from Queens University Belfast. Furthermore, he holds a diploma in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century from Harvard University, degrees from Trinity College Dublin and UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Adversity & Challenges — Maintaining a Resilient Mindset Under Pressure

Sometimes we choose our challenges, sometimes our challenges choose us. What we decide to do about them is what counts. Deciding to be a competitor, a realist and a collaborator offers leaders and their teams a chance of maintaining a resilient mindset under pressure.

Mark’s keynote on adversity and challenges uses the power of active decision making to deal with challenges, regardless of where they come from, to help leaders and their teams become more resilient.

Leadership & Motivation — Leading Through a Crisis and Developing Intrinsic Motivation to Move Forward

Uncertainty and change typify a crisis and it’s difficult to lead in such circumstances. By providing leaders and their teams with insights into the resilience, attitude and decisions of others facing extreme circumstances Mark helps people to develop the intrinsic motivation to move forward.

Mark’s keynote on leadership and motivation delivers deep insights for leaders to navigate through the crucible moments they face and inspire others to achieve more.

Mindset & Performance — Challenging Expectations to Perform at a Higher Level

It is tough to deliver world class performance. Leaders and their teams won’t do it by chance. With a high-impact catalyst they have a chance of building the courage to make it happen.

Mark’s keynote on mindset and performance is that catalyst – it challenges leaders and their teams to examine expectations of themselves and others to perform at a higher level.

Collaboration & Teamwork — Creating & Motivating Dispersed Teams Across Disciplines & Geographies

Galvanising a disparate group of people around a common goal is not easy. Yet when it happens, when we collaborate, that is when major breakthroughs happen.

Mark’s keynote on collaboration and teamwork provides leaders and their teams with insight into how high-performance teams get things done when others can’t.

Human Enhancement — Exploring the Intersection Where Humans & Technology Collide in the 4th Industrial Revolution

Exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide is essential for organisations to maintain their competitive edge. By raising the consciousness of their teams to next generation technologies, leaders will empower and encourage innovation at the edge.

Mark’s keynote on human enhancement provides leaders and their teams with insight into the transformative intersection of technology and humankind as he explores a cure for paralysis using robotics, neuro-modulation, brain machine interfaces and AI.

He has lived elite resilience twice over, first becoming the first blind person to race to the South Pole and later rebuilding his life after paralysis with a new mission to cure spinal cord injury.
He translates extreme endurance, recovery and performance science into practical tools that help leaders stay focused, resilient and effective in crisis.
He brings rare credibility at the intersection of humans and technology, catalysing collaborations worth over $100 million to accelerate breakthroughs in paralysis and robotics.
He equips organisations to collaborate across silos, drawing on his leadership of global initiatives and networks built to mobilise people around a shared purpose.
His talks leave audiences with a clear mindset for turning setbacks into forward motion, strengthening performance and ambition when the stakes are highest.

Videos of Mark Pollock

TEDxHollywood: Expect Problems as We Explore Possibilities (2014)

Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story Trailer (2015)

A love letter to realism in a time of grief

Steps Beyond - Mark Pollock and Ekso Bionics

Books by Mark Pollock

Making It Happen

Comments & Testimonials

I was honored to meet with Mark Pollock in Ireland this year, where we engaged with teachers and students at St. Patrick’s College to discuss the ways technology is changing how students learn. Mark is an extreme adventurer and athlete who has raced to the South Pole — and even more incredibly, he was the first blind man to ever do so. Mark is a brilliant example of the fact that we can always achieve more than what we think is possible.

Satya Nadella CEO Microsoft