Paula Reid Keynote Speaker

Paula Reid is an adventurer, psychologist and business leader.

From Skiing to the South Pole to Yacht Racing round-the-world, Paula Reid has learned to develop the mindset to thrive and perform in the toughest of conditions.  Paula draws on her extreme adventuring experience, extensive business acumen and Masters in Applied Positive Psychology to help individuals and organisations survive, cope, and thrive in uncertain and challenging conditions.

Her 120 adventures to date include becoming the 3^rd British woman and 14^th international woman to ski the 1000 km trek to the South Pole.  So far only 300 people have successfully completed this journey through remote, freezing terrain.

Prior to this, with no previous sailing experience, she was a core crew member of the Global Challenge World’s Toughest Yacht Race, racing 35,000 miles the ‘wrong way’ around the world.  The race lasted for ten months, including 187 days at sea; 75 of which were spent in the notoriously freezing and dangerous Southern Ocean. In a ground breaking expedition she paddled 600 miles down the Mekong in a dugout canoe which she bought off a tribal chief in rural Cambodia.

In business she has spent 30 years working with leaders and organisations including Barclays, GSK, PaloAlto, and the M.O.D.  In 2018 she founded Adventure Psychology, a performance and well-being business bringing programmes teaching the mindset of adventuring, building flexibility, overcoming adversity, managing change, risk taking, resilience and enduring performance.

Adventure Psychology gives individuals the tools, mental capacity and methodologies to anticipate, and then lead and perform in challenging and uncertain conditions, in context and under pressure.  We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for it so that leaders and their teams can go Knowingly into the Unknown.

Paula is the author of five books including BOAT to BOARDROOM which uses the Global Challenge as an extreme case study, referencing it to provide memorable and unique lessons, advice and practical exercises in high performance leadership and teamwork. Her second book: The 7 Racing Rules – Lessons for Winning in Business and in Life contains her top seven performance principles.

Paula is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and recently presented the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award at St James Palace.