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About Keynote Speaker Cathy O’Dowd
Cathy O’Dowd is the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, from both its north and south sides. Her first ascent of Everest happened in the midst of the chaotic events that form the basis of the ‘true story’ behind the Hollywood movie Everest.
Cathy, who grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, has climbed ever since leaving school. She was completing her Masters degree in Journalism, while working as university lecturer, when she saw a newspaper advert for a place on the 1st South African Everest Expedition. Six months later she was the first South African to summit Everest. Three years later she became the first woman in the world to climb the mountain from both sides. Finally she made one last expedition to Everest to try a new route on the Kangshung face. She has written a book about her Everest experiences, Just For The Love Of It.
The years she spent in the Himalaya were for her a degree ‘in living’. The insights she discovered about herself, and about individuals and teams under intense stress in the face of overwhelming challenge, are ones she has been sharing with her corporate audiences ever since. Her stories touch on themes of importance to anyone trying to run successful projects and get the best out of people.
Cathy’s most challenging Himalayan epic was as part of a team forging a new route on an 8000 metre peak. Although Cathy herself did not reach the summit, two of her teammates did, doing the first ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno ridge, and winning the prestigious Piolet d’Or for their achievement. She has turned this experience into a fascinating interactive case-study of successful project execution of truly innovative goals.
Cathy has been a professional speaker for over 20 years and has presented her message to companies in 44 countries on six continents. She is a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association of UK/Ireland, who have given her their highest award, the Professional Speaking Award of Excellence.
Her spring 2019 expedition is a ski ascent of Mt Steele, a 5000 metre peak in the Canadian Yukon.
athy is actively involved with charities focused on female empowerment, notably the Rwenzori Women for Health project in Uganda, and the Astraia Female Leadership Foundation in Germany.
She lives in Andorra, in the Pyrenees mountains, from where she pursues her speaking career, and explores the mountains of Europe. In her free time she does technical rock-climbing and ski-mountaineering.
Cathy, who grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, has climbed ever since leaving school. She was completing her Masters degree in Journalism, while working as university lecturer, when she saw a newspaper advert for a place on the 1st South African Everest Expedition. Six months later she was the first South African to summit Everest. Three years later she became the first woman in the world to climb the mountain from both sides. Finally she made one last expedition to Everest to try a new route on the Kangshung face. She has written a book about her Everest experiences, Just For The Love Of It.
The years she spent in the Himalaya were for her a degree ‘in living’. The insights she discovered about herself, and about individuals and teams under intense stress in the face of overwhelming challenge, are ones she has been sharing with her corporate audiences ever since. Her stories touch on themes of importance to anyone trying to run successful projects and get the best out of people.
Cathy’s most challenging Himalayan epic was as part of a team forging a new route on an 8000 metre peak. Although Cathy herself did not reach the summit, two of her teammates did, doing the first ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno ridge, and winning the prestigious Piolet d’Or for their achievement. She has turned this experience into a fascinating interactive case-study of successful project execution of truly innovative goals.
Cathy has been a professional speaker for over 20 years and has presented her message to companies in 44 countries on six continents. She is a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association of UK/Ireland, who have given her their highest award, the Professional Speaking Award of Excellence.
Her spring 2019 expedition is a ski ascent of Mt Steele, a 5000 metre peak in the Canadian Yukon.
athy is actively involved with charities focused on female empowerment, notably the Rwenzori Women for Health project in Uganda, and the Astraia Female Leadership Foundation in Germany.
She lives in Andorra, in the Pyrenees mountains, from where she pursues her speaking career, and explores the mountains of Europe. In her free time she does technical rock-climbing and ski-mountaineering.
Join an expedition with Cathy O’Dowd, and live the challenge of leading teams and executing plans in high-risk, high-stress environments, while striving for big goals.
Learn why plans fail and how teams crumble, and discover the key tools that ensure you will get to the top.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Think Like An Explorer
A dramatic story of managing uncertainty while navigating a new route in the high Himalaya. Cathy has turned this extraordinary experience into a case-study of the challenges of being a pioneer, and she takes the audience with her in this interactive presentation.
Your people will be on the team, experiencing the uncertainty, participating in the key decisions and living with the consequences. An adventure keynote experience unlike anything you have seen before.
With Everest, the world’s highest mountain, reduced to a queue of commercial clients clipped into a fixed handrail from base camp to the summit put in place by Sherpas, it’s time for real climbers to step out of the line and tackle the unknown.
The Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat was one of the last great problems in the Himalaya, the longest unclimbed ridge on any 8000 metre peak. With a small group climbing alpine-style (fast, light and unsupported), the team of six came within inches of disaster before finally getting two members to the top – who then, with neither food nor water left, had to get down again. The summit pair would win a Piolet d’Or (the mountaineering equivalent of an Oscar) for their performance.
Cathy’s analysis of how the team planned for the challenge, what went wrong in the execution and how they adapted, regrouped and eventually triumphed makes for a rollercoaster ride. She looks at the challenges and rewards of bringing together a diverse team, and digs deep into decisions and consequences, looking at how to manage flexible planning in uncertain circumstances, while staying focused on the goal.
Whether you are interested in innovation and pioneering, in managing uncertainty, in building diverse teams, or in effective decision-making, you will find value and insight in this presentation.
Reaching New Heights
In mountains, as in business, there is much about the external environment that cannot be controlled. The place where we can most easily and quickly improve our effectiveness is in the attitude of our people – how focused, motivated and efficient our teams are.
Conversely, the most common problems that lead to teams falling apart are also of our own making. Most success speakers don’t talk about how wrong it can go, but Cathy shares the ways in which people create their own disasters and shows how to overcome them, refocusing teams to climb to summit success.
Reaching New Heights draws on the lessons Cathy O’Dowd learnt from her first Everest expedition. With the focus on finances and logistics, the dynamic of the team was ignored. The team collapsed into in-fighting and power-play from the first day, and three members walked out before reaching base camp.
The key obstacles that Cathy and her team-mates discovered on the mountain turned out to all come from within the team. However, they also discovered hidden tools that finally got them to the top – tools that are not about ropes and ice-axes but rather ways to manage people effectively in pursuit of your common goal.
Her stories of failure are told with humour and refreshing honesty. Her stories of success are dramatic and memorable, and the tools she highlights are as important in normal life as they are on the mountain.
Learn why plans fail and how teams crumble, and discover the key tools that ensure you will get to the top.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Think Like An Explorer
A dramatic story of managing uncertainty while navigating a new route in the high Himalaya. Cathy has turned this extraordinary experience into a case-study of the challenges of being a pioneer, and she takes the audience with her in this interactive presentation.
Your people will be on the team, experiencing the uncertainty, participating in the key decisions and living with the consequences. An adventure keynote experience unlike anything you have seen before.
With Everest, the world’s highest mountain, reduced to a queue of commercial clients clipped into a fixed handrail from base camp to the summit put in place by Sherpas, it’s time for real climbers to step out of the line and tackle the unknown.
The Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat was one of the last great problems in the Himalaya, the longest unclimbed ridge on any 8000 metre peak. With a small group climbing alpine-style (fast, light and unsupported), the team of six came within inches of disaster before finally getting two members to the top – who then, with neither food nor water left, had to get down again. The summit pair would win a Piolet d’Or (the mountaineering equivalent of an Oscar) for their performance.
Cathy’s analysis of how the team planned for the challenge, what went wrong in the execution and how they adapted, regrouped and eventually triumphed makes for a rollercoaster ride. She looks at the challenges and rewards of bringing together a diverse team, and digs deep into decisions and consequences, looking at how to manage flexible planning in uncertain circumstances, while staying focused on the goal.
Whether you are interested in innovation and pioneering, in managing uncertainty, in building diverse teams, or in effective decision-making, you will find value and insight in this presentation.
Reaching New Heights
In mountains, as in business, there is much about the external environment that cannot be controlled. The place where we can most easily and quickly improve our effectiveness is in the attitude of our people – how focused, motivated and efficient our teams are.
Conversely, the most common problems that lead to teams falling apart are also of our own making. Most success speakers don’t talk about how wrong it can go, but Cathy shares the ways in which people create their own disasters and shows how to overcome them, refocusing teams to climb to summit success.
Reaching New Heights draws on the lessons Cathy O’Dowd learnt from her first Everest expedition. With the focus on finances and logistics, the dynamic of the team was ignored. The team collapsed into in-fighting and power-play from the first day, and three members walked out before reaching base camp.
The key obstacles that Cathy and her team-mates discovered on the mountain turned out to all come from within the team. However, they also discovered hidden tools that finally got them to the top – tools that are not about ropes and ice-axes but rather ways to manage people effectively in pursuit of your common goal.
Her stories of failure are told with humour and refreshing honesty. Her stories of success are dramatic and memorable, and the tools she highlights are as important in normal life as they are on the mountain.
Cathy O'Dowd_ Think Like An Explorer - going where no one has gone before
Cathy O'Dowd_ teamwork & leadership from the slopes of Everest.
