Former Royal Marine Commando and world record breaking rower, Mick Dawson, holds the key to the winning mindset. As a professional sailor, his missions are world renowned, impart due to his friendship with fellow adventurer, Chris Martin. Most impressively, Mick and Chris embarked on a 7,000 mile tour over 189 days, earning the determined pair a well-deserved place in the Guinness Book of Records. As a speaker, he retells his incredible story with captivated audiences. Infused with thrilling anecdotes and actionable strategies for positive leadership, an event featuring Mick benefits from his first hand experience of overcoming adversity in the face of danger.
Considered to be one of the most prolific ocean rowers in modern history, Mick has travelled over 20,000 miles by ocean, spanning around 420 days at sea. Starting in 2001, accompanied by his brother, the pair completed a 70 day mission where they crossed the Atlantic. Only two years later, he faced the perils of the open ocean, when a freak accident caused his boat to capsize. He was within sight of the finish line, having spent over 100 days at sea. This experience has shaped Mick as a motivational speaker. His story of failure resonates with audiences, inspiring them to find peace with their own failures and focus on the little victories instead. For Mick, that was travelling over 4,500 miles before capsizing.
While working with the Atlantic Rowing Race organisers, as both a consultant and a safety skipper, Mick saved injured rower, Andrew Morris, from an icy end. Mick went on to complete a second crossing of the Atlantic with Andrew, lasting 61 days. In 2009, he embarked on his famous North Pacific Crossing with Chris Martin. They were the first team to successfully complete a 7,000 mile trip across the North Pacific route, travelling from Japan to San Francisco. Rowing in a boat built by Mick, the pair faced depleting supplies and dangerous weather conditions on their trip. Despite this, they completed the mission and raised money for the Hearts of Gold Children's Hospice and Hamilton Lodge School for Deaf Children. Their trip was even immortalised in the Discovery Channel documentary, Rowing the Pacific.
Mick now works as a yacht captain, leading deliveries and private charters - due to such an experience, he is an inspiring leadership speaker. When Mick is not on the water, he is the popular author of Battling the Ocean, a 2017 memoir of his travels. As a speaker, Mick invites audiences to journey through his missions with him, providing a guided tour unlike any other. One of his most recent trips, from California to Hawaii across the challenging Pacific ocean, took Mick and his partner 82 days. This event speaker provides only the most relevant, up to date anecdotes from his travels, making him immensely popular on the speaking circuit.
How to hire Mick Dawson
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Mick Dawson for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
When he's at corporate events, Mick is known to cover the following topics:
- Fear is a misunderstood friend
- Teamwork: the foundation of success
- Leadership, adapt your approach to achieve your goals
- Don’t dream... plan!
- Adversity: coping with and overcoming it
- The wildlife of the North Pacific Ocean
- Rowing the Atlantic Ocean
- Capsized and alone in the North Pacific
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- Emerging from the dark ages
See what feedback Mick received, when he appeared at their corporate events:
"Mick has delivered presentations on a variety of NARU courses. Mick is able to tailor the presentations to the delegates needs, bringing his real world experience of decision making during a crisis, in to the world of emergency service learning. His topics focus on decision making, human factors and team work, key elements covered on NARU courses. Mick’s delivery style is pragmatic, informative, engaging and down to earth, he is able to engage audiences at every level, finding common ground between the delegates and his prior experience. Course delegates have provided highly positive feedback regarding the parallels that they can draw from the effective and interesting examples, that Mick brings to life. An excellent and interesting speaker, thoroughly recommended." - David Bull QAM, Head of Education, National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU)
"I just wanted to re-iterate the thank you said on Friday for your incredible talk. Members of the audience are still enthusiastically talking about how passionate, inspiring and engaging your presentation was. The message of not shying away from fear and unknowns is certainly something which rang true in the audience - particularly with students, as upcoming preparations for university applications can feel quite chaotic and daunting. I believe a great choice was made in having you be our finale - people left buzzing with excitement and awe. You truly are a fantastic speaker so thank you again for coming all this way - your talk greatly enhanced the event." - Astra Liebowitz: TEDxYouth Event Organiser (High Wycombe Abbey) June 2017.
”I have seen and listened to many keynote speakers during my years in the exhibition business: Mick was absolutely one of the few very best. I wish him the utmost success for his next ventures and hope to see him again soon.” - Bernd Aufderheide President and Chief Executive Officer.
"Mick is an enthralling speaker who combines humour with excitement and delivers his unique story in a way that pulls the audience so far into his adventures that you feel you are actually there! His talks are well presented and use excellent graphics and videos to great effect. The story of Mick’s life in the Royal Marines and subsequently as a World class, record breaking ocean rower is absolutely fascinating and holds the audience spellbound. I would have no hesitation in recommending Mick Dawson as a highly respected and marketable speaker." - John Maclean FRAS (Royal Astronomical Society).
