Tim Harris’ mental resilience is second-to-none; after suffering with severe arthritis and having to undergo a shoulder reconstruction, he committed himself to complete the world’s toughest row: crossing the Atlantic Ocean. More people had made the journey into space and climbed Mount Everest than rowed the 3000 miles across the Atlantic unassisted. Now, when hired as a speaker, Tim is able to share his incredible story and educates companies and organisations on resilience, goal setting, teamwork and suicide.
Beginning his career in the oil industry, Tim started out as a Government Bond Trader with Mees Pierson International Ag, before then going on to become a Fuel Oil Broker for Starsupply Energy Ltd., and then a Senior Fuel Oil Broker for Tradition Energy. In 2009, Tim became the Global Head of Fuel Oil for PVM Oil Associates for twelve years until 2021. It was in 2020 when Tim decided the time was right to set himself the challenge of rowing the Atlantic and joined the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge after following the race for over ten years. After battling with his own poor mental health for much of his working life, Tim was told he would not be able to complete this feat neither mentally nor physically.
After training for two years, the row took a gruelling 52 days, with Tim completing over three hundred back-to-back two-hour shifts on the oars. All of this was completed on just three hours of sleep a day. Tim managed to raise an incredible £160,000 for a teenage mental health charity. Having been through many struggles in both his personal and professional life, Tim made the decision to go from Global Head of a company to retraining as a coach who can now share his insights on how to cope with stress in in a working environment and stressful life changes to ensure people remain effective in the workplace.
Having developed the mental resilience needed to accomplish one of the toughest feats in the world, Tim’s expertise and coaching have been sought after some of the largest international companies and organisations including the Royal Marines, the Royal Navy, Google, the Thames Valley Police, the NHS and numerous mental health charities and schools. Tim adds a humorous twist to his talks, from stories of nakedness to being dethroned by a flying fish. Despite this humour, Tim is now dedicated to sharing his tips and tricks with companies and organisations on how to ensure the odds with be forever in your favour, delivering implementable action plans. Do not hesitate when booking the incredible mental resilience speaker Tim Harris for your next event today.
How to hire Tim Harris
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Tim Harris 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.
Below are Tim Harris' official speaking topics:
- Mental Resilience
- Resilience Training
- Bold Goal Setting
- Stressful Transitions
- Teamwork
- Suicide
Official Feedback from In-Person and Virtual Events
"Tim gave a masterclass in self-awareness and resilience by telling his personal life story about his Atlantic row, what he learned about himself and how he is now seeking a renewed purpose in his life. Sincere, thoughtful and charming with powerful and memorable messages applicable to all. I would very much recommend Tim as a speaker and leadership coach." - Martin, Vice Admiral, HMS Warrior
"Very likeable person to listen to with a great story. Emphasize the transferable lessons more throughout the talk ust to make sure that the universal message doesn’t get lost in the story of the achievement if that makes sense? I guess things like: - Leadership Adaptability Problem solving Psychology of managing people and teams Understanding MH etc etc As interesting as the rowing was (and I did rowing at school) I probably won’t row the Atlantic (I think!) but so I can understand and think about what I could use from Tim’s experience (I am thinking about what he said about understanding my team’s goals for instance). I thought the humour was really good in the presentation, plus coming full circle mentioning that the daughter said he wasn’t old and fat any more at the end was good to close it. It’s definitely a talk that would work well across lots of sectors and I take my hat off to him for putting himself out there – very inspiring!" - Supervisor, Thames Valley Police
"To start I was really impressed with Tim’s openness and honesty about himself and managing his depression. Rather than seeing his talk as one relating to leadership, I saw it more of one relating to courage and resilience. I would have been interested in a bit more detail of his role in the oil industry and how this played a part in his mental health decline? The talk itself was interesting and delivered at a good pace. If there are more photo’s available I would recommend using these – probably with a note underneath stating the message that Tim is conveying at that point.
There are a lot of life coaches out there at the moment with the likes of the Ant Middleton’s, Jason Fox, Tim Peake’s all writing books relating to life coaching and facing adversity. What is Tim’s unique selling point? For me it is that he is your normal individual without the military / NASA training facing life’s challenges. It is this that separates him from those just mentioned. I wish Tim well and again thank you for arranging a really interesting talk." - Experienced Detective, Thames Valley Police
"Tim is awesome! Personally I found his input the most interesting and the most engaging of the day. His clear emotion and passion drew you in and the pictures were just the right amount. I can see how inspiring he can be although I cannot imagine getting anywhere close to tackling such a feat, as much as I think I would love a challenge. Pitched the input perfectly, really nice tone of voice, good level of humour, no distracting habits! In my opinion, don’t change how you delivered that Tim, keep keeping it real, be yourself." - Experienced Financial Investigator, Thames Valley Police
I was really struck by Tim’s presentation.
It was an extremely emotional personal account of a journey, the description of which highlighted just how pertinent strong resilience, teamwork and goal setting was to the successful completion of the race.
I could relate to points made by Tim, when it can be so easy to become overwhelmed within the workplace. Goal setting and communication is key in order to manage realistic expectations.
I thank Tim for his honesty, I found the presentation fascinating and I will always remember his words that no matter what, we always have something left in the tank and to just keep going!" - Mid-service Financial Investigator, Thames Valley Police
"I have been in the audience for a number of motivational speakers over the years and the stand out area for me with Tim was his speech was very personable. He was articulate, honest, funny and I thought overall a really good speech and he balanced well with the other speakers on the day." - Experienced male Detective, Thames Valley Police
Tim transported our Lower 6th from a dingy lecture theatre to the Atlantic Ocean and kept them on the edge of their seats for a whole hour. The students loved the drama of the talk - including killer marlins, crashing waves and a very dodgy bucket - but, perhaps more importantly, they all came out having heard some valuable lessons about teamwork, leadership and goal-setting that were immediately actionable and relevant to their lives. The conversations sparked by Tim's talk carried on in the days and weeks afterwards and sparked a number of interesting thoughts among the group. Tim was interesting, engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking: exactly what we want from our speakers!" - Mike, Deputy Headmaster, Merchant Taylors' School
- 2024 – Invited to speak at the Arc Middle East Networking Event for BOND Events
- 2023 – Associate Certified Coach, International Coaching Federation
- 2021 – Burnout Coach, Tim Harris Consulting
- 2021 – Skipper of Team Mindcraft, Atlantic Campaigns
- 2019 – Founder, Firehut
- 2009 – Global Head of Fuel, PVM Oil Associates
- 2003 – Senior Fuel Oil Broker, Tradition Energy
- 1997 – Fuel Oil Broker, Starsupply Energy
- 1993 – Government Bond Trader, Mees Pierson International
