Roz Savage

Since 2005 Roz Savage, formerly a senior management consultant, has emerged as one of the world's foremost female ocean rower, becoming the first woman to row - solo - across three oceans – the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian, compelled by her circumstances to hone the unique skills of stress management and smart thinking that she had cultivated during her time in business.

Roz has lived the dream – and learnt the hard way that following your passion is not always plain sailing. An Oxford graduate who dutifully followed the crowd into business – and stayed there for eleven years – Roz had a growing feeling that there was something inside her that would erupt if she didn’t address it. It wasn’t a spirit of adventure, nor a need for adrenaline, but a desire to push her boundaries and to make a difference in the world. Her transition from management consultant to adventurer was filled with terrifying challenges, crushing self-doubt and the ultimate rewards that come with determination, patience and belief.

Her rowing stint at university gave her the physical foundations; her experience in the business world was essential in terms of leadership, teamwork and management; and her growing passion for environmental issues provided the ethical incentive that Roz needed to make the decision to give up the City and row the Atlantic – alone.

She wasn’t to know that 2005, the year she had chosen to tackle her first ocean, would be wracked by the worst weather the Atlantic had seen since records began. During her 3000-mile adventure between the Canaries and the Caribbean, she suffered from tendinitis and saltwater sores. All four of her oars broke before halfway, as did her stereo, cooking stove, and cockpit navigation instruments.

There is no better way to acquire advanced expertise on self-mastery, resilience, and stress management than to be alone on a 23-foot rowboat, thousands of miles from land, at the mercy of winds, waves and currents.

As her boat and her sense of self-worth gradually stripped down by the force of the sea, Roz captured the attention of people all over the world through a blog that she determinedly maintained by satellite phone, chronicling her transition from office worker to fully-fledged ocean rower.

When her satellite phone broke, 24 days before the end, Roz faced her toughest challenge yet – total isolation. Finally, after 103 days alone at sea, she rowed into English Harbour, Antigua, and into the history books.

She went on to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean (8,000 miles from California to Papua New Guinea). In 2011 she concluded her hat-trick of oceans by rowing 4,000 miles across the Indian, spending a record-breaking 154 days alone at sea. She now holds 4 Guinness World Records for ocean rowing, has written inspirational books on the topic, had a documentary made about her and in 2013 was awarded the MBE for services to sustainability and fundraising.

Manoeuvring deftly from dramatic mid-ocean tales to the lessons learned from her experiences, Roz’s inspiring presentations will help your staff to develop greater self-awareness and self-confidence, improving their ability to keep an even keel while surfing the waves of change. Roz applies a psychological and neuroscientific approach to mind management, to develop greater resilience in individuals, teams and corporations in times of rapid and often unpredictable change.