Alex Staniforth
The Adversity Adventurer
By 19 years old Alex had already overcome and achieved more than many will in a lifetime, and survived the two most significant disasters in Mount Everest history, in two consecutive years. This is not your typical success story of reaching the summit. Combining lessons from adventure and ultra-endurance with a relatable vulnerability, he shares his Resilience Rucksack that anyone can apply to achieve their own Everest.
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Biography
Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking adventurer, motivational speaker, author and charity founder from Cheshire who is no stranger to overcoming challenges.By 19 years old Alex had already overcome and achieved more than many will in a lifetime. As a teenager he survived the two most significant disasters in Mount Everest history, in two consecutive years. However, his biggest mountains have been much closer to home: epilepsy, bullying, mental ill health and a stammer since childhood.Alex never allowed this to become his identity – only his experience. Re-framing adversity as an opportunity for growth has given him a unique drive to help others overcome their own ‘Everest’.This is not your typical success story of reaching the summit. Alex takes his audiences on an emotional journey of resilience, courage, failure, teamwork and triumph over adversity. Combining lessons from adventure and ultra-endurance with a relatable vulnerability, he shares his Resilience Rucksack toolkit that anyone can apply to their own goals and challenges.Despite facing numerous setbacks, Alex has never wavered in his pursuit of challenges and charitable endeavors. Following a failed attempt to climb Mount Everest in 2014 and a harrowing experience during the Nepal earthquake in 2015, he continued to push his limits. Alex has raised over £100,000 for charity, authored two books, and achieved remarkable feats such as becoming the fastest person to conquer all 100 UK county tops. In 2020, he ran the National Three Peaks challenge – 452 miles in 9 days 12 hours - and founded Mind Over Mountains, a charity dedicated to promoting mental well-being through nature.Trusted by global companies including Rolls-Royce, Samsung and Bank of America, he helps teams, leaders and students build the resilience, mindset and well-being to overcome challenges, embrace change and achieve the extraordinary.With humility and an unassuming style, Alex delivers his expertise through inspirational keynote presentations and workshops in person, virtually and hybrid. Presentations are typically 30-60 minutes with Q&A, but Alex will work meticulously with your brief to understand what a successful experience would look like for your audience.
What I Currently Do
Publications
ICEFALL
Speaking Topics
Achieving Potential
We all have our own ‘Everest’ to climb. However, fear of failure often prevents us from taking the first step and achieving our full potential – and staying at Base Camp might be the biggest risk of all. Two near-death experiences on Everest will re-define our idea of success and failure, and why adversity is an opportunity to win. Growth mindset is a skill we can all develop, and Alex will share his process for goalsetting and building motivation so we can achieve our own vision of success. Why settle for Base Camp?
Mental Health & Wellbeing
High performance isn’t sustainable without maintaining our well-being too. With a refreshing vulnerability, Alex openly shares his own mental health journey as a young man to encourage open conversations about mental health, whilst challenging the myths and stigma that costs thousands of lives each year. For leaders, supporting the team often starts by putting our hand up first. Drawing from his ultra-endurance challenges and lived experience, Alex shares resilience tools to build our mental fitness so we can proactively manage stress, learn the warning signs and avoid burnout – one small step at a time.
Resilience through Adversity
Challenges and change are inevitable; being defeated is optional. Resilience isn’t simply about bouncing back or enduring to breaking point: it’s how we recharge, prepare and move forward – even when we can’t see the top of the mountain. Drawing lessons and insight from extreme adventures and ultra-endurance, Alex will share the tools in his ‘Resilience Rucksack’ for anyone to adapt and achieve in the face of setbacks, failure, uncertainty and pressure – when the whole team depends on it.
Media Appearances
Feedback
"GM Core ManufactureAlex delivered a virtual motivational speech via Skype to circa 150 leaders in our business. The intent was to equip our leaders with some tools to improve their resilience as we go through a challenging business improvement programme. The event was very well received with many leaders commenting on the relevance of Alex's journey to our challenges and since the event several leaders have linked back to Alex's content – describing their "resilience rucksack" and the question "are you pulling on the rope?" has entered our lexicon. I was particularly impressed with the preparation and tailoring Alex was able to do to make the message even more pertinent to our business – it was a truly inspirational session summed up by one comment – "I can't believe you just paid us to listen to that!"."
Robert Neale
"What a refreshing delight Alex is! Authentic, funny, passionate and simply genuine in every word of his heartening journey shared. If you’re looking for a real example of resilience and winning in the face of adversity - Alex is your man. He’ll have you glad to have met him and wishing him every success in all he does - as well as inspiring those in your team in a humble, unassuming way that is extremely powerful."
Marcella Kain
"Alex recently joined us at the launch event for our High Potential programme as the keynote speaker. Alex perfectly combined his story and experiences with the theme of Achieving Your Potential. He captured the audience through his ability to authentically articulate his drive and determination, overcoming many challenges in his way, as well as finding beauty and lessons through ‘failure’. Alex collaborated with my team in preparing for the event such attention to detail, ensuring his talk would not only resonate but inspire the audience. And that it did! Feedback received from participants was exceptional, so many inspired to push outside of their comfort zone and to see what opportunities lie ahead. Myself included! Thank you Alex!"
Natalie Prempeh
"Your Keynote really opened the session in exactly the way we were looking for but in a manner that was entirely of your construction; it’s a real credit to you and skill that you are able to adapt your work to the client in this way – you really picked the theme out of our discussion and made it so focused, relevant and effective."
Chris Todd
"The team were blown away and left feeling incredibly inspired. Thank you for doing what you do. I know for some in my team who are struggling at the moment it would have resonated even more. I also know everyone has left feeling and thinking differently because of you, in a really positive way."
Sue Harries
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