Rhys Jones
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Biography Highlights
- An inspirational speaker, expedition guide and world record-breaking mountaineer. His speaking career began after a successful ascent of Mount Everest, where he reached the summit on his 20th birthday, having climbed the highest mountain on every continent; known as the Seven Summits Challenge.
Biography
Rhys Jones leadership speaker
Rhys has since worked with a broad spectrum of businesses across all sectors, delivering safety leadershipkeynotes, inspirational and after-dinner speeches.
Drawing upon lessons learnt in the most extreme environments, Rhys is able to tailor presentations to focus on key areas including Leadership, risk management, Teamwork and attaining results. He has worked in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S with companies such as Areva, INEOS, Vinci, Network Rail, B.A.E, Mulberry, Legal and General, Allianz, Old Mutual, URS, Sir Robert McAlpine, and HSBC.
Rhys has lived the lessons he recounts in his talks, for example having turned back 200 meters from a summit in order to achieve the main objective of any climb: to get back safely. He is acutely aware of the difficulties faced achieving results in high risk projects, and how to manage a team to work effectively within that environment to reach their objectives.
Unlike many adventure speakers, the presentations are on a very human and relatable level, and not simply a regurgitation of expedition life. He’s able to make an emotional connection with audiences, driving home the key messages of the event. An informative, inspirational and highly entertaining speaker, his presentations cover the physical and emotional roller coaster of climbing the world’s highest peaks, as well as the aspects which are often overlooked.
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Incentive Programmes and Leadership & Teamwork Experiences
Beyond the four walls of the workplace, Rhys and his company, Monix Adventures are able to organise and deliver adventurous experiences to anchor key lessons and reward staff. For example:
- Leadership and team challenges in the great outdoors
- Staff engagement with company philanthropic and CSR programmes
- Incentive trips to reward staff
- Joining teams from regional and overseas offices for a central cause or challenge
- Fundraising challenges and expeditions
Safety Leadership and Injury Prevention for the Oil and Gas, Construction and Aviation Sectors
Safety is the number one priority in these sectors, and Rhys works with a number of organisations to reduce worker injuries to zero. It is Rhys’s belief that injuries are preventable, and when traced back to the root cause, it comes down to the same reasons time and time again. Using extreme examples from the high mountains, key messages about safety culture are weaved through presentations and workshops. Teamwork and leadership are also a critical part of the process, with many parallels to mountaineering. From past events some of the key themes have been:
- Looking out for each other
- Doing what you set out to do, safely
- Knowing when it’s not safe and making the decision to turn back
- The importance of having a vision
- Having the dedication to see it through
- Not giving up on a goal
Wellbeing, Happiness, and Personal Achievement
Mental wellbeing and staff happiness are key pieces in a successful organisation. Rhys discusses the value of setting personal goals, the importance of perspective, and the value of a healthy and active lifestyle outside of the office. Key themes include:
- Having a mountain perspective or a valley perspective
- The value of personal goal setting and living healthily
- How happiness breeds success (and not always the other way round)
- Mindfulness and seizing opportunities
- Making good decisions, and how to live with your choices
Motivation, Teamwork, Leadership and Big Goals
Rhys has worked with businesses across all sectors to share experiences of working towards ambitious objectives, to motivate deflated sales forces and link global offices to feel like part of the same team. Some key themes from previous engagements include:
- Working towards daunting goals, and achieving the improbable
- Dealing with setbacks
- The strength of a team and the role of the leadership
- Teaming businesses after acquisition through shared values and goals
- The value of leadership over management