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Shaun Tomson speaker
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Shaun Tomson

World Champion Surfer

About

Gender: Male
Nationality: United States
Languages: English
Travels from: United States

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Biography Highlights

  • #1 Speaker on The Code for Purpose
  • Bestselling Author of 'Surfer's Code', 'The Code', and 'The Surfer and the Sage'
  • Creator of the Code Method – A high-impact and transformational self-development program.

Biography

Team member disengagement is a fundamental problem across the world. (Gallup 2022) World champion surfer, bestselling author, and leadership expert Shaun Tomson lectures widely on the Code Method – a high-impact and transformational self-development program that activates the power of purpose to ignite engagement.

A former World Surfing Champion, Shaun has been described as one of the 10 greatest surfers of all time and one of the most influential surfers of the century. During his professional career he won 19 major pro events and is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative surfers. Shaun is the author of the bestsellers Surfer’s CodeThe Code: The Power of “I Will”, and the recent #1 Amazon bestseller The Surfer and the Sage. Shaun has lectured around the world and inspired corporations like General Motors, Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Google, Disney, and The Gap.

As an entrepreneur, Shaun founded two market leading, international clothing brands – Instinct in the 80’s and Solitude, which he co-founded with his wife Carla, in the 90’s. He produced and co-wrote the award-winning documentary film Bustin’ down the Door, and is an inductee in the US, Jewish, and South African Sports Halls of Fame. Shaun’s powerful mission is to help individuals activate their own personal Code to deeply engage with others to live a better and more purposeful life.

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Former World Champion Surfer and bestselling author Shaun Tomson is the creator of The Code Method – a high-impact and transformational self-development program that activates the power of purpose to improve wellbeing, engagement, and performance. The Code Method is an academically validated self-development program that inspires, uplifts, and connects individuals and teams. It helps activate internal strength to combat despair and emotionally re-engages individuals through the power of purpose.

Built around 12 promises that individuals write and share, The Code is an effective tool to create a powerful, positive, and purposeful attitude to navigate the uncertainty and turbulence of life. Tomson has shared his inspirational message with corporations around the world including General Motors, Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Google, Disney, and The Gap.

Available: In person, Virtually

Books

Shaun Tomson book

The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride Life's Waves

Sometimes life’s waves knock you down; other times, life might seem to sweep you along powerless. But the choice is always yours to swim back up to the light. Legendary world champion surfer Shaun Tomson and international bestselling poet-philosopher Noah benShea join forces to offer you insight on a path of purpose, hope, and faith. This timely guidebook alternates between Tomson’s inspiring experiential essays and benShea’s spiritual commentary that lift the soul, all accented with stunning full-color surfing photographs. After losing his son, Tomson walked the bitter road of loss and crossed from darkness into the light. The Surfer and the Sage addresses the eighteen relentless, breaking waves of life, from loss and aging to relationships and depression, and guides you to transformation. It is not a list of rules to follow that guarantee success, health, or wealth, but rather a collection of advice from two guides who have traveled far and wide and suffered deeply, but still look forward to tomorrow with faith and hope.

Read more..

The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride Life's Waves

Sometimes life’s waves knock you down; other times, life might seem to sweep you along powerless. But the choice is always yours to swim back up to the light. Legendary world champion surfer Shaun Tomson and international bestselling poet-philosopher Noah benShea join forces to offer you insight on a path of purpose, hope, and faith. This timely guidebook alternates between Tomson’s inspiring experiential essays and benShea’s spiritual commentary that lift the soul, all accented with stunning full-color surfing photographs. After losing his son, Tomson walked the bitter road of loss and crossed from darkness into the light. The Surfer and the Sage addresses the eighteen relentless, breaking waves of life, from loss and aging to relationships and depression, and guides you to transformation. It is not a list of rules to follow that guarantee success, health, or wealth, but rather a collection of advice from two guides who have traveled far and wide and suffered deeply, but still look forward to tomorrow with faith and hope.
Shaun Tomson book

Bustin' Down the Door: The Surf Revolution of '75

“You have to bust down the door before they hear ya knockin’.” ―Rabbit In the winter of 1975, South African and Australian upstarts Shaun Tomson, Rabbit Bartholomew, and Mark Richards arrived in Hawaii with little else than their surfboards and their love of surfing. With courage, skill, and raw ambition, they not only set a new standard for wave riding, but also succeeded in transforming surfing from a casual lifestyle into a professional sport. Published to coincide with a documentary feature film narrated by Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, Bustin’ Down the Door tells the incredible story of these free ride pioneers. With essays by the surfing legends themselves, along with previously unpublished photographs by award-winning photographers such as Dan Merkel, Bustin’ Down the Door re-creates the genesis of modern surfing from the perspective of the visionaries who turned their unlikely dreams into reality and revolutionized the sport of surfing.

Read more..

Bustin' Down the Door: The Surf Revolution of '75

“You have to bust down the door before they hear ya knockin’.” ―Rabbit In the winter of 1975, South African and Australian upstarts Shaun Tomson, Rabbit Bartholomew, and Mark Richards arrived in Hawaii with little else than their surfboards and their love of surfing. With courage, skill, and raw ambition, they not only set a new standard for wave riding, but also succeeded in transforming surfing from a casual lifestyle into a professional sport. Published to coincide with a documentary feature film narrated by Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, Bustin’ Down the Door tells the incredible story of these free ride pioneers. With essays by the surfing legends themselves, along with previously unpublished photographs by award-winning photographers such as Dan Merkel, Bustin’ Down the Door re-creates the genesis of modern surfing from the perspective of the visionaries who turned their unlikely dreams into reality and revolutionized the sport of surfing.
Shaun Tomson book

Surfer's Code

In Surfer’s Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life, world champion surfer Shaun Tomson shares the life lessons he’s gathered from decades of surfing-from his boyhood adventures in South Africa to the world tour in the late 1970s to the business world today. For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession and more-it is a way of life. Tomson’s life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. Now, he shares these powerful lessons, born on the world’s best swells, with all people-including those who might never step on a surfboard. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of every day life.

Read more..

Surfer's Code

In Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life, world champion surfer Shaun Tomson shares the life lessons he's gathered from decades of surfing-from his boyhood adventures in South Africa to the world tour in the late 1970s to the business world today. For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession and more-it is a way of life. Tomson's life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. Now, he shares these powerful lessons, born on the world's best swells, with all people-including those who might never step on a surfboard. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of every day life.
Shaun Tomson book

The Code: The Power of 'I Will'

Sometimes all you need to turn hope into action is to write your promises down and say them out loud—to make a promise to no one but yourself. This book is about many things—faith, courage, creativity, determination—but above all it’s about the promises we make to ourselves about the future. These stories will inspire you to believe in yourself and to believe in the power that each and every one of us has to shape our lives through the power of “I Will.”

Read more..

The Code: The Power of 'I Will'

Sometimes all you need to turn hope into action is to write your promises down and say them out loud—to make a promise to no one but yourself. This book is about many things—faith, courage, creativity, determination—but above all it’s about the promises we make to ourselves about the future. These stories will inspire you to believe in yourself and to believe in the power that each and every one of us has to shape our lives through the power of “I Will.”
Shaun Tomson book

Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life

Powerful lessons for surfing, business, and life from world champion surfer Shaun Tomson. In Surfer’s Code, world champion surfer Shaun Tomson shares the life lessons he’s gathered from decades of surfing―from his boyhood adventures in South Africa to the world tour in the late 1970s to the business world today. For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession, and more―it is a way of life. Tomson’s life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of everyday life. I will never turn my back on the ocean I will paddle around the impact zone I will take the drop with commitment I will never fight a rip tide I will watch out for other surfers There will always be another wave I will always ride into shore I will honor the sport of kings I will pass along my stroke I will catch a wave every day All surfers are connected by one ocean In a new epilogue, Tomson tells about light as a symbol of hope―through his very personal experiences of a wipeout, the loss of one precious son, and the arrival of another son. Shaun Tomson was 1977 World Champion on the International Professional Surfing Tour. A native of South Africa, he spent fourteen years on the World Tour (1976–1989). He has been featured in more than forty surf videos and starred in the surf movie In God’s Hands. He was listed as one of the twenty-five most influential surfers of the century (Surfer, 1999) and one of the sixteen greatest surfers of all time (Surfing, 2004). He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Surfrider Foundation and owns his own apparel company, Solitude, in Santa Barbara, California. Patrick Moser is the editor of Pacific Passages: An Anthology of Surf Writing (University of Hawai’i Press, 2008). He collaborated with Shaun Tomson on Surfer’s Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding through Life and has written articles for The Surfer’s Journal and Surfer. He currently teaches writing and French language at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri where he also offers a course on the history and culture of surfing.

Read more..

Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life

Powerful lessons for surfing, business, and life from world champion surfer Shaun Tomson. In Surfer’s Code, world champion surfer Shaun Tomson shares the life lessons he’s gathered from decades of surfing―from his boyhood adventures in South Africa to the world tour in the late 1970s to the business world today. For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession, and more―it is a way of life. Tomson’s life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of everyday life. I will never turn my back on the ocean I will paddle around the impact zone I will take the drop with commitment I will never fight a rip tide I will watch out for other surfers There will always be another wave I will always ride into shore I will honor the sport of kings I will pass along my stroke I will catch a wave every day All surfers are connected by one ocean In a new epilogue, Tomson tells about light as a symbol of hope―through his very personal experiences of a wipeout, the loss of one precious son, and the arrival of another son. Shaun Tomson was 1977 World Champion on the International Professional Surfing Tour. A native of South Africa, he spent fourteen years on the World Tour (1976–1989). He has been featured in more than forty surf videos and starred in the surf movie In God’s Hands. He was listed as one of the twenty-five most influential surfers of the century (Surfer, 1999) and one of the sixteen greatest surfers of all time (Surfing, 2004). He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Surfrider Foundation and owns his own apparel company, Solitude, in Santa Barbara, California. Patrick Moser is the editor of Pacific Passages: An Anthology of Surf Writing (University of Hawai'i Press, 2008). He collaborated with Shaun Tomson on Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding through Life and has written articles for The Surfer's Journal and Surfer. He currently teaches writing and French language at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri where he also offers a course on the history and culture of surfing.

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