Abstract

Spending up to five months alone at sea, rowing for twelve hours a day, may appear extreme, but Roz Savage will suggest that, like many major achievements, an epic ocean voyage is simply the accumulation of a very large number of tiny actions applied consistently over time. This power of accumulation also applies to phenomena as diverse as environmental degradation (or restoration), living a life of meaning and purpose, or creating the collective future that serves the needs of people and planet. In this very personal lecture, she uses her ocean rowing adventures as the underlying narrative for musings on solitude, psychology, sustainability, systems thinking, the hero’s journey, truth, identity, and free will.

Biography

Roz Savage MBE spent the first 11 years of her career working as a management consultant, before an environmental epiphany led to her transformation into a world-class adventurer. Since 2005 Roz has rowed, solo, across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans making her the world’s foremost female ocean rower. On the ocean Roz had to redefine her comfort zone on a daily basis, and reach deep into her inner sources of strength, self-discipline, and commitment to her goal, as she spent up to five months alone at sea on a 23-foot rowboat, thousands of miles from land and humanity, at the mercy of winds, waves and currents. Roz now speaks to organisations all over the world that are keen to find new ways to inspire and motivate more engaged, happy and purpose-driven individuals. She shares stories from the epic adventures she has experienced and the lessons she has learned. Her speeches help audiences to take more personal responsibility for their individual and collective success, find higher levels of resilience and courage, more effectively navigate the uncharted waters of change and invest more of themselves into every challenge they undertake.