 It's Your Ship
Mike Abrashoff
Mike Abrashoff's inspiring speeches challenge people to re-imagine their own leadership thinking and instill a renewed responsibility for results and success. At the age of 36, the Navy selected Abrashoff to become Commander of USS Benfold - at the time, the most junior commanding officer in the Pacific Fleet. The immediate challenges that faced him on this underperforming Naval war ship were staggering: exceptionally low morale, high turnover and unacceptably low performance evaluations. Few thought that this ship could improve. In many ways, the USS Benfold was actually an extreme example of the same problems facing many organizations today.
The solution was to establish a system of management techniques that Abrashoff calls The Leadership Roadmap. At the core of his leadership approach on Benfold was a process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, and by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers - with conviction and humility. "The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew." According to Abrashoff, The Leadership Roadmap is a practice that empowers every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence. "It's your ship," he was known to say. His former sailors to this day still remind him of it.
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 Xtreme Dream Diana Nyad
In 1979, Diana Nyad stroked her way to the longest swim in history, for both men and women. The distance was 102.5 miles--from the island of Bimini to the Florida shore--and that incredible record still stands today. For ten years (1969-1979) Diana was the greatest long-distance swimmer in the world. She broke numerous world records, including the 50-year-old mark for circling Manhattan Island (7hrs., 57 min.) in 1975. She was honored in 2006 with an induction in the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. In 1986, she was inducted into the National Women's sports Hall of Fame.
Over the past twenty years, Diana Nyad has earned a reputation as a riveting public speaker. She combines her talent for dramatic story-telling with a natural sense of humor and a charismatic stage presence. She never uses notes -- she speaks from her heart and her audiences are both riveted and inspired.
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The Power of People's Inner Drive
Derek Daly
Irish driving legend Derek Daly is the epitome of the Complete Champion. From the Victory Circle to the Announcer's Desk, Hall of Fame Race Car Driver and Network Television Color Analyst, Daly has spent nearly three decades as the face of the motorsport world. Derek has taught the timeless principles of his most valuable asset - speed.
Derek's professional racing career spanned 17 years and his experiences are nothing short of breathtaking. Daly's story is one that precious few have lived to tell. In 1984, Derek suffered one of the hardest crash impacts that a driver had ever survived when he hit the wall at Michigan International Speedway at 212 MPH. After fourteen surgeries and three years in therapy, he returned to full-time racing. He competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring - one of the premier motorsport endurance races in the US - and won the race two years in a row.
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