It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any reader of their latest book that Audacious Goals Remarkable Results is shot through with what is rapidly becoming the authors’ trademark - high octane excitement in learning lessons from great people.

Brad Borkan’s talk about life lessons we can learn from the early Antarctic explorers, given at Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival, was absolutely riveting. For the first time, I really appreciated what those men were up against, and how incredibly difficult their journeys were.

The combination of a fascinating talk and excellent slides showing maps and photographs of the men themselves was excellent.

I can’t praise the talk highly enough. If you ever get the chance to hear Brad speak, seize it. Not only will you hear a spellbinding account of some of the toughest journeys every undertaken, you’ll also come away feeling challenged to make courageous choices in your own life.

Congratulations on the well-deserved success of your books!

You have a special way of bringing the stories of long-ago heroes and pioneers to life to inspire, enlighten, educate and even entertain today's readers. So many lessons to learn from your carefully selected subjects. May I ask - Who will be the subject of your NEXT book? Onward!

I thoroughly recommend When Your Life Depends on It. Thanks to this remarkable book, you won’t need to face extreme Antarctic weather to learn effective decision making techniques that will help you in modern life.

I recently had the pleasure of listening to one of Brad’s talks, and I have read the book too. It is inspired and written not to tell the reader what to think but instead make him/her think. It gets you to ask the questions in a different way all together. It’s clever, informative, extremely well researched and a must for all Polar history enthusiasts. It is not just for the bookshelf, but for reading and enjoying.

Here is an excellent book. Plenty has been written about the ambitions and grit of the Polar explorers of the early 1900s; so it is refreshing that this book takes a different angle.

Brad Borkan and David Hirzel cleverly analyse decisions made in extreme polar circumstances (where communication was ‘as far as you can shout’). Their trick is to pull out the universal and timeless lessons, and they really do make you think! It’s things like; making the best from a bad decision; reframing what success looks like when you need to; and nobility under extreme pressure… which give these stories the ability to reach through time and resonate if not to jolt us today.

Brad delivered a terrific, fascinating and extremely motivational session at the B2B Marketing Leaders Forum this year. His passion and knowledge about the great age of exploration is extraordinary, and this made for an excellent addition to our agenda.

The 150 marketing directors in attendance hugely appreciated hearing from one of their peers, and there was a lengthy queue of people looking to get a copy of Brad and David’s book, When Your Life Depends on It, signed at the end of the event. I’d thoroughly recommend him.

Quite simply, if it wasn’t for Shackleton’s leadership skills, I would not be here today. My grandfather, Alexander Kerr, was one of the youngest members of the Endurance Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. I was lucky to know my grandfather and hear his stories first hand. My wife Val and I both have a passionate interest in the Heroic Age of Exploration and the characters of that era, attending Antarctic conferences and lectures, reading original and new accounts of expeditions.

This book brings the life or death decisions of those often ‘ordinary’ men of the Heroic Age right up-to-date, breathing a whole new life into their adventures. The stories are no longer just my grandfather’s history, but now a living part of decision strategies that everyone can use in their own lives

I was riveted throughout the talk, listening to the adventurous and courageous stories of those amazing Antarctic explorers.

What was really interesting was how it made you think about what you would do in those circumstances — what kind of a person am I, would I leave someone else to die, how would I have survived?

Equally there were some extremely insightful lessons for business and leadership, I particularly liked the way that rather than failing when the original goal wasn’t achieved, Brad tells the story of how Shackleton, “ pivots” the goal, to keep everyone motivated (the team and staff) in order to come back with a success story for the outside world (shareholders). Overall a really interesting talk, the lessons for business I will remember more than other leadership sessions, because of the extreme and exciting stories from those simply amazing, brave men.

Reading When Your Life Depends on It provides a real treat for history lovers, action-adventure seekers, and those committed to making a real difference in their business enterprise.

Overlaying decision-making lessons of the early 1900 expeditions in the Antarctic with current day business decisions invites a shift in mind-set and action taking. Critical questions are posed, which are relatable, thought provoking and meaningful.

Grab a sweater and a warm drink as you discover the true stories of these heroic South Pole explorers.

An excellent and compelling read, one that not only relates to the relentless extremities of life and death decisions in the Antarctic, but one that can be mirrored into your every day life at a trajectory where determination, resilience, purpose and focus is required to make life changing decisions, where learnings across perseverance through challenging adversity can be the only option.

Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results is a gripping work. One of the great things about this book is how it brilliantly employs storytelling to bring the reader into the fray. The work didn’t merely gloss over the great achievements it highlights, but pulled me down from a mile-high view to ground level (and in the case of the railway tunnels, below ground level),  making me feel like I was striding next to Amundsen, Brunel and Roosevelt, struggling with them. Conquering with them.

The second noteworthy feature of the book is that it draws lessons from the stories and achievements that can be used today by anyone looking to achieve great things. A man or woman looking to follow in the tracks of great people of the past has to learn how they did it, and Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results delivers on that front. Hats off to Borkan and Hirzel.