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“Heard Brad Borkan speak recently. He paralleled the adventures of leadership with the adventures of Shackleton and his expeditions. Brad isn’t just a speaker…..he’s a storyteller! One of the best. Engaging, insightful. His storytelling makes ice floes and life-threatening weather vividly exciting.”  Donna Moore

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Podcasts, Talks and Articles: 2025-2022

Podcasts, Webinars, and Presentations

Magazine Articles

Webinars for Business

  • Tribal Impact Company – Webinar to employees, May 2023
    • Leadership Lessons from Antarctica
  • Wharton Club NYC webinar, Feb 2023
  • Kettering Executive Network, Nov 2022
    • Decision lessons from Shackleton’s expeditions to Antarctica
  • K. Carpenter Business & Leadership Series
    • Leadership and business lessons from Brunel, Apr 2022
    • Lessons from Shackleton, Feb  2021
  • SAP Industry Marketing Team, Dec 2021
    • Teamwork! Lessons from the Antarctic

Additional Activities

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2021 Podcasts, Talks and Articles
2020 Podcasts, Talks and Articles
2019 Podcasts, Talks and Articles
  • Antarctic Cruise: Polar Latitudes Hebridean Sky, Nov 2019
    • Guest lecture about Shackleton on the day the ship visited South Georgia (Antarctica) which is where Shackleton is buried.
    • Co-presented with adventurer, explorer and historian: Seb Coulthard
  • Internet Radio Interview, Sept 2019
    • Brad with Chris Fagan (author of The Expedition: Two Parents Risk Life and Family in an Extraordinary Quest to the South Pole)
  • Western Mortgagee Advisory Council Conference in San Francisco, Sept 2019
    • David as Keynote speaker 
  • Windstar Cruise Line, Aug 2019
    • David as Guest lecturer on North Atlantic crossing
  • TV Interview, June 2019
    • Brad interviewed by Dr. Joan Goldstein
  • WH Smith Bookstore, Richmond, Surrey, UK June 2019
    • Book signing event
  • Internet Radio Interview, June 2019
    • Brad and Dennis Kleinman (audiobook narrator for When Your Life Depends on It)
    • How we made the audiobook and why it was up for a major Hollywood award.
  • Antarctic Conference, Dublin, June 2019
  • Business Conference, London, May 2019
  • Literary Festival,  Apr 2019 
  • Royal Society of Chemistry, Apr 2019
    • Guest speaker at their away-day team building session in Cambridge
  • Viking Cruise Line, Mar 2019
    • David as Guest lecturer on North Atlantic crossing
2018 Podcasts, Talks and Articles
  • Windstar Cruise Line, Nov 2018
    • Guest lectures on North Atlantic crossing
  • Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge England, Oct 2018 
    • Guest lecture on When Your Life Depends on It.
  • B2B Marketing Leaders Forum, London, Sept 2018 
    • “Developing a Resiliency Mind-set for Modern-Day Business Leaders: Lessons from Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age”
    • Conference attended by 150 CMO’s (Chief Marketing Officers)
    • Testimonial from B2B Marketing provided above
  • Present Day Club, Princeton NJ Sept 2018 
    • “Leadership, Team Work and Decision Making: Lessons from the Antarctic”
    • Private members club was founded by Woodrow Wilson’s wife.
    • 116 in the audience. Testimonial from Club President provided.
  • Credit Suisse Investment Bank, London July 2018
    • “Disruptive Innovators and early Antarctic Explorers” 
    • 370 Credit Suisse employees attended from 16 different countries.
  • Great Minds Lecture Series in Princeton NJ, May 2018
  • Author Talk Radio Interview, Apr 2018
  • University Guest Lecture: Dominican University of California, April 2018
    • “Leadership, Teams, and Change” 
  • Speaker at “Interesting Talks London”, March 2018
2017 Podcasts, Talks and Articles
  • Princeton PSRC Charity talk Dec 2017
    • “More Tales from the Antarctic”
  • Antarctic Conference in Ireland, Oct 2017
  • Strand Business conference, Oct 2017
    • Keynote speech at “Customers as Advocates” business conference. “
    • Leadership, Team Work and Decision Making: Lessons from the Antarctic” at the Dorchester Hotel, London. Event program.
  • Book talks at libraries and bookstores, July – Sept 2017
    • Hancock Point Public Library, Maine
    • Florey’s Bookstore, California
    • Copperfield’s Bookstore, California
  • Book launch: Discovery Point, Scotland: May 2017
    • Antarctic Conference held at Discovery Point, Dundee, Scotland – museum housing Scott’s Discovery ship
    • “Shackleton’s Genius—Reframing the Image of Success, a critical skill for the 21st century”
  • Book launch: Fram Museum, Norway: May 2017
    • South Pole-sium Conference – Fram museum housing Amundsen’s Antarctic ship, the Fram.
  • Devon & Cornwall Polar Society: March 2017
    • Book talk at the Devon & Cornwall Polar Society, Duke of Cornwall Hotel, Plymouth.
    • Shackleton stayed at The Duke of Cornwall Hotel the night before the Endurance sailed to Antarctica in 1914. 
Additional Interviews
Radio:

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.

Joel Harrison

B2B Marketing - Editor in Chief

Many thanks to Brad Borkan for speaking at my team’s last All-Hands call of the year! Brad delivered an inspirational story of resilience and courage - highly relevant and expertly told. Highly recommended !!
 
#team #success #courage #resilience #survival

Helen Dwight

Marketing Executive at SAP

It gives me great pleasure to write this letter highly recommending Brad Borkan. Brad was the guest speaker at the Present Day Club in Princeton, New Jersey. He shared amazing stories from his book, When Your Life Depends on It.

Brad had a very skillful, relaxed and authentic manner. His eloquent expression, his enthusiasm and his professional yet casual demeanor fully engaged the entire audience of over 100.

Catherine Judd Hirsch

President, Present Day Club

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.

Claire Jones

UK

Thank you so much for your talk tonight. Really passionate and inspiring…. exactly what I needed to help my own decision making.

S Lawrence

London, UK

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

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.

Jane Wilkinson

Global CEO and Board level Chief Marketing Officer

Brad Borkan is a charismatic, natural and engaging speaker, and we were pleased to welcome him both as keynote speaker in our opening ceremony and for his illustrated talk on Lessons Learned from the Early Antarctic Explorers.

Brad has the knack of making his expert knowledge and insights accessible and interesting to the many kinds of people – our audience at the Literary Festival ranged from young executives interested in the business and management to retired folk keen on the historical angle. His pleasant, gentle manner makes him very approachable for Q&A and outside of the lecture hall, and he continued to contribute to the success of the Festival throughout the day by being ready and willing to chat informally to fellow speakers and audience alike.

His fresh enthusiasm for his subject was infectious, and he left us wanting more. 

Debbie Young

Organizer of the Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival

… an enthralling and engaging session, packed with insights and thought-provoking points.

Chris Page

Business Conference Producer

Informative and entertaining… Brad Borkan’s enthusiasm for the subject shone through and the excellent photographs added drama. His tie-in with decision making, which is so much in the current interest thanks to Daniel Kahneman, added a unique touch to the subject. Compared to the explorers, our own decision making seems mundane.

Irene and Sam Goldfarb

Attendees, Princeton Talks

A highly engaging presentation set in the historic surroundings of the Scott Polar Research Institute theatre.

Brad Borkan delivered a talk filled with a series of captivating, high-risk, hostile environment story lines to the audience, setting the scene and asking the audience ‘what they would do’? 

His final summary contained ‘Seven lessons from the Antarctic’, an invaluable framework of strategies employed in the heroic age of polar exploration.  Lesson #5 (‘Never ever give up’) is the one that has resonated throughout my life, especially during my personal experiences in the high Arctic and in the military.

I would highly recommend both Brad’s presentation and the book that he co-wrote. 

Kevin O'Brien

What a fascinating presentation and it really made me think about the decisions I make both professionally and personally. Brad’s knowledge on the expeditions is brilliant and left me totally captivated as he relayed the stories.

Carolyn Delehanty

Attendee, Customer Experience World Conference

Articles

Crisis Response Journal article, March 2022
Crisis Response Journal article, March 2022
Strategy+Business Article March 2022
Strategy+Business Article March 2022
Shackleton Conference Article, Feb 2022
Shackleton Conference Article, Feb 2022

Podcasts

TV Interviews

Brad  gives keynote and after-dinner presentations at business conferences. He is also available for TV, radio and podcast interviews.

His talks focus on goal setting, leadership, and teamwork, all set in the exciting context of Polar exploration.

Brad brings a strong background of business acumen to his talks in that he has worked for the world’s leading technology companies like Oracle and SAP, and as part of his work has advised many large and mid-sized organizations on how to make better business decisions.

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