John Amatt is unusual amongst inspirational speakers in that he did not reach the summit of Mt. Everest on his celebrated expedition. Instead, he was a leader of a dedicated team that suffered four tragic deaths in two unpredictable accidents before placing six climbers on the peak.

For over 30 years, John Amatt led expeditions to remote regions of Northern Norway, Peru, Nepal, China, Greenland and has explored areas of Arctic Canada on six occasions, making many first ascents of previously unclimbed peaks. At the age of 20, Amatt spent two weeks lashed to minute ledges while making the first ever ascent of Europe's highest and steepest mountain precipice - the 5,000 foot "Vertical Mile" Toll Wall in Norway. Later, in 1981, he was the leader of an early mountaineering expedition to Western China, which made a lightweight ascent of 24,757 ft Mt Muztagata - the highest peak in the world to have been ascended and descended entirely on skis. More recently, Amatt fulfilled a lifelong dream by organizing and taking part in Canada's first successful expedition to reach the top of the world - the 29,028 foot summit of Mt Everest, the world's tallest mountain.

An educator by training, Amatt established One Step Beyond World Wide in 1984 and he has since delivered more than 1,000 keynote presentations and seminars to total audiences of over 500,000 people in 30 countries around the world. His mission is to encourage people to push beyond their self-imposed limitations, to be more personally accountable for their own actions and to embrace effective teamwork by valuing the contribution of others. Amatt's best selling book, One Step Beyond: Rediscovering The Adventure Attitude, articulates his belief that humankind must apply the spirit of adventure to the challenges of daily life, if we are to cope with rapid change and convert it to our own advantage. In his latest book, Straight To The Top And Beyond, he uses the metaphor of adventure to develop a nine step approach for scaling the heights in today's unpredictable global environments.

John's Everest story is the perfect parable for motivating your team to overcome the irrational fear of the unknown that limits our ability to move forward in the post 9/11 environment.

John Amatt knows about tough times and the value of struggle in bringing out the best in teams of people! After all, he was a leader of an Everest team, which suffered four tragic deaths in two unpredictable accidents before putting six climbers on top of the world. His experience on Everest taught him about the danger of falling into the trap of complacency and the importance of always questioning the status quo in seeking new ways of succeeding in a rapidly changing world. He is the perfect speaker to assist your team in navigating through the turmoil of today?s global economic crisis."

1. No Mountain Too High - Challenging Change With The Adventure Attitude:
The challenge of change is forcing us to rethink our values and to rekindle our spirit of adventure. It will take courage, resourcefulness and endurance to meet this challenge - the courage to try, to commit and to take more risks; the resourcefulness to be innovative and creative in finding new ways of doing old things and the endurance to keep moving forward despite all the setbacks.
2. Straight To The Top And Beyond - Nine Keys To Meeting The Challenge Of Changing Times:
Change is inevitable...and increasing! Rapid and radical change is the primary challenge facing corporations and professionals today. We cannot stop this change, nor can we ignore it. But we can increase our ability to adapt, to manage change effectively and to benefit from the numerous opportunities that change creates. In these rapidly changing times, the metaphor of adventure is the perfect vehicle for articulating the strategy that will help us address this challenge. By definition, adventure involves dealing with the uncertain, the unpredictable and the unknown, just as change involves moving towards a future in which there are no guarantees. To succeed in the uncertain world of the 21st century, we must learn to embrace change and to become visionary and adventurous in dealing with the economic, social and political environments in which we must all operate.
3. Climbing Your Own Everest - What It Takes To Get To The Top:
John Amatt's most popular presentation, the highly innovative and inspirational "Climbing Your Own Everest", explores the metaphor of striving to reach the top of the world. Illustrated by magnificent color photography from his successful expedition which climbed Everest and supplemented by music, sound effects and taped radio conversations, this presentation investigates the qualities we must all bring to bear in climbing to the top in the difficult and unpredictable economic environments of the 21st century.
4. Meeting The Challenge Of Change - workshop/seminar:
John Amatt presents seminars/workshops of three to five hours duration, which focus on the theme of "Meeting The Challenge Of Change" in corporate and professional life. Designed as an in-house program, this thought- provoking seminar has also been effectively integrated into annual meetings or conventions.