High-performance speakers bring a unique blend of expertise, motivational strategies, and dynamic delivery to captivate your audience and memorably convey key messages. They can spark innovation, reinforce company goals, and provide actionable insights tailored to your industry. Sharing powerful stories and proven strategies empowers employees to embrace change, boost productivity, and foster a positive organisational culture. Investing in a skilled speaker transforms your event into a catalyst for growth and success.
Hiring a high-performance speaker through us at Great Business Speakers can elevate your event by delivering transformative insights and actionable strategies that drive excellence in individual and organisational performance. Our speakers are experts in unlocking potential, fostering resilience, and inspiring innovation, offering audiences practical tools to achieve sustained success. Whether in-person or virtual, a high-performance speaker energises the room and leaves a lasting impact, empowering attendees to exceed their limits and contribute to a culture of success.
Discover our High-Performance Speakers below, or contact the team at Great Business Speakers to enquire or book. +44 1753 439 289
Liz Johnson is one of the UK’s most well-known Paralympic swimmers, winning an impressive 13 medals at various events over her career.
Since retiring in 2016, Liz has become a popular contributor to sporting broadcasting on Channel 4 and the BBC and a familiar face on entertainment shows, including Celebrity Masterchef (2016) and The Last Leg (2021).
She is the Managing Director and Client Ambassador of The Ability People, a specialist employment company which aims to encourage employment for those with disabilities.
She is also a popular motivational and sports speaker, offering an insight into her competitive past, her broadcasting experience and her disability, aiming to inspire the next generation of sporting stars.
Matt Lindley was an RAF Pilot, specialising in flying VIPs such as The Queen, members of the Royal Family and Government Ministers, as well as flying missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. He is now a commercial long haul pilot.
Matt was one of the first ever gay pilots in the Royal Air Force, and is now a very influential military figure. Matt had dreamt of being a RAF pilot ever since he was a child, and he wasn’t going to let something like LGBTQ+ prejudice stand against him. His brave journey has paved the way for change in the Armed Forces and to ensure all sexualities are represented.
Matt now runs workshops and keynotes based on lessons he has learnt whilst flying, aimed at reducing human error in the workplace. He uses fascinating case studies of aircraft accident, applies basic psychology and provides lots of ‘take homes’ for any audience.
Matt Dawson is one of England’s best-loved former rugby players, and is now a prominent sport commentator, journalist, and presenter.
He played for Northampton Saints, London Wasps, and the British & Irish Lions. He won 77 caps for England and made his mark on rugby by being part of the England team who won the 2003 World Cup.
Since retiring in 2006, he has become a national TV personality, appearing on BBC’s A Question of Sport (2004-2021), Celebrity Masterchef (2006) – which he won, and Strictly Come Dancing (2006).
Matt Dawson also works as a health ambassador for Sodexo, an international food and facilities provider, and in 2014 he was appointed as Director for Business Development.
Jenson Button MBE is a celebrated British racing driver best known for winning the Formula One World Championship in 2009.
In his on-going motor racing career, spanning 26 years, Jenson has competed in nearly 20 different racing championships, with 18 years spent in Formula One. While racing in Formula One career, he achieved 50 podium finishes, and finished the Championship in first, second and third place.
Jenson retired from Formula One in 2017 and the following year made the move to sportscar racing, winning the Super GT – GT500 Championship. More recently, Jenson has competed in the 2024 FIA World Endurance and the IMSA SportsCar Championships.
He was appointed an MBE in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to motorsport and was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017.
Rugby star turned motivational public speaker Jamie Peacock is a successful author and wellness expert who now offers leadership and wellness coaching and mentoring sessions to corporate clients worldwide.
Jamie Peacock is one of the most successful Rugby League players the UK has ever produced. During his rugby career, Jamie Peacock played over 550 times over 19 seasons including 49 caps for his country which he captained for 8 years.
At the end of his career in 2015 Jamie Peacock had become the most decorated player of the modern Super League era winning a total of 9 Grand Finals, 4 Challenge Cup Finals, 4 World Club Challenges as well as being selected in the Super League Dream Team 11 times, the World 13 twice, Worlds’ Best Forward twice and in 2011 he was recognised for his services to the game and awarded an MBE.
Jacques Villeneuve is one of the most widely renowned Formula 1 stars, a World Champion who achieved meteoric success and founded the team which is today the all-conquering Mercedes Benz F1 team.
Canadian-born Jacques won the 1997 Formula One World Championship for the Williams-Renault team, a remarkable feat given that he achieved it in only his second full season of Formula One motor racing, and against arch-rival Michael Schumacher.
In his first season in Formula One, he finished 2nd in the World Championship, an astonishing achievement in only first season at the pinnacle of world motorsport.
He is the last driver to have won a World Championship for the Williams Formula 1 team, adding his name to an impressive list of champions including Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Damon Hill.
It all comes down to one single moment. After only two weeks working in professional New Zealand rugby, Henry Cheetham felt a deeper sense of belonging to the team and community than anywhere he had worked or lived over the past 24 years.
Was this one of the ‘secrets’ underpinning the mythical New Zealand All Blacks, he thought.
Needless to say, this kick started his journey to uncover the universal principles underpinning the world’s best teams. Since then, he has led human performance departments in some of the most successful teams and cultures in the world.
Dan Lowes is a leading high-performance executive coach who had a 16 year career as an Officer and Fighter Pilot in the Royal Air Force, including three years as a Red Arrows pilot.
Dan graduated from the most demanding and gruelling RAF course and went on to conduct the flying tests of aspiring Red Arrows applicants.
The lessons he learned through his successful RAF career are as applicable today as workplaces become more remote and virtual. He works with organisations providing coaching and delivers keynote speeches on team development, communication and improving performance.
He has become a practitioner by thriving in one of the world’s most demanding and dynamic environments for over 16 years; surviving from time critical information arriving in the right place at the right time through effective communication lines and processes.
Damian Hughes expertly combines his practical experience and academic background in sports, organisational development, and change psychology to assist organisations and teams in cultivating a culture of high performance.
With eight bestselling business books under his belt – such as Liquid Thinking, Liquid Leadership, How to Change Absolutely Anything, How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson, and The Five STEPS to a Winning Mindset – Damian has demonstrated his profound knowledge and insights.
His 2023 books, How Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best, and How to Change Your Life, have both been number one Sunday Times bestsellers. His books have already been translated into a dozen languages.
He is also the co-host with Jake Humphrey of The High-Performance Podcast, which has featured some of the leading figures in business and sports spheres with over 100 million downloads and counting.
Claire Williams OBE is a British former motorsport executive who led the Williams Formula 1 racing team. She is one of only two women to have ever lead a Formula 1 team.
Under her leadership Williams finished 3rd in the World Championship for Constructors in 2014 and 2015, representing the team’s best performance since 2003.
After taking over the running of the team, Claire replaced drivers, switched to a Mercedes engine and increased the team’s racing budget by securing profitable corporate sponsorships, factors that helped the team’s renaissance between 2014 and 2017.
Today Claire is a global Brand Ambassador for WAE Technologies, formerly known as Williams Advanced Engineering, which is involved in the decarbonisation of heavy transport through the development of advanced, green and sustainable technologies.
Her late father, Sir Frank Williams, was the founder of the Williams Grand Prix Engineering F1 team, winning nine Constructors’ Championships and seven Drivers’ Championship.
Chris Cook is an ex Double Olympian & Double Commonwealth swimming champion having completed globally at international level.
He is a former BBC North East Sports Personality of the Year.
Chris is an accomplished motivational business and educational speaker with his keynote talk ‘Two Lengths’.
Chris Brindley MBE is a prominent UK Business Leader, Chair AT MCRactive and Zellar Limited, and Non-Executive Director (NED) at companies including Four Recruitment, Her Spirit, Equilibrium Asset Management, and Goodson Thomas. He is also an Elite Sports Business Mentor for The Premier League, Leadership Coach for Metro Bank, and a Trustee of Switch the Play Foundation.
He is the former Chair and NED of the Rugby Lead World Cup 2021 Board, Chair of GreaterSport Manchester and Sporting House, a Non-Executive at Rugby Football League, Super League, Move With Peppa, Rapport, and Manchester Football Association, and former Executive of British Gas, Metro Bank, and NatWest.
A leading authority on sales management, employee engagement and satisfaction, and customer experience, Chris holds Non-Executive Director positions at multiple organisations, and has been awarded UK Non-Executive Director (NED) of the Year, Most Outstanding Employer, and Britain’s Best Boss.
He has studied for a range of topics including strategic retail management at Manchester Business School, performance management, and executive coaching at Hult Ashridge, customer experience at Duke University, managing strategic risk at The Wharton School, managing for value creation at INSEAD, and executive leadership from the prestigious Harvard Business School.
Having originally trained as a carpenter, nobody outside of the sport of cycling would have known who Chris Boardman was until 1992, when he took Great Britain’s opening Gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics astride the infamous Lotus bike. Incredibly it was Britain’s first cycling Gold medal in 72 years.
The iconic image of the Lotus machine and pointy helmet made the name of Chris Boardman synonymous with cutting edge technology. It was a fascination with innovation and performance that has featured in nearly every aspect of his life since.
Brendan Hall is a renowned figure in the fields of speaking, coaching, and consulting, with a focus on fostering high-performance cultures within teams and organisations. His expertise lies in unlocking the untapped potential of teams, cultivating resilience, fostering connections, promoting collaboration, and enhancing leadership qualities.
As a sought-after speaker, Brendan has earned recognition for his ability to inspire audiences and deliver tangible outcomes.
He has been trusted by esteemed organisations such as PwC, Toyota, GSK, Nestle, Financial Times, Tesco, and Lloyds Banking Group.
He also holds positions as an adjunct lecturer at Ashridge Executive Education and Cranfield Business Schools, where he imparts his knowledge and experience to aspiring leaders.
Brad Burton is a force to be reckoned with in the world of motivational speaking and team building.
Known for his infectious enthusiasm, humour and high-energy dynamic approach twinned with street-smart wisdom, Brad has carved a unique niche in the industry, speaking globally at the highest level blending his background as a multi-million-pound business owner with his no-nonsense, motivational style.
At 50, he’s not just a speaker; he’s a doer, embodying the very essence of motivation and action. Brad’s journey is one of transformation and tenacity.
Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD, is an extraordinary polymath – a medical doctor and PhD, a world-class dancer, and later a C-Suite corporate leader with global retailers Mothercare and Selfridges Group.
Now he is a sought-after executive and strengths coach in the UK, Us and Europe, award-winning author, and inspiring leadership speaker. He is also the host of the hit leadership podcast ‘The Unlock Moment’, where he interviews many of the leading thinkers on finding purpose, achieving peak performance, and building leadership effectiveness from around the world.
Dr Gary Crotaz has featured in Forbes, the Telegraph, the Sunday Times and on TalkTV, and has spoken at events including CarFest, alongside Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Clive Branson, and Simon Ong. His innovative self-coaching book The IDEA Mindset by Dr Gary Crotaz was awarded Coaching Book of the Year by Henley Business School in 2022.
Kriss Akabusi MBE is an engaging, inspiring and transformational speaker, ideal for keynotes, endnotes, and award ceremonies.
Kriss will focus on topics such as goal-setting, teamwork, living in the moment, how to manage transitions and how to deliver peak performance.
Through discussions with your team during pre-event briefings, Kriss will tailor his speech to deliver on your key messages.
From his early years as a club rugby player for seven years as the England Rugby 7s coach, Ben Ryan then took a job coaching the Fiji Rugby 7s team. He is also the Director of Elite Performance for Brentford FC.
He is now one of the most in-demand leadership speakers on the circuit. He provides tools and messages that are applicable to any organisations. He provides essential factors for establishing and sustaining the right environment to cultivate success, as well as the need to align vision and values with courageous conversations.
Organisations and audiences around the world want to hear from the man who is fast achieving legendary status as one of the greatest coaches of his generation.
Ben Alldis is one of the UK’s most popular Peloton instructors with nearly 300k followers on Instagram. Formerly a finance professional in the City of London, Ben pivoted his career and followed his dream of healthy living to become a superstar in his field.
Having drastically expanded his own envelope, he is able to relate directly to people who feel the need to get motivated and expand their own life outside of their comfort zone.
He is available both in-person and for virtual engagements and fireside chats.
Kieran Tompsett is a star of the hit BBC show The Traitors. Keith, who is also a survivor of a knife attack, has lived experience of PTSD and trauma, and speaks openly about this and male mental health issues.
Kieran, who is also a business process consultant, was considered The Game Changer of The Traitors after delivering his ‘parting gift’, the exposure of Traitor Wilf which could change the lives of the three winning contestants. This made for one of the most dramatic and jaw-dropping reality scenes on British TV.
In recent years Kieran has suffered extensively with PTSD after suffering a number of emotional events, including the horrific and life-changing experience of being stabbed, losing his mother – who he described as his best friend – and the death of his 17-month old baby nephew.
Kieran is a multi-faceted speaker who draws on his experiences in the hit show The Traitors, as well as surviving a knife attack that could have taken his life; coping with PTSD, as well as talking more generally about men’s mental health, suicide, trauma and managing emotional challenges.
Katie Bulmer Cooke is a professional speaker and young entrepreneur with vast experience in delivering to the health and fitness industry and business arena. She has a unique ability to inspire SME’s, students and employees with her down-to-earth style and usable business takeaways.
If you want humour, truly useable content and a fresh and motivating experience, then you need to look no further.
Fitness entrepreneur Katie, began her journey in the world of business at the age of 16, setting up exercise classes in her hometown of Sunderland. Fast forward 14 years and Katie is now selling her fitness DVDs and online training programmes in the 11 countries across the world, as well as educating her fellow fitness professionals on how they can grow their businesses and developing new group fitness concepts for leisure trusts, councils and the private sector.
Referee Karl Dickson is a globally acclaimed figure in the sports industry, known for his roles as a professional Rugby Union referee and a former England and Harlequins player.
The pinnacle of his career came in 2023 when he officiated the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup between Wales and Argentina, before serving as the assistant referee in the final between New Zealand and South Africa.
Karl Dickson is a well-known figure on the speaking circuit, for both keynote and after-dinner speaking on Confidence, Communication, Resilience, and High-Performance.
Andy McNab DCM MM joined the army in 1976, served in B squadron 22 SAS for nine years and commanded the legendary Bravo Two Zero patrol in the Gulf War.
After a fierce firefight, three of the eight men were killed; four were captured; one escaped. McNab was held prisoner for six weeks and relentlessly tortured.
He was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993. He is the author of Bravo Two Zero, the bestselling war memoir of all time, and ten bestselling novels.
Andy Halliday is a former international hockey player and manager of England and Great Britain men’s hockey teams, as well as a former Specialist Firearms Officer at the Met Police. Andy now applies his skills as a coach, facilitator and keynote speaker.
Andy joined the Metropolitan Police when he was 18 years old. Here he developed his policing skills in a pressurised environment of 1980s London. After an initial period on the beat in Tottenham, he became a riot training instructor for seven years before transferring to the tactical Firearms Unit.
Spending more than three decades in pursuit of best practice in high performance environments, Andy understands what it takes to thrive and succeed, as well as the challenges faced by individuals and organisations from teenagers all the way up to executives in large businesses. Andy has been interviewed on many podcasts, talking about topics including growth mindset, stress reframing, learning from mistakes and his experience managing GB men’s hockey team and 30 years policing in London.
