"BRUCE WAS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR"
THEN DO
BE FIRST
UNLOCKING THE POWER OF IDENTITY-BASED GROWTH
FOR INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS AND LEADERS
FACING CHANGE AND CHALLENGE
MOST PUSH HARDER
THE BEST BECOME MORE
In today’s era of CONSTANT CHANGE and BRUISING WORKLOADS, it is easy to fall into THE DOING TRAP—an endless cycle of checking boxes and chasing results that leads to exhaustion, disengagement and teams operating FAR SHORT OF THEIR TRUE POTENTIAL.
Bruce Kirkby teaches audiences how to close that gap by changing not WHAT THEY DO, but WHO THEY ARE. Like a thermostat set point, we each carry an invisible IDENTITY ANCHOR—and no matter how hard we try, we cannot outperform it. If we are seeking high performance and results that stick, we first have to raise the anchor.
Through stories of REMARKABLE TRANSFORMATION — a 76-year-old Swiss woman who reinvented her life after one night alone in the Arctic; a family journey halfway around the world with toddlers; his own recovery from a catastrophic back injury to join the world's most prestigious paddling team — Kirkby reveals a counterintuitive truth: ACCOMPLISHMENT IS A TRAILING INDICATOR OF IDENTITY. Raise the identity anchor first, and unimaginable results will follow naturally.
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One of the most talented, respectful and genuinely honest speakers I've ever heard.
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Absolutely Sensational! 100 out of 100.
Energizing.
Impactful.
Actionable.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Raising the Identity Anchor: Learn why motivation and discipline inevitably plateau, and how to instead create lasting growth by shifting focus from what we do to who we are
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The Identity-Based Growth Framework: Deploy a 4-part framework (Care Fiercely, Claim Boldly, Cultivate Humbly, Compound Daily) with immediate personal and organizational application
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Reset the Invisible Thermostat: Identify your current behavioural set point, and learn the simple steps for raising it
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Move Beyond the To-Do List: Build a personalized “To-Be List” instead; a practical tool for redirecting energy towards becoming who you need to be
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Engage The Compounding Effect: Harness the power of small, consistent behaviours, that over time, create the foundation of extraordinary performance
UNBELIEVABLE CUSTOMIZATION!
"
bruce
REASONS
TO BOOK
EXPERIENCE
More than 20 years as
top requested speaker
CUSTOM CRAFTED
Bruce takes the time to learn about your organization and audience, ensuring his messaging supports all key objectives and priorities
ENGAGING
A gifted storyteller who incorporates frequent interaction and reflection, Bruce's presentations are like TED meets NATGEO, with a side of rock concert, featuring stunning video, motion graphics and photography
EXTENDED
APPLICATION
Bruce provides a personalized after-care package that includes a downloadable digital summary with frameworks, reflection questions, and implementation guides.
EASY
Zero Drama. Easy going. Totally flexible. Whatever hiccups occur, Bruce is there to make your event memorable, impactful and successful.
HARNESSING THE POWER OF
IDENTITY-BASED GROWTH
FOR LEADERS
Most leaders manage performance
The best shape IDENTITY
When change stalls, and a team’s results fail to match its potential, the problem is rarely skills, strategy or incentive. It's almost always identity. Bruce Kirkby gives leaders a framework to close that gap—by shifting focus from what their teams do, to who their teams are becoming.
Like a thermostat, every team carries an invisible ‘identity anchor’ — and no matter how much external pressure is applied, they cannot permanently outperform this psychological set point. For performance and results that stick, leaders must raise the team’s collective anchor first.
Through stories spanning the Arctic wilderness, the Golden State Warriors' dynasty-building era, and a 100-day family journey from British Columbia to a Himalayan monastery, Kirkby reveals how accomplishment—what teams instinctively aim for—is a trailing indicator of identity. When the question leaders ask shifts from What does my team need to do differently? to Who does my team need to become?—everything changes.
YOU ABSOLUTELY NAILED IT.
"
OUR ENTIRE LEADERSHIP TEAM IS THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT CHANGE
Key Leadership Takeaways:
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Break the Performance Plateau: Understand why enthusiastic, talented teams plateau, and learn the most powerful lever leaders have to breakthrough
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The Identity-Based Leadership Framework: Deploy a practical 4-part framework (Care Fiercely, Claim Boldly, Cultivate Humbly, Compound Daily) with distinct leadership tools for each pillar
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Reset Your Team’s Thermostat: Identify your group’s current behavioural set point, and learn the steps required to raise it
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Lead Beyond the To-Do List: Build a collective “Team To-Be List”, aligning daily behaviours with organizational purpose, vision, and values
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Engage The Compounding Effect: Harness the power of small, consistent behaviours, that over time, create cultures of extraordinary performance
Also, with 30+ years expedition leadership experience, Bruce offers a unique perspective on
RISK MANAGEMENT &
WORKPLACE SAFETY
PROTECTING GOOD PEOPLE
FROM BAD DECISIONS
Simple, actionable strategies for preventing human-factor failures
Relentless demands, constant distraction, and familiar routines can erode even the strongest site protocols. In safety-critical environments, most incidents occur not because people don’t care but because well-intentioned, experienced workers fall into predictable mental traps: misreading danger, slipping into “autopilot,” and staying silent when something feels off.
Drawing on three decades of leading teams through volatile wilderness environments — avalanches, grizzly encounters, Himalayan mountaineering, and remote river expeditions — Bruce Kirkby delivers a powerful framework for understanding and mitigating the invisible mental shortcuts that can trip up even the most experienced crews. He breaks risk management into a simple two-part model: the physical threat and our human response, revealing the three universal traps that drive real-world errors on site: Risk Radar Malfunction, Cruise Control, and Radio Silence.
The result is a highly entertaining, story-rich keynote packed with practical, easy-to-apply strategies, helping to strengthen situational awareness, reduce complacency, and develop a culture where people speak up long before near-misses become serious incidents.
Key takeaways include:
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A simple two-part risk model that crews can immediately apply.
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Three memorable “human-factor traps” that can be spotted in real time.
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How to calibrate “Risk Radar” to the actual dangers and hazards on site.
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How to prevent complacency (and normalization of deviation) before it leads to an incident.
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Practical tools to break “Radio Silence” and strengthen speaking-up culture.
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A shared vocabulary for supervisors and crews, enabling safer choices without blame or friction.
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Perfect Tone, Perfect Message
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The feedback from our employees has been nothing short of amazing. They were all inspired, and you did a great job of delivering critical safety messages.
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