Speaker
Unconventional by nature. Commercial by necessity.
Keynote. Workshop. Mentoring.
I work with owner-managed businesses to build commercially-focused leadership teams, whether you’re planning to exit in three years or you just want a business that can run without you.
Every engagement is anchored to The Uncharted Framework™ and focused on commercial outcomes, not abstract leadership theory.
The Corporate Adventurer
Dare to be Different
The keynote that opens doors and feeds everything else.
I share key parts of the story fishing boat at 16, 200 cold calls a day, gambling the house on a business and selling it to private equity, rowing the Atlantic with a crew that had to perform when I wasn’t there to lead them.
Your audience doesn’t just hear an adventure story. They leave with The Uncharted Framework™ — Dream, Plan, Execute, Evolve — and tools they can use on Monday.
**Ideal for:** Leadership events, sales kickoffs, Vistage/EO chapters, owner-managed business networks.
**What they leave with:** Practical frameworks, commercial thinking tools, and stories that prove the principles work under real pressure — not just theory that sounds good in a boardroom.
Dare to be Different — The Workshop
A natural follow-on from the keynote, going deeper into the same territory — but tailored to the specific challenges your leadership team faces.
We work through The Uncharted Framework™ together. Assess where your team is across sixteen components. Identify the commercial gaps costing you in retention, valuation, and the founder’s time.
And build personal leadership playbooks — practical tools each person can use immediately to think more commercially, lead more independently, and perform under pressure.
**Typical format:** Half-day, 12–20 participants, highly interactive and outcomes-focused.
**What they leave with:** Tools they use this week, not notes they file away.
1:1 Owner Mentoring
For owners who are serious about preparing their business — and their leadership team — for exit, scale, or independence.
We start with an assessment across The Uncharted Framework™ to understand where you are and what needs to change. Then we get to work.
I challenge existing behaviour. I ask you to accept accountability. And I help you build the kind of leadership team that makes your business genuinely worth buying — not just operationally strong, but commercially confident and independently capable.
**Current client work:** Developing a leadership team for an owner ahead of a PE exit to increase valuation through commercially-focused team independence.
**Typical engagement:** 6–12 months, monthly or fortnightly sessions, focused on Dream → Plan → Execute → Evolve.
Inspiring, Motivating and Developing Young People
His own background, rejecting academic schooling and entering the workforce at 16, can be viewed as both a cautionary tale and a very real illustration of how much young people need to be able to consider many different ways to start their adult lives in a safe and supported way.
Matt speaks to these groups in a frank and honest way, listening to their questions, empathising with the difficulties facing them and illustrating how his own journey could have gone terribly wrong, but also reassuring them that exam results won’t dictate the success or failure for their whole life, they are stepping stones to help them evaluate and develop their own journey. He emphasises the importance of empathy, compassion and kindness, to themselves and to others.
He will always adhere to the protocols required and is very conscious of the danger of making it seem that an alternative route into adulthood is easier than staying at school.
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