BIOGRAPHY
Jim is an accomplished polar explorer and incident leadership expert with over 25 years experience of Arctic expeditions. He has worked in the environmental science sector, trained army personnel to use mountains safely and until 2006 was a fire safety officer to the royal household.

Since 2001 Jim has focused full-time on being a professional explorer. Every year his Ice Warrior Project trains a group of volunteers to become competent polar travelers and carry out purposeful scientific explorations of the coldest and most remote regions of our planet. Jim explains the relevance of this training for business:
“Inevitably, in developing people for these operations, we stand as role models for successful businesses, taking the lessons we learn about leadership and team performance into the corporate boardroom.”

His guiding, survival and logistics expertise is now also employed by BBC film crews on location in extreme environments. In 2006 Jim was ITV News’ own “Ice Warrior”, reporting the reality of climate change directly from the Arctic Ocean to audiences around the globe. The story will continue on ITV next year as he attempts the last, so far unattained, World First in polar expeditioning ‐ to be the first person to reach the very centre of the Arctic Ocean - the Arctic Pole.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKING
Jim is an extremely versatile individual who is able to draw on his experiences in business, incident leadership and exploration to give fascinating insights into leadership, team dynamics, risk and performance as well as informative presentations on climate change.

Jim believes that ordinary people, with the right set of characteristics, the right attitude and trained in the right way can achieve quite extraordinary things. Throughout his career he has selected, trained and led teams in a variety of situations; in key business situations, where the reputation and share value of corporations is won and lost on strategic and tactical media relations; in critical life saving situations, where effective leadership and hands on teamwork are key to preserving the lives of car crash victims; and in life-threatening situations in extreme environments, where he’s faced multiple risks over long periods of time. Jim thrives on challenge and change. He has a passion for leadership and getting the very best performance out of individuals and teams, at any level.

WHAT OTHERS SAY...
“Jim McNeill offers his audience an entertaining and fascinating insight into his truly remarkable adventures.  His courage, unyielding determination and dedication to achieving the seemingly impossible left all those in the room feeling humbled and inspired.  Any business serious about success should hear his message.” 

Sue Thexton – Managing Director, ITN Source

“The presentation Jim gave (to my marketing leadership group) was nothing less than inspirational. He combined an authoritative blend of raw experience with practical coaching on leadership skills which has further energised an already highly motivated group of senior executives. We plan to bring him back and extend our learning with him to our wider team.”
Jon Geldart, Director of Marketing, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP