After this talk, your audience will make better decisions around risk, take ownership and build trust across teams.
Risk is part of every environment where decisions matter. It cannot be avoided, only understood, managed and owned. When it isn’t, uncertainty grows, accountability weakens and trust begins to break down.
Pete draws on his experience of operating in high-stakes environments to explore how individuals and teams can approach risk with clarity and confidence. He shows how clear boundaries and simple decision frameworks enable better judgement, how responsibility must sit at every level, and how trust, built through consistent action, becomes the foundation for performance when the pressure is on.
Pete’s understanding of risk, responsibility and trust comes from environments where decisions carry real consequence, not just for outcomes, but for people.
In these conditions, risk cannot be avoided. It must be understood, managed and acted on with clarity. Responsibility is shared and demonstrated through action, and trust becomes the foundation that allows teams to move forward with confidence.
These experiences shape how Pete approaches this subject in his talks, offering a way to define boundaries, take ownership and perform when it matters most.
A 12,000-mile voyage around the world in a traditional wooden boat without modern systems and unpredictable conditions.
Lesson: risk is managed through clarity, consistency and shared responsibility over time.
A distress call forced an immediate decision: continue racing, or turn back into the storm.
Lesson: leadership means taking responsibility, especially when the outcome is uncertain.
Hear Pete discuss the relationship between risk, leadership, and project preparation, and how challenging the norm requires careful management rather than recklessness.
Equip your leaders to take responsibility and act with clarity in complex situations.
A 12,000-mile voyage from Cornwall to Australia in a 37ft traditional wooden lugger, built from scratch and sailed in the wake of seven Cornishmen who made the same journey over 150 years earlier.
For Pete, this was not about competition or speed. It was about stepping back, building something by hand, understanding it completely, and then trusting it in one of the most demanding environments on earth.
The boat itself was as close to the original as possible. Built using traditional materials and methods, with fallen Cornish oak forming the frames, she was designed to reflect the spirit of the original Mystery while incorporating only essential safety considerations. There were no modern navigation systems. Progress depended on the stars, the weather and constant judgement.
Life on board was very different from Pete’s previous racing experiences. Instead of speed and efficiency, the focus shifted to sustainability and balance, managing energy, maintaining morale and making steady progress over long periods of time. Conditions were often unpredictable, and decisions had to be made continuously: when to push on, when to ease back, and how best to protect both the vessel and the crew.
The journey took over four months, with a stop in Cape Town before continuing across the Southern Ocean, an environment known for its relentless conditions. Without the pressure of competition, every decision came back to responsibility. Responsibility for the people on board, for the boat itself, and for completing the journey safely.
What emerged was a very different kind of challenge. Not a single defining moment, but a constant test of consistency, judgement and trust.
In the middle of the Southern Ocean, one of the most hostile environments on earth, Pete received a distress call from fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli. His boat was sinking in hurricane-force winds, with seas building and conditions deteriorating rapidly.
Pete knew immediately what it meant. Turning back would cost him the race. Continuing forward would almost certainly cost another man his life.
Without hesitation, he turned his boat around.
For two days, Pete sailed back into the storm, navigating through 80mph winds and mountainous seas, searching for a life raft in an ocean the size of a continent. When he finally reached Dinelli, he found him barely alive, having spent 48 hours in freezing conditions.
Bringing him onboard was only the beginning. Dinelli was suffering from severe hypothermia and unable to move. Pete became his carer as well as his rescuer, keeping him warm, feeding him, and helping him slowly recover as they continued the race together.
That decision, made alone, under pressure, with no certainty of outcome, defined far more than the race itself.
Pete was later awarded the MBE and the Légion d’Honneur for his actions. But for him, the lesson is simpler.
When it matters most, leadership is responsibility. People come first. Always.
