Robyn Benincasa Speaker Biography
Top Leadership and Teamwork Motivational Speaker, Adventure Racing World Champion, CNN Hero, and Bestselling Author
Robyn Benincasa is the founder of World Class Teams. She is also a world champion adventure racer and a CNN Hero. Furthermore, she is a former corporate sales expert and a full-time firefighter. Robyn advises organizations on building their own World Class Teams. As a highly rated motivational speaker, she often shares the stage with global leaders. Her clients include Starbucks, Deloitte, and Microsoft. With a marketing background, she previously worked in corporate sales. Currently, she serves as a full-time firefighter. Robyn is a World Champion Eco-Challenge Adventure Racer and a three-time Guinness World Record distance paddler. Moreover, she is the founder of the Project Athena Foundation. Despite having two bionic hips, Robyn understands Human Synergy. This “magic” enables ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things together. Her New York Times bestseller, How Winning Works, is praised for its team-focused approach to challenges.
Leadership Insights from Extreme Teamwork
For two decades, Robyn and her teams have competed at the forefront of extreme races. These unique classrooms span the jungles of Borneo and the Himalayas of Tibet. They also include the rivers of Fiji and the deserts of Namibia. Through these experiences, she has studied teamwork’s highs and lows. She has mastered the skills to inspire exhausted individuals. They pursue seemingly impossible goals under tight deadlines. These challenges occur in constantly changing conditions. This mirrors the life of a business leader.
The Power of Teamwork for Achieving Goals
Through harrowing and often hilarious experiences in grueling challenges, Robyn gained a unique perspective on building World Class Teams. These teams succeed against all odds. They triumph in adversity and win as one during challenging times. Whether facing market competition or scaling projects, Robyn’s 8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy guide teams to success.
Founder of Project Athena: Inspiring Comebacks
“It’s not about the setback, it’s about the comeback!” Robyn Benincasa became a CNN Hero in 2014 for founding the Project Athena Foundation. This non-profit helps women survivors achieve adventurous dreams. Project Athena has supported hundreds in initiatives like trekking the Grand Canyon. They also kayak and cycle from Key Largo to Key West. The foundation provides resources and encouragement. This vital support helps survivors transition to athletes.
Media Recognition of an Inspiring Motivational Speaker
NBC, CNN, ESPN, and Vogue have featured Robyn and her teams’ achievements. She inspires people to undertake incredible feats. These include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and starting adventure racing teams. Robyn encourages individuals to embrace life and teamwork. She fosters the special magic that makes us better together.
Robyn Benincasa Speaking Topics
T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.: The 8 Essential Elements of a World Class Team Culture
How can your company’s team members operate like world-class teammates who collectively rise to challenges using human synergy? That’s the term Robyn Benincasa coined to describe the magic that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things together through a deeply connected team culture that ensures consistent peak performance by capitalizing on the collective strength of the team. Based on her New York Times bestseller, Robyn’s flagship keynote takes leaders and teams on an immersive journey from being individual team members to becoming great teammates with the tools and inspiration to build their own world class teams in every aspect of their lives. Attendees will discover that achieving consistent peak performance doesn’t result from reaching up and simply trying harder as an individual. Just as in mountaineering, reaching the summit successfully involves reaching OUT—figuratively “roping up” to other people; sharing your strengths, and equally importantly, your challenges. Accepting help from a teammate isn’t a permanent state or sign of weakness, it’s a gift to the team. And it’s how you win. When everyone on the team leaves their ego at the start line in pursuit of your organization’s highest purpose, there’s no finish line you can’t cross together.
Win as ONE! Achieving Breakthrough Performance Through Collaboration, Creativity and a Culture of One!
Whether something is changing in your business or industry, what’s your approach: do you see a challenge as a threat or an opportunity? As leaders, our response can drive our organization to adapt, overcome and win through a mindset of relentless success through connection, calculated risk taking, and collaboration. In this unique, authentic and fast-paced multimedia keynote, Robyn shares the essential elements of world class performance that allowed her adventure racing team to overcome known and unexpected challenges to become the sport’s most prolific and consistent world champions. They weren’t the fastest team. Yet they discovered smarter, better and more efficient ways through the course through fierce teamwork and innovation, using their resources in game-changing ways, and sharing challenges and strengths from start to finish. This winning strategy applies seamlessly to the epic adventure your business is on—no mud, blood or sweaty gear required.
Why Winners Win: The Game-changing Mindset for Next-level Success
What are the common attributes of people who make a lifelong habit of winning and succeeding against all odds? Drawing inspiration from Robyn’s team of world champion adventure athletes and winners from all walks of life, this inspiring and practical keynote dissects the traits, skills and attitudes behind the world’s most consistent high performers. The best of the best experience uncertainty and obstacles like everyone else. Yet they reach great heights through characteristic courage, adversity management, a keen ability to create synergy with their colleagues, and the ability to continuously inspire themselves and others. And yes, luck (opportunity + preparation): their level of preparation allows winners to discover and capitalize on opportunities.
Inspiring Greatness Through G.R.I.T: Igniting the Passion and Perseverance to Pursue the Impossible
What inspires us with drive, perseverance and resilience to pursue goals that seem impossible, and achieve world class results in times of great change and challenge? We create this greatness in ourselves and our teammates through GRIT, a magical combination of: • GUTS • RESPECT for our teammates and the mission • INNOVATION • TEAMWORK that makes us “sticky” to our goals and dreams. In this keynote, Robyn shares real secrets to her teams’ success over 20 years of leading the pack in adventure racing and as a firefighter. Much of our drive comes from our connection to something greater than ourselves: the passion we have for an inspired mission, the respect for a team whose success is inextricably tied to ours, and the clients whose lives we will touch. Audiences leave Robyn’s keynote with a deep understanding of how to create GRIT in yourself and your team. Most importantly, you’ll be on a mission to inspire GRIT in everyone who is lucky enough to know you—the kind of leader that helps others climb their tallest peaks, fight their biggest fires, and cross their most challenging finish lines.
Robyn Benincasa Books
How Winning Works: 8 Essential Leadership Lessons from the Toughest Teams on Earth
Purchase BookRobyn Benincasa Videos
Robyn Benincasa Articles
Robyn Benincasa Speaker Testimonials
"The Dwyer Group has celebrated 33 annual reunions and this year’s was a record turnout with a World Class keynote speaker. Robyn Benincasa really moved our franchisees forward with her real-life stories and the message that 'nobody wins alone.' Thanks to Robyn’s desire to inspire we are a better company!"
- | The Dwyer Group, Inc.
“You definitely helped us strengthen the core of our leaders and made such a positive impact. We’re grateful for your contribution to our conference.”
- Tastefully Simple | Theresa Moberg, Vice President of Training & Development
“Hi Robyn, thank you so much for presenting at our meeting yesterday in Philly. You were a big hit with everyone and are truly an inspiration. Your energy and enthusiasm hit the mark.”
- Laboratory Products Association | Clark Mulligan
“Robyn – thank you for supporting our S4 Keynote on Tuesday. I had a chance to read some of the feedback and speak to the attendees and they were very positive on your presentation. You did a great job aligning the message to our Enterprise Sales strategy as well—one team, coming together and helping each other to win. We even had people using some of your quotes to describe business challenges!”
- Worldwide Specialist Sales | John Jester, Vice President
