Biography

When the challenges are steep, and the competition fierce, Robyn Benincasa provides individuals and organizations the tools they need to inspire themselves and one another to their greatest heights and to cross their most challenging finish lines.

For the last 20 years, she and her teammates have been competing at the front of the pack in the most unique and compelling classrooms on earth: The jungles of Borneo, the Himalayan peaks of Tibet, the rivers of Fiji, the rainforests of Ecuador and the deserts of Namibia, studying the good, the bad, and the not-so-pretty of Extreme Teamwork. It is through these harrowing, life affirming and often hilarious experiences in the world’s most grueling challenges that she has emerged with her truly unique perspective on what it takes to build the kind of world class teams that succeed against all odds, triumph in the face of adversity and win as one in times of great challenge and change. Robyn accepts full blame for inspiring people to do insane things like climb Mount Kilimanjaro, run their first triathlon, start their own adventure racing teams, hike across the Grand Canyon with a group of Survivors, or start their own businesses. This is, after all, who she is and what she does: Robyn Benincasa inspires people to grab life with one hand, grab their teammates with the other, and to create that special magic that makes all of us better TOGETHER than we ever would have been alone!

Robyn has made an art form of extreme performance by competing and winning at the highest levels of sport and business; her keynotes are powerful, impactful, and packed with practical, real-world takeaways that inspire peak performance and exceptional leadership. As a 20+ year veteran San Diego firefighter, a World Champion Adventure Racer, a 2014 CNN Hero, a Guinness World Record Endurance Kayaker, a best-selling author, and founder of The Project Athena Foundation, Robyn Benincasa *definitely* knows a thing or two about creating Human Synergy, or as Robyn puts it, “That magic that allows groups of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things together.”

Known as an inspirational force for leadership, teambuilding, and extreme performance, her award winning and game-changing keynotes have earned Robyn accolades as one of 2020s World’s Top 50 Keynote Speakers (Real Leaders Magazine), the #1 Female Speaker for Meetings.net, and is one of the Top 10 Speakers featured by Harvard Business Review. For the past 15 years, Robyn’s keynotes have motivated countless teams and received rave reviews from user groups, associations, and Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Starbucks, Walmart, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, HubSpot, Intel, and more.

Robyn’s multi-faceted experience inspires people to grab life with one hand, grab their teammates with the other, and to achieve audacious goals that they could never accomplish alone. She is the expert that companies call on to build world class teams, inspire peak performance and create a culture of champions. Robyn has successfully translated the lessons learned from extreme team sports to the corporate world, with compelling keynotes that show how groups of ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things together.

Grab ahold of your seats! Robyn’s incredible stories and breathtaking footage of extreme teams in action is an invigorating thrill ride that will leave you energized.

Speech Topics

Adapt, Overcome, and Win as One!

Virtual Keynote* * available for virtual & in-person events

Get Ready to Win YOUR Most Challenging Races… Add the Inspirational Force of Leadership and Performance to Your Next Event!

If there’s one thing we can all be certain of right now, it’s that change is the only thing that’s going to stay the same. It’s our response to that change that dictates our success. So how do we as leaders inspire the kind of mindset and build the kind of teams that drive our organizations to adapt, overcome and win as ONE in the face of times of extreme challenge and change?

This unique and fast-paced multimedia keynote is inspired by a Fast Company Magazine feature story entitled “Extreme Teamwork” about Robyn’s World Champion Adventure Racing team. Robyn shares the Secrets to Extreme Teamwork that allowed her team to be the most prolific and consistent World Champions in the sport, lessons that are easily applied to the adventures in our business lives. Their team culture of innovation, visionary creativity, relentless lead building, and embracing calculated risk as a strategy for success made them one of the most exciting and successful teams in the history of adventure sports, and in Robyn’s Adapt, Overcome, and Win as One keynote, she shares the mindset and strategies that created their consistent breakthrough performance.

AND Each Virtual Keynote includes a full super experienced tech team on Robyn’s end to ensure everyone’s success in creating the magic! You book the event, and our team makes you look like a rockstar. (This keynote is customizable for 30-60 minute talks.)

Building World Class Teams: The 8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy

What do the world’s most successful teams have in common? — If your goal is to increase performance by inspiring your team to adapt, overcome, and win as ONE, this keynote is the perfect message to set the tone for your event.

Robyn Benincasa takes your team on a fast-paced multimedia adventure which visually and viscerally imparts the attitude and mindset that allows groups of ordinary people to accomplish truly extraordinary feats together… especially when the stakes are high, the goals are audacious, and constant change is the only thing your team can count on (aside from one another!).

During her “8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy” keynote, this World Champion Adventure Racer, CNN Hero and San Diego Firefighter has attendees buzzing with inspired ideas about how to raise their team to the next level (against all odds), both personally and professionally. And your team will take home simple and easily applied skills that allow them to create Human Synergy with all of the teammates in their lives.

There is an old proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The epic, entertaining and meaningful stories and videos shared in Robyn’s “Building World Class Teams” keynote leaves your team with a deep understanding: with true Human Synergy they will go farther AND faster in pursuit of their goals!

The 8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy

• Total commitment
• Empathy and Awareness
• Adversity Management
• Mutual Respect
• ‘We’ Thinking
• Ownership of the Project
• Relinquishment of Ego
• Kinetic Leadership

Leading Through Change

Change is the only thing that stays the same. It is our response to that change that dictates our success. How do
the world’s most consistently high performing leaders ALWAYS find a way to get their teammates to the finish line and achieve their goals against all odds? Are they lucky, blessed or immune to setbacks? Nope. Great leaders experience times of great turbulence, challenge and change in every aspect of their lives–but it is their attitude and mindset that carries them and their teammates to greater heights in the FACE of that change.

Leading through Change means Being Ruled by the Hope of Success versus the Fear of Failure, Embracing Setbacks as a Chance to Learn and Excel, and Never Letting the Pursuit of Perfection Hinder Progress. In her Leading Through Change keynote, Robyn shares incredible stories and videos from the worlds of Adventure Racing and Firefighting that illustrate how great leaders succeed against all odds and triumph in the face of adversity.

Robyn’s stories and meaningful messages will not only entertain and amaze…your attendees will walk away with some easily applied leadership skills that will help them shatter the norm, see challenges versus roadblocks, and inspire their teammates to once again see a future full of possibilities…

Why Winners Win

Inspired by a Fast Company Magazine article entitled ‘Extreme Teamwork,’ which featured Robyn’s team of World Champion adventure athletes as well as “Winners” from all walks of life, Robyn’s ‘Why Winners Win’ keynote outlines the common traits, attitudes and mindset of the world’s most consistently high performing leaders in their eternal pursuit of world class results.

The ‘Best of the Best’ experience times of great challenge and change just like everyone else. But with characteristic Courage, Luck (Opportunity + Preparation), Adversity Management Skills, and a keen ability to create Synergy with their colleagues, Winners possess the ability to continually motivate and inspire themselves and those around them to the top of the podium in any endeavor.

The icing on the cake of the ‘Why Winners Win’ keynote? Attendees will experience the thrill of peak performance and exceptional leadership through Robyn’s incredible stories and breathtaking video footage of extreme teams in action. They will leave energized and empowered to create consistent world-class results in every aspect of their lives