Intro
High Performance. Leadership. Adventure.
Nathan Fa’avae ONZM is a seven-time Adventure Racing World Champion, entrepreneur and one of New Zealand's most experienced adventure athletes.
For more than 30 years he has been exploring what enables people and teams to perform at their best , through elite sport, outdoor education, leadership and business.
Intro
High Performance. Leadership. Adventure.
Nathan Fa’avae ONZM is a seven-time Adventure Racing World Champion, entrepreneur and one of New Zealand's most experienced adventure athletes.
For more than 30 years he has been exploring what enables people and teams to perform at their best , through elite sport, outdoor education, leadership and business.
Nathan Fa’avae has spent more than 30 years exploring what enables people and teams to perform at their best.
His career has crossed some very different worlds. He worked for many years in outdoor education, including as an instructor at Outward Bound; became a professional athlete and seven-time Adventure Racing World Champion; and has spent more than three decades building businesses, leading teams and creating sporting events.
Adventure Racing has provided an extraordinary environment for learning about high performance. Racing non-stop for days through remote and demanding terrain puts people under pressure, strips away comfort and exposes how teams really function. Success requires leadership, trust, preparation, resilience, adaptability, good decision-making and a shared commitment to the goal.
Nathan's business career began in his twenties when he established a sea kayaking company in Abel Tasman National Park, later winning a New Zealand Small Business Award. He went on to found Ten Events Limited and Real Meals, while continuing to compete internationally at the highest level of adventure sport.
Across those experiences, the environments have been very different, but many of the lessons have been remarkably similar.
Set ambitious goals. Build great teams. Prepare well. Take ownership. Adapt when things change. Keep learning. And enjoy the adventure along the way.
Adventure
It’s about the Adventure
Adventure
It’s about the Adventure
The secret is in the adventure
Nathan has spent much of his life climbing, biking, paddling, skiing and hiking his way around New Zealand and the globe.
Adventure has never just been about competition. It's a way of life, a source of challenge, learning, perspective, connection and fun.
Nathan has sea kayaked in more than 15 countries, crossed Cook Strait nine times, explored the remote waters of Fiordland and Stewart Island, paddled Class 5 whitewater and completed first descents. Adventure racing has taken him to more than 30 countries and into some of the wildest and most remote environments on the planet.
Closer to home, life isn't much quieter. Depending on the season, you'll find Nathan sea kayaking, surf ski paddling, mountain biking, trail running, hunting, kiteboarding or heading into the mountains on skis. Many of those adventures are shared with his family.
After a lifetime of seeking out challenge and uncertainty, Nathan believes some of life's most valuable lessons are found through adventure, getting outside, being curious, accepting that things won't always go to plan, and discovering what you're capable of along the way.
I'd then put the Paul Harris Fellow paragraph somewhere else. It doesn't belong under The secret is in the adventure. It's a worthwhile credential, but it interrupts what is otherwise a coherent story.
I also really like the title “The secret is in the adventure.” It's warmer and more personal than the high-performance material elsewhere on the site. It shows another side of you and subtly reinforces one of the ideas that comes through in your speaking: achievement matters, but so does actually enjoying the journey.