INSPIRATIONAL TALKS
Live and virtual keynote talks to raise aspirationsInspirational Talks
From a council estate in Glasgow to the summit of Everest — Ricky Munday tells a true story of failure, resilience and following your dreams that lands with any audience. Book him live or virtually to raise aspirations, build mental toughness, and send your people away believing more is possible.
Chartered Accountant · Qualified Mountain Leader · Churchill Fellow · Everest summiteer · Director of Finance at a £100m global humanitarian charity · former Director of Corporate Services, British Antarctic Survey
“Follow Your Dreams”
Ricky’s illustrated keynote follows his journey from a Glasgow council estate to the top of the world, and the adversity he faced and overcame along the way. He shares the lessons of turning back below the death zone on Everest in 2017 — when he coordinated the evacuation of a seriously injured team-mate — and how he used them to summit in 2018. He tailors it to 30–60 minutes with time for Q&A, and brings real high-altitude kit to bring the story to life.
The talk is tailored to who’s in the room.
Choose your audience to see formats, fees and feedback.
For business & organisations
Conferences, away-days, leadership and team events — resilience and performance under pressure.
For schools & young people
Assemblies and workshops that raise aspirations and build growth mindset, for primary and secondary.
In their words.
“Your ability to tell the story authentically and with humility brings your adventures powerfully to life. We salute you.”
Matt SmithHead of Public Sector, Citrix UK&I
“I would unequivocally recommend Ricky to be a guest speaker at any school looking for someone to deliver a speech that could make a difference to young people.”
Pauline CarrHeadteacher, King’s Park Secondary School
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“This was a truly memorable talk from an extraordinary man. Ricky’s story is straight from the heart; he is disarmingly honest about the hurdles he has had to overcome, and that still exist. His achievements are immense but there is no sense of bravado in how he talks about them; humility and passion for what he does. It’s quite evident that he had us all enthralled, and inspired.”
Barrie Laurie - Partner, French Duncan
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“Ricky delivered a truly inspirational talk to ICAS staff. Tales about his experience of reaching the summit of Mount Everest and the triumphs of pulling together as a team were perfect for inspiring achievement. Ricky left us motivated to set goals, work towards them with a laser focus, and try again if we don’t first succeed."
Keith Watson - Communications Director, ICAS
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“I set the Ricky the task of speaking to the team on challenging themselves in times of adversity. Amazing how many synergies there were to Ricky’s incredible Everest ascent that can be applied to every day business life. The team were in awe of what he had to say - thanks again for inspiring my team!”
Cameron Wade - Global Vice President, Keyloop
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“We were very lucky to welcome Ricky back to Deloitte to share his story with the team. Ricky’s story is fascinating, thought-provoking and inspiring - as is his work with his social enterprise Inspire Alpine. I would thoroughly recommend speaking to Ricky if your looking for someone to motivate your team to make the best of themselves whatever their age or background.”
Kevin Johnson - Partner, Deloitte
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"An inspiration - both as a speaker and as a fellow human being. Great stories, factual and informative but pitched appropriate for the audience. So pleased you finally made it to the top of Everest - can't wait for the next talk to hear all about it."
Philippa Kennard - Programme Director, NERC
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"We all enjoyed listening to Ricky's back story leading to Everest. His determination to achieve his life goal is a true inspiration. It gave us all a real insight into overcoming adversity and how to keep focused on your end goal. If you want something enough you can make it happen. In addition to this, his ability to tell the story authentically and with humility brings his adventures powerfully to life.
Matt Smith - UK & Ireland Sales Director, Citrix
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"Thanks Ricky for a superb talk at our client event. What's interesting to me is how relevant Ricky's talk is to so many people. Our audience of business owners were inspired and entertained, but equally one of the actions I took down was for me to introduce Ricky to my local high school where my kids go. Ricky's message is, in my view, critical for young kids to hear too."
Alan Smith - Business Coach, ActionCOACH
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"We are a smaller school group in a specialist provision. Many lack resilience and motivation. You could literally hear a pin drop. Ricky pitched his presentation perfectly and everyone enjoyed. The pupils still talk about him! Truly inspirational."
Fiona Milligan - Hillpark Secondary School
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"Wow! What a fantastic way to spend a Monday morning. Our students were mesmerised by the stories of perseverance and resilience to summit Everest and complete the Marathon des Sables. The messages that failure is part of the learning journey and anything is possible couldn't have been clearer. I couldn't recommend Ricky highly enough"
Sarah Campbell - Headteacher, Settlebeck School
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"There's talks, then there's a truly spellbinding talk from Ricky Munday. Still reeling from hearing it at Bohunt Trust INSET day yesterday."
Ben Wilcox - Assistant Head, Bohunt Wokingham
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"Ricky's story on scaling Everest is inspiring in itself, but even more so, was the theme of tenacity after falling off his life wagons and just getting back on again. And again. And again. Just brilliant. Look out for the work Ricky does with young people to help them find their purpose and realise potential ."
Julie Diver - Founder, 39steps
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"You could literally hear a pin drop as our pupils listened with complete fascination to Ricky's amazing, inspirational adventure proving that determination and never giving up helps achieve dreams. We absolutely loved having Ricky visit and was amazing to see how engaged and how inquisitive our pupils were with his adventures. You never know, you may have inspired the next future generation of explorers!"
Lynne Scott - Sandwood School
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"A truly inspiring talk by Ricky, enjoyed by students and staff alike. Ricky was able to engage with even the most challenging students because he was very 'real'. This is not a story about something that has just come easily but a dream achieved through hard work and determination. Now more than ever, young people are needing to learn to be resilient and look after both their mental and physical well-being. I would highly recommend booking this talk as it will apply to anyone, whatever stage they are at in life."
Chantal Dean - Assistant Head Teacher, Pewsey Vale School
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"Ricky delivered an inspirational lecture to our 4th year students, awesome advice and very clear messages delivered in an engaging manner. A first class service provided by someone who wants to make a difference for society."
Craig McLaughlin - Associate Dean, University of Strathclyde
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"Ricky's talk to 170 staff about following our dreams and overcoming obstacles in the Marathon des Sables and his Everest attempts had us all totally gripped from start to finish. Feedback from staff has been tremendous and everyone so appreciated Ricky's openness and honesty about how he had overcome the various obstacles during his life and achieved such fantastic things. Had we all been in the same room, it would have been "pin drop" quiet - as it was, the comments on the Teams chat expressed everyone's appreciation of this incredible story."
Sarah Burwood - Health Improvement, Public Health England
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"Yesterday we enjoyed a great day helping clients plan what they need to do in the next 90 days...mindshifts galore. We were priveleged to have Ricky enthrall us with his journey to date. You could hear a pin drop at some points. His tales of his epic experiences and finding his purpose really resonated.
Yvonne Webb - Business Coach
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"Ricky attended an induction session for the BA Accountancy students at Glasgow Caledonian University, he gave them an incredibly inspiring talk. He discussed how he had progressed through his career and then spent sometime discussing his Everest adventures. Both students and staff were mesmerised and inspired by him. I would not hesitate to recommend him!"
Wendy Mazzucco - Senior Lecturer, Glasgow Caledonian University
“The key themes include perseverance, building resilience, goal-setting and overcoming adversity.”
Tell Ricky about your event.
He’ll tailor the talk to your audience and theme. Book a free 15-minute discovery call to get started, or email talks@rickymunday.com.
The Everest Package — go the whole way.
One measured corporate journey: an inspirational talk, a virtual challenge, an outdoor challenge and full Mental Toughness coaching — bookended by MTAP assessments, so you can prove the change, not just feel it.
How can Ricky inspire YOUR audience?
Ricky is an expert in Mental Toughness, resilience & living with purpose. He speaks at over 100 events every year to inspire audiences to raise their aspirations. In his acclaimed multimedia keynote Follow Your Dreams talk, Ricky describes his incredible journey from growing up a council estate in Glasgow to reaching the top of the world on his successful ascent of Mount Everest in 2018.
Alcohol, arrests & mental health
During his journey, he faced and overcame adversity & mental health challenges; childhood sexual abuse, low self-esteem & substance abuse, being arrested twice, dropping out of University twice, and being made redundant during his professional accountancy training.
Redundancy & the Marathon des Sables
Ricky overcame redundancy by entering & completing the Marathon des Sables - a 150-mile ultramarathon in the Sahara desert known as the ‘toughest footrace on earth’ - an experience that transformed his mindset and gave him the courage & self-belief to follow his own dreams.
Ricky speaks at over 100 business & school events every year to inspire audiences to raise their aspirations. He's a Chartered Accountant, award-winning social entrepreneur, Mountain Leader, and Churchill Fellow.
Triple 7 Summits project
He has since completed over 30 mountaineering expeditions to the greater ranges in his ongoing quest to become the first Brit, and second person in history, to climb the Triple 7 Summits, the three highest peaks on every continent.
Humanitarian aid
After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2005, he left corporate banking to spend six years deployed with the Red Cross in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, where he discovered his true purpose; helping the most vulnerable people.
Whistleblowing & Rescue on Everest
In 2014 he became the youngest ever member of the executive team at the UK’s national polar research organisation. Three years later he blew the whistle on fraud & corruption, shortly before attempting Everest. He turned back just back below the Death Zone on Everest due to low energy levels, but coordinated the successful evacuation of a seriously injured team-mate from Chinese Base Camp.
Everest Summit Success
On his return from Everest - as a result of his whistleblowing - his role became untenable, which had a profound impact on his mental health. With the support of a brilliant counsellor, family & friends, he bounced back to reach the summit of Everest in May 2018.
Inspire Alpine - closing the Attainment Gap
Shortly after climbing Everest, Ricky founded an award-winning social enterprise to help close the attainment gap faced by disadvantaged young people, and is now a sought after speaker. He has since led thousands of clients to the summits of the UK's highest peaks & on international high-altitude trekking expeditions.
His story exemplifies a Growth Mindset. He’s currently Director of Finance at a £100m global humanitarian charity.
He’s also a licensed Mental Toughness Practitioner and appears regularly in the print & broadcast media as a high-altitude expert.
You can read first-person accounts of the climbs and the hard roads that shaped him in The Journal.
Get in touch now to raise your team's aspirations
