Are you looking for adventure? Great stories? Leadership advice?
This October, the SafeStart Forum opening keynote speaker will bring all of that and more to Tennessee. Jamie Clarke has spent his life operating in environments where there is little margin for error and he knows too well that the consequences of human factors are immediate, visible, and unforgiving.
To give you a bit of background, Jamie is a Canadian mountaineer, world-class adventurer, entrepreneur, and performance coach who has been a sought-after speaker for over 25 years. Jamie reached Mount Everest’s death zone summit twice (in 1997 and 2010). He’s trekked 1,000 miles across the most inhospitable desert on the planet (crossing the barren Empty Quarter by camel). And he is one of the few alpinists to reach the Seven Summits—the highest peak on each of the seven traditional continents (Kilimanjaro–Africa, Elbrus–Europe, Aconcagua–South America, Carstensz Pyramid–Oceania/Australia, Denali–North America, Vinson Massif–Antarctica and Everest–Asia).
Jamie also launched and ran a retail operation for 14 years and he was the founder and CEO of an e-commerce start-up. You better believe he’s going to use his adventuring and business experience to keep you on the edge during his keynote. And let us tell you, storytellers don’t get any closer to the edge of human experience than he does.
His keynote, entitled “The Map is Not the Terrain: Charting a New Course for Leadership”, will take you into the mindset of what can be done in the face of uncertainty. He’ll talk about what it’s like when you have the map, but it just doesn’t make sense in relation to the terrain in front of you. Jamie has been quoted as saying, “Uncertainty leads to indecision. Indecision leads to fear. Fear leads to chaos. Chaos ends in failure. Always.” Jamie will chart the way to the importance of building team cultures that don’t shrink from uncertainty. Instead, they succeed when others fail.
Jamie builds all of his worldly experience into his keynote. With an infectious sense of humor and palpable, authentic passion, Jamie challenges his audiences to think differently about success, failure, hard work and fear.
And Jamie’s keynote is just the beginning of the remarkable programming planned for the 2026 SafeStart Forum, which is a highly curated, interactive experience designed to have a lasting, positive impact on your safety perspective. To learn more about the keynote and speakers at the SafeStart Forum in Franklin, TN, this October, visit safestartforum.com. Early-bird registration goes live on June 1!