Mike Pierce

Antarctic Mike works with organizations that want to find, engage and keep the best people.

Expert on

  • Author
  • Employees / Workforce
  • Sales
  • Adventurers
  • Business
  • Teamwork / Teambuilding

Fee Range

$10,000–$15,000

Travels from

CA, US

In Jan 2006, Mike became one of nine people to have run a marathon on the Antarctic continent; 11 months later he returned to Antarctica to become the first American to complete the Antarctic Ultra Marathon, a grueling 100km (62.1 miles). Since then Mike has completed many other winter marathons in the coldest and harshest climates on earth. His stories have been featured on CNN, Sports Illustrated, Fox, ABC, CBS Early Show, ESPN, and many other national and international sources.

OK, you’re thinking: WHY? Surprisingly, it has very little to do with cold weather or sports. Rather, it’s about the disciplines necessary to be successful in difficult situations. Leaders today face the same challenges as those who first conquered Antarctica. The question is this: Are we ready? Leading at 90 Below Zero is all about one thing: Making sure that leaders understand how to help their teams be ready to face any conditions and still thrive. Mike will illustrate from Polar history stories the importance of showcasing your companies opportunity, picking the right people for the expedition, and conditioning and rewarding them so that they have the ability and desire to complete the expedition.

Mike holds his BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder in Marketing and resides in Encinitas, CA with his wife Angela.

LEADING AT 90 BELOW ZERO

Antarctic Mike’s program, Leading at 90 Below Zero, will showcase proven principles and drivers that significantly increase your ability to effectively lead and engage people on your team. You will walk away from this program with specific action items that you can take back to your place of business and implement right away.

What is unique about Mike’s program is how these concepts are delivered. As an avid polar history fan and a two-time polar marathoner, Mike uses history stories from Antarctic expeditions, as well as his own personal adventures there, to showcase the points of the program. He will specifically focus on the leadership of Ernest Shackleton, who in 1914 led 28 men on what is considered one of the greatest undertakings and leadership stories in recorded history.

Shackleton was a master at creating compelling opportunities and getting team members to buy into the leadership principles that enabled the men to complete their expedition despite conditions and circumstances that were beyond terrible. This includes how to thrive under conditions of adversity, sudden and unexpected change, conflict resolution, engaging team members, and facing obstacles beyond ones control. It’s no different than how business teams have to advance and grow, despite circumstances and conditions changing, posing possible threats and needing solid leadership

Here are some examples of what you will learn in Mike’s program that you can take home and implement in your organization immediately:

1. How to engage employees in higher levels of work and productivity.
2. Developing a career roadmap for employees, incorporating what’s important to both the company and the individual.
3. Strengthening employee’s self-confidence and sense of discipline by helping them get to the “WHY.”
4. Enabling people to leverage their talents to their full potential in their respective roles in the organization.
5. Building and maintaining a strong leadership team that inspires their people to higher levels of commitment and productivity.
6. Employees being more engaged, productive and profitable.

About Mike: www.AntarcticMike.com; Mike is an avid polar history fan and has traveled to Antarctica twice, setting multiple records in marathon running. His story of how he trained and prepared for Antarctica in a commercial freezer was seen around the world on news outlets such as CNN, Fox, ABC, Sports Illustrated, LA Times, ESPN, The CBS Early show and many more. This is a high impact program that you and your colleagues will not forget.

THE PENGUIN PRINCIPLE

Antarctic Mike’s program, The Penguin Principles, will once again travel to Antarctica to understand how to build and maintain the strongest and best performing team(s) within your organization. You will walk away from this program with specific action items that you can take back to your place of business and put into play immediately. 

 

The Emperor Penguins are the only creatures that can survive in the harsh climate of Antarctica.  Even through they’re swimmers, they spend most of their life on land marching, and not alone.  Their success and survival depends on teamwork, sacrifice, sharing of difficult responsibilities and a number of other factors that are easy to understand and hard to execute when in the midst of a winter storm. 

 

So too, our teams that we work with each day are subject to a number of factors consistently that make working together easy to understand and hard to do consistently, especially when the conditions are much less than ideal.  

Here are some examples of what you will learn in Mike’s program that you can take away and implement in your organization immediately:

 

  1. Building a stronger bond of trust among individuals, departments and customers.
  2. Redefining and reengaging true sacrifice, understanding why it will get you what you want.
  3. Increasing your people’s ability to respond to change and create change that is necessary.
  4. Developing your team member’s ability stay focused on the task at hand. 
  5. Mastering your team’s ability to communicate with each other, understand and appreciate what others on the team contribute.
  6. Much more! 

 

 

 About Mike: www.AntarcticMike.com; Mike is an avid polar history fan and has traveled to Antarctica twice, setting multiple records in marathon running.  His story of how he trained and prepared for Antarctica in a commercial freezer was seen around the world on news outlets such as CNN, Fox, ABC, Sports Illustrated, LA Times, ESPN, The CBS Early show and many more.  This is a high impact program that you and your colleagues will not forget.

SELLING AT 90 BELOW ZERO

Antarctic Mike’s program, Selling at 90 Below Zero, is based on the famous story of the race to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott.  It will showcase proven principles that will increase your ability to engage your sales team at higher levels.  You will walk away from this program with specific action items that you can implement right away.

 

Here are some examples of what you’ll take away:

 

  1. How to showcase your true value in unique ways to stand out from the competition and the noise.
  2. Create a compelling story to reflect your company’s opportunity and recruit the very best people for the job.
  3. Strengthening sales people’s self-confidence and sense of discipline, making them better hunters.
  4. Develop a plan of action to strengthen sales people’s mental toughness and build better endurance in your team members.
  5. Building and maintaining a strong plan of action that sales people can engage in for the long run.
  6. Bottom Line: Help sales people being more engaged, productive, and profitable.

 

 

What is unique about Mike’s program is how these concepts are delivered.  As an avid polar history fan and a two-time polar marathoner, Mike uses history stories from Antarctic expeditions, as well as his own personal adventures there, to showcase the points of the program.  He will specifically focus on the story of the race to the South Pole in 1911-1912. It is one of the most amazing stories in recorded history.  

 

About Mike: www.AntarcticMike.com; Mike is an avid polar history fan and has traveled to Antarctica twice, setting multiple records in marathon running.  His story of how he trained and prepared for Antarctica in a commercial freezer was seen around the world on news outlets such as CNN, Fox, ABC, Sports Illustrated, LA Times, ESPN, The CBS Early show and many more.  This is a high impact program that you and your colleagues will not forget.

 

KEEP CONQUERING: DOING THINGS YOU'VE NEVER DONE

Antarctic Mike’s flagship keynote program, Keep Conquering: Doing Things You’ve Never Done is all about one thing: Moving forward through life’s most challengingmoments.

As a student of Antarctic history, Mike knows considerably about overcoming adversity. The early polar explorers faced some of the most challenging conditions that any human being in recorded history has ever seen. Why they intentionally went into these conditions, how they prepared for it and what they learned are the basis for Mike’s program.

Inspired by these polar pioneers, Mike decided to follow in their footsteps. In 2006, he traveled to Antarctica twice from San Diego, CA to be among the first group of people to partake in the Antarctic Ice Marathon and the Antarctic Ultra-Marathon. The story of how Mike trained in a commercial freezer for 2 years will inspire you and challenge you.

Most importantly, the lessons that Mike learned along the journey of endurance, helped him get through one of the most difficult situations anyone can face as his wife Angela almost lost her life several times due to a traumatic accident.

All of us experience difficulties andobstacles every single day. Some of these moments are not very difficult and some are off-the-charts hard. No matter what challenges you face, Keep Conquering: Doing Things You’ve Never Done will empower and motivate you to keep moving forward.