Earl de Blonville

Earl de Blonville brings a powerful intellect and fresh voice to global leadership. He is original, forthright and wonderfully informed, and tackles tomorrow’s critical leadership issues head-on.

From his bush childhood and extraordinary adventure career, Earl is no stranger to the challenge of primitive uncertainty that we now face from everything related to global climate crisis.
His far-reaching leadership insights are not those common to executives, academics or pop psychologists, but come direct from being both a leader and survivor at the outer edge of human endurance. Earl understands first-hand the multi-dimensional personal challenges and inner conflicts that affect leadership roles as we adapt to an increasingly complex and challenging world.
A lifetime of not following the beaten path, and daring to explore difficult ideas and improbable opportunities, puts Earl in a league of his own. Professionally and personally, Earl has known all manner of heights and depths, creating in him a tenacity, resilience and empathetic sensitivity that will truly inspire you. Earl’s diverse, hands-on leadership experience and real-life insights now help inspire leadership cultures and fast-track the development of executive careers.
As a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a seasoned explorer, Earl is an expert in challenging people to adapt in hostile environments. A former professional mountaineering instructor and expedition leader, he has achieved a range of adventure firsts in the European Alps, Himalayas, Australia and the Arctic. In 1986 Earl mounted and led Australia's first-ever Arctic expedition, with HRH The Prince of Wales as his patron, resulting in an internationally-released TV documentary and the highly acclaimed book, Seventh Journey. In 1988 he was Director of the massive internationally televised Tall Ships spectacular that officially opened Australia’s Bicentenary.
In the corporate sector Earl has worked with two of the world's premium corporate training organizations, specializing in leadership culture and coaching for C-suite executives, and through his own solution-driven consulting business has delivered multi-million dollar benefits to clients. In the media, Earl has appeared frequently on television and radio in Australia and the UK, with a string of recent print media that includes a full page in BRW highlighting his Extreme Leadership Coaching.
Earl's current Doctoral research into Next Generation Leadership explores a radical new leadership approach called 'postformal', and identifies the nine qualities that tomorrow's high-functioning leaders must develop to succeed in a totally unpredictable world.
A professional speaker and panelist with 35 years international experience, Earl is a gifted and engaging storyteller renowned for being warm, witty and energetic. He is nothing if not memorable and unashamedly thought provoking. Earl’s presentations will help you to:
Recognise common leadership conceits. Try to remember, all executive leaders from the CEO down are actually employees. Look a bit closer, executive offices never have 'Leader' signs on doors or desks. Decipher the hype: many 'leaders' are simply managers who've re-badged for a bigger package and more glass.
Distinguish between Master and Tools. Leadership styles are mere tools of trade. It is the Master's presence that is the essence of leadership. In being fully present, to self and situation, the Master’s aura effectively transcends the superficial artifice of leadership styles.
Discover critical blind spots. It's not what leaders do and how they do it, but who they're being and what inner place they're coming from, that determines their real impact. Ordinary leaders merely externalize thoughts into actions, while Next Generation leaders have a highly developed internal dimension and self- knowledge that truly inspires others.
Explore leadership as a living system. A leader is a continually growing and changing individual, attuned to an environment in flux, not a compliant assemblage of processes and outcomes, a tradable industrialized commodity. Living leadership is about the journey, not a destination; about being in flow, not reaching goals.
Awaken to the Millennials (GenY). They've inherited the Boomers' mess but don't subscribe to their values, nor do they trust big organizations of any kind. So how will Millennials' leadership evolve over the next 50 years as our world changes beyond recognition? And what can you do now to harness their potential and ensure they have what they need to lead within your organisation?