Deri Llewellyn-Davies
I’m a working class boy from a tiny village called Llangwm in deepest rural wales, a very passionate Welshman and proud of my roots. Being brought up in a small village community taught me values, taught me whats important in life and the power of tribe.
I was adopted, which left a deep uncertainty in my early years into who I really was. I deeply believe every adversity has its golden lining and this struggle in my early years developed a constant drive and ambition to truly understand who I really was, and to ultimately recreate myself.
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A RISE THROUGH THE CORPORATE RANKS
This led me on a path to success and destruction. I studied hard, and was the first in my family to go to university, where I studied chemical engineering. Really should have studied geography! They has so much more fun..!
After university I was selected for the leadership program in a top corporate and I drove myself with high ambition in business world. I spent the first decade of my business life advancing in business, rising through the ranks at a rapid pace working for some of the worlds best companies, ultimately to the European board of a global fortune 500.
Throughout this time I was being groomed through some of the best leadership and management programs in the world. And from the beginning of my career I sought out and got mentored by some of the best and highest performing business mentors in the world. (this is the true secret to my success)
I also, through the guidance of my mentors, commited to a full time MBA specialising in corporate finance and venture capital, between Asias No 1 business school AGSM, in Sydney and UCLA in California. Studying with arguably some of the world best professors.
THE ULTIMATE LESSON
I have no regrets in my ambitious and stellar rise through business, however knowing what I know now there was a way better way. I didn’t need to lose myself, I didn’t need to lose my soul, I didn’t need to burn out and didn’t need to sell out. There’s a better way a more purposeful way.
It was only on the untimely death of my father that I faced what was truly important in life. Something I talk about in some keynotes, my dad died with regret, lots of regret. The truth was if I continued down my corporate business path, one with no balance and one where I wasn’t tapping into whats truly important to me, what brings me alive, then I would die with more regret than him. That day I changed forever… NO REGRETS!
From that day I swore to live with no regrets, to live full out, to live adventurously, to love fully, to love ambitiously, to do something that truly matters, to leave a legacy to be proud of, to have made a difference.
But living with no regrets is not the easy life, far from it. Its takes courage, work, commitment, discipline at a whole new level. I had to explore wider and further develop myself on my personal and business evolution.
THE WORLDS GREATEST MENTORS
Studying with some of the worlds best mentors , Mastery University with Tony Robbins, Brendan Burchards centre ring mastermind, Bo Easons The Best programme, Dan Pena full castle experience and NLP training with Richard Bandler to name a few, and I continue to this day investing heavily in my growth and development, always the student, not just the teacher.
THE RISE OF THE ENTREPRENEUR
The next decade involved massive highs and lows. After such success in corporate land, building a business couldn’t be that difficult after all. Surely. Well any veteran business owner knows what comes next.
Building a business is tough, no body tells you that bit, as so many are preaching get rich quick or entrepreneurship is easy. Its not. But if you build the right business, and build it right, its so worth it and I have no regrets in the businesses ive built, even the toughest times in the toughest ones, as they were the most purposeful, and im still on the journey, I doubt I will ever stop building.
The past decade has been a journey and one I feel very humbled by and proud of. I have consulted to large FTSE companies, and personally advised as mentor too over 300 growth companies. Along the way I Founded Business Growth International (BGI Group) and created Strategy on a Page as a global business strategy tool.
I Wrote the Amazon no 1 best seller “Strategy on a page” with his next title due to be released soon, As well as “Life’s great Adventure”.
SPEAKING PROFESSIONALLY FOR A DECADE
I evolved as an international speaker and have been honoured to speak at the most highly coveted business and CEO Platforms, from Vistage to the Academy of Chief executives, from the Institute of Directors to the Association of Transformational Leaders.
I have spoken Internationally, from Vancouver to Katmandu (seriously I spoke for the british consulate and CEOs of katmandu), From Oslo to Singapore. And most importantly Cardiff, having spoken all over the world, it was only last year I came back to speak in my own country.
I have also committed to my speaking profession and been long time member of the Professional speakers association and got awarded the honour of fellow in 2014 (CSP NSA equivalent). And spoke at the last global speakers federation conference.
GLOBAL ADVENTURES GRAND PLAN
Along the way it hasn’t all been business, Adventure took a centre stage too. I realised my soul was calling for adventure, and although it began in the smaller mountains of the UK doing the 3 peaks challenge, and my early transition into endurance with the great north run and the London marathon, I realised living a life of no regret meant something a little bigger.
In 2006 I designed the Global Adventures Grand slam. That included The Marathon des Sables (6 marathons across the sahara desert), The jungle Marathon (6 marathons across the jungle), the 7 Summits (the highest mountains on every continent), North Pole, South Pole and an Ironman. To me this meant something deep, if I was to truly achieve those things I will have seen the world in all its majesty, experienced the wonder and experiences few dare to touch, and over come obstacles a fear consistently, living a life of no regrets. It scared me, I didn’t know if I could do it, so that was the perfect playground to truly know what limitless means.
Please understand I am no great endurance athlete. I was a rugby player and played that to a good level, on four continents, and my final game being in the MBA world rugby championships. But my rugby career left me with flat feet, Many broken bones, a hundred stitches and a brain injury. That coupled with the fact im asthmatic, slightly scared of heights, I couldn’t run more than a couple of mile, I couldn’t swim more than 50m and hadn’t been on a bike since I was kid, meant I had considerable challenges to over come. Oh and I was a 17 stone bouncer too, hardly endurance material.
Each year I pick a big challenge and go all out. This has taken discipline, this has taken planning, preparation, great strategy and great inspiration. Hard work, 10,000 hours, blood, sweat (lots of sweat), tears.
Was it worth it? 100% resounding yes.
I have crossed the finishing line of the leganadary marathon des sables, summited Killamanjaro, Elbrus, Kuiskisco, Had epic attempts on Aconcagua and Denali, and a life changing experience on Everest. I completed the infamous Ironman and im always training for the next adventure, the next one being the jungle. Living adventurously always.
I have also travelled the world, visiting 45 countries so far on another quest to experience the greatest the world has to offer. This planet is truly magnificent, I was to see as much of it as humanly possible in this lifetime.
