Unconventional by nature. Commercial by necessity.
I build leadership teams that make businesses worth buying.
Matt Garman – Leadership Speaker & Mentor
I’m Matt Garman – Speaker, Mentor, Author
I’m not into theory. I’m into what works, proven by a PE backed exit, tested rowing the Atlantic, and built into leadership teams every day. Whether it’s a keynote, a workshop, or mentoring, you leave with tools you can use tomorrow, not feelings that fade by Friday.
The Corporate Adventurer
Keynotes
Matt’s keynotes are built around The Uncharted Framework™ Dream, Plan, Execute, Evolve, became a methodology proven through business exits and extreme conditions.
He doesn’t tell you to unlock your potential or be your best self. He shows you how to build commercially-focused leadership teams that make businesses worth buying, using stories from a fishing trawler at 16, 200 cold calls a day, gambling his house on a business, and selling to private equity.
Your audience doesn’t just hear an adventure story. They leave with a practical framework they can apply on Monday, not abstract leadership theory they file away and forget.
Matt emphasises commercial thinking, team independence, and the fine line between leading in business and leading in extreme conditions. His insights show how shared vulnerability builds trust, how commercial accountability drives performance, and why kindness isn’t soft, it’s strategic. Above all, Matt shows that leadership is about creating teams that work without the founder in every room.
Workshops
Matt’s workshops are interactive, outcomes-focused, and built around real challenges your leadership team faces, not hypothetical case studies.
Using The Uncharted Framework™, participants assess where they are across Vision, People, Process, and Management, then build their personal leadership playbook anchored to commercial reality.
Matt challenges participants and expects them to challenge him. He knows every person brings unique experience, and workshops only deliver when everyone is fully engaged, including him.
The goal isn’t motivation. It’s capability. Participants leave with tools to think commercially, lead independently, and perform under pressure. Not abstract concepts, practical frameworks they use this week to make better decisions and build stronger teams.
Mentoring
Matt’s mentoring is focused on owners preparing to exit, scale, or build a leadership team that can run without them.
It starts with a simple assessment exercise to understand where you are across The Uncharted Framework™, then gets specific about what needs to change.
He challenges existing behaviour and asks you to accept accountability for changing your thinking. Not to be harsh, to be honest. Most leadership teams lack commercial confidence because the founder has absorbed that pressure for them. Matt helps you fix that.
A crucial element is building a framework for your leadership team that creates independence, not dependence. When your business can run without you in every decision, it becomes genuinely valuable and genuinely sellable.
Matt’s current work: developing leadership teams and enhancing shareholder value.
Matt’s mantra is now: ‘Lead with empathy, compassion and kindness.’
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