What Sailing 27,000-Miles Around the World Taught Me About Leadership
- Brainz Magazine
- Nov 24
- 3 min read
Paul Adamson is a global keynote speaker and leadership strategist who helps organisations navigate change, build resilient teams, and create breakthrough performance. His work blends real-world experience from being a professional sailor and pivoting into the business world.
Ten years ago, I skippered the first Oyster Yachts 885, 'Lush', on a 27,000-mile circumnavigation. I had no idea at the time that the journey would become one of the greatest leadership trainings of my life. The lessons I learned at sea now underpin the strategies I teach on stage, in boardrooms, or whilst delivering a workshop.
Here are four principles from that voyage that continue to shape how leaders can think, act, and perform under pressure.
Why a global sailing expedition became a masterclass in leadership
When you’re sailing around the world, there’s nowhere to hide from yourself or your decisions. The ocean tests your clarity, your teamwork, and your resilience every single day. It forces you to stay focused on what matters and to be flexible with everything else.
Those same pressures show up in business, uncertainty, unexpected challenges, and the need to lead people through constantly shifting conditions. The lessons from our circumnavigation became a framework I now use to help leaders create direction, simplify complexity, stay decisive, and adapt with confidence.
1. Vision is your compass
On the helm, you learn quickly that you can’t stare at your feet. You must keep your eyes out of the boat, forward, scanning the horizon, understanding what’s coming next. That forward focus kept us steady during long nights, rough passages, and unpredictable weather.
In business, a clear vision plays the same role. It keeps everyone aligned, prevents drift, and gives the team something solid to move toward. Leaders who don’t communicate a clear destination leave their teams guessing. Leaders who do keep people engaged, confident, and moving in the right direction.
2. Simplify for success
A modern yacht is full of instruments, wind angles, depths, currents, speed over ground, radar, and charts. But over thousands of miles, we learned that only a few key data points truly mattered.
Everything else was noise. That lesson is just as important in business. Many organisations operate with too many KPIs, too many dashboards, and too much complexity. When leaders simplify, people perform better. Clear metrics give clarity. Clear metrics guide better decisions. Simplicity creates progress.
3. Trust your instinct
There are moments at sea when hesitation is the real danger. Storms roll in. Winds shift without warning. Equipment fails. You don’t always have the luxury of time. You make the best call you can with the information you have and you move.
Leaders face the same challenge. Data is essential, yes. But there are times when instinct must lead. The best leaders blend logic with intuition, experience with decisiveness. Trusting your gut isn’t reckless, it’s often the very thing that keeps momentum alive.
4. Adapt to the weather
Even the most detailed plan doesn’t survive contact with the ocean. Weather patterns change, repairs become urgent, and the route you expected to take might no longer be safe.
Leadership requires that same flexibility. Markets shift. Team dynamics evolve. Opportunities appear and disappear. The leaders who adapt quickly, while staying committed to the destination, create cultures that are resilient, innovative, and ready for anything.
Adaptability doesn’t mean abandoning the goal. It means staying open to the best way to reach it.
Why these lessons still matter today
These principles, vision, simplicity, instinct, and adaptability, are the very foundations I use today in my leadership work. Whether I’m coaching a CEO, advising a team, or speaking on stage, I draw on these lessons from a decade ago because they remain universally true.
The sea taught me how to navigate change & pressure. Business taught me how to apply it. Together, they’ve helped me move forward, whatever the conditions.
If your team is navigating change or if you want to strengthen the leadership culture within your organisation, I’d love to help.
Book a leadership strategy call, and let’s explore how these principles can elevate performance and create long-term resilience.
Read more from Paul Adamson
Paul Adamson, Global Leadership Keynote Speaker
Paul Adamson is an international keynote speaker and leadership strategist known for helping organisations navigate change, build resilient teams, and unlock high-performance cultures. His journey began at sea, where he skippered a 27,000-mile global circumnavigation before leading the commercial turnaround of Oyster Yachts from administration to a £185M order book. Paul’s work blends high-stakes decision-making with practical leadership tools that drive real-world results. A cancer survivor, he speaks powerfully about resilience, purpose, and optimistic leadership. Today, he works with entrepreneurs, founders, and executive teams worldwide, helping them create breakthroughs that move them from where they are to where they want to be.
