Lynne Cox

  • Most Acclaimed Long Distance Swimmer of the Modern Era
  • New York Times Best-Selling Author

Determination. Bravery. Adventurousness. Testing the limits of human endurance. These concepts are the hallmark of Lynne Cox’s spectacular career. A bold risk- taker with a proven record for overcoming monumental obstacles, Ms. Cox is one of the most dynamic motivational speakers to emerge in recent decades.

Lynne’s speaking is inspired by her accomplishments as a world-class athlete, author, advocate, and environmentalist – spanning more than 35 years of challenge and success. Her athletic achievements have shaped the sport of open water swimming. Her swims have brought nations together, advocated to solve environmental problems, and supported vital causes Lynne immerses audiences in her stories, inspiring them to pursue amazing goals. She builds connections between her athletic achievements and success in life – from business to personal growth to the vital human need for love, friendship, and support.

Lynne draws on her experience to inspire audiences to realize that the human heart is strong, resilient, and enduring.

 


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Past Hosts Include:
  • Google
  • SAP
  • Citigroup
  • University of Virginia Frank Batten School for Leadership
  • New York Life Insurance
  • Celebration Innovation Week
  • San Francisco Electrical Contractors Association
  • Bond Financial
  • Morgan Stanley / Smith Barney
  • Haggne Food Company
Rave Reviews About Lynne Cox as a Speaker
Lynne Cox is in a very unique position to articulate her achievements and relate them to an audience from CEO'S to manager level positions. Her lectures and take aways apply not only to business, education, not-for-profits, etc, but also to economies and environments. As the former CEO of Starbucks, I brought Lynne in to speak to about 600 employees. Her message at the time centered around her accomplishements and activities that earned her "hall of fame" status. Lynne made us feel that anything is achieveable if you apply the right thoughts and processes....as a speaker myself, at the risk of losing business, I consistently communicate with Lynne to stimulate my own style and message. I highly recommend her.

Keynote - Swimming Through the Sea of Change | TEDxMonterey [22:04] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Lynne Cox
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Doing the Impossible: begins with a vision and a belief

A vision that something that is thought to be impossible is possible and a strong belief in yourself – that you can achieve an impossible task. Lynne describes how many of her achievements were thought to be impossible. “There’s no way a fifteen-year-old girl can swim across the English Channel and ...

A vision that something that is thought to be impossible is possible and a strong belief in yourself – that you can achieve an impossible task. Lynne describes how many of her achievements were thought to be impossible. “There’s no way a fifteen-year-old girl can swim across the English Channel and break the world record; There’s no way someone can swim in the icy waters of the Bering Strait from the United States to the Soviet Union and open the border; there’s no way a person can swim in thirty-two-degree water off Antarctica. Lynne discusses how to find ways to do the impossible and thereby change how people think and change the world.

Leadership

Throughout her career Lynne’s accomplishments have exemplified leadership. Whether through citizen diplomacy in opening the border between the United States and the Soviet Union or advocating for water quality, Lynne has brought people together to support important causes and achieve important goals ...

Throughout her career Lynne’s accomplishments have exemplified leadership. Whether through citizen diplomacy in opening the border between the United States and the Soviet Union or advocating for water quality, Lynne has brought people together to support important causes and achieve important goals. Lynne inspires audiences to pursue leadership by recounting what it took to achieve her goals and how leadership qualities are vital to achieving objectives.

Sink or Swim

There’s a moment that you’ve been working toward all your life. It is your opportunity to meet the challenge and to succeed or fail. If you succeed the world and every possibility opens up to you. If you fail, all is lost. Without trying you will never know what you could have achieved or how you wo ...

There’s a moment that you’ve been working toward all your life. It is your opportunity to meet the challenge and to succeed or fail. If you succeed the world and every possibility opens up to you. If you fail, all is lost. Without trying you will never know what you could have achieved or how you would change your life, or maybe change the world. Lynne speaks about the moments in her life when she had to swim or sink and how you can be persistent. As long as you are engaged, as long as you keep moving, you will not sink, you will swim, and you will win.

Setting Goals

Lynne'ssuccess is based on achievements others said were impossible. She discusses the ways to create high goals; how to do the research; ways to overcome, rethink, rework, and adapt to challenging situations and obstacles. She show how your company or group can achieve their objectives in exciting ...

Lynne'ssuccess is based on achievements others said were impossible. She discusses the ways to create high goals; how to do the research; ways to overcome, rethink, rework, and adapt to challenging situations and obstacles. She show how your company or group can achieve their objectives in exciting new ways. She describes the hero's journey, and how this journey connects the hero in each member of the audience.

The Power of the Heart

The power of the heart: connects us, heals us, and helps us imagine our purpose in life and what we are capable of achieving. The power of the human heart helps us heal, change what we can change, and find joy in our day to day lives and relationships. Lynne speaks about the way love has enabled her ...

The power of the heart: connects us, heals us, and helps us imagine our purpose in life and what we are capable of achieving. The power of the human heart helps us heal, change what we can change, and find joy in our day to day lives and relationships. Lynne speaks about the way love has enabled her to connect with people around the world, to open borders, strive for a healthier ocean and planet. She will talk about the power of the heart and how it heals and gives you a new reason and way of living.

Sustaining Success

Lynne's background is an example of sustained success. At age 15 she first swam the English Channel and broke the men's and women's world records, and by the time she was in her 40's she swam in 32 degree water to the shores of Antarctica. And she is still going strong. Lynne explains how she achiev ...

Lynne's background is an example of sustained success. At age 15 she first swam the English Channel and broke the men's and women's world records, and by the time she was in her 40's she swam in 32 degree water to the shores of Antarctica. And she is still going strong. Lynne explains how she achieved this and how you can build upon your own achievements and reach beyond what you've done before. She believes that once success is attained it is simply a stepping-stone to the next great adventure as exemplified by her own life and that of the great polar explorers.

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Biography

Testing the limits of human endurance through determination, bravery, and a sense of adventure are the hallmark concepts of Lynne Cox’s spectacular career. A bold risk- taker with a proven record for overcoming monumental obstacles, Cox is one of the most dynamic motivational speakers to emerge in recent decades. A New York Times best-selling author, and world record-breaking athlete, she has been named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year, awarded Glamour Magazine's Woman of the year, honored with the UCSB Award for Courage, and inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame.

Her heroic story, and the vital lessons drawn from it, has audiences standing up to cheer.

Lynne Cox started making headlines as early as age 15, when she broke the men’s and women’s records for swimming the English Channel. At age 17, she shattered the men’s record for swimming the Catalina Channel and her list of record breaking accomplishments only grew from there: she swam the Cook Strait in New Zealand, between the north and south islands; she was the first person to swim Skagerrak, between Norway and Sweden; the Strait of Magellan; in 1977, with support from her South African special forces crew, she swam around the Cape of Good Hope, encountering twenty foot waves, sharks, and sea snakes; in 1987, she swam the Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia, opening the US-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years; she was the first person to swim Lake Titicaca (altitude: 12,500 feet) from Bolivia to Peru; in 2002, she was the first person to swim more than a mile from the ship the Orlova to the shore of ice-bound Antarctica in 32 degree water. In 2007, following the route of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who led the first successful sailing of the Northwest Passage, Lynne swam  off Greenland, Baffin Island, Prudhoe Bay, and in the Chukchi Sea. Lynne is the most acclaimed long distance swimmer of the modern era, swimming the coldest and most treacherous waterways of the world and emerging with an ice-melting smile.

Lynne has spoken to: Citigroup, Prudential Insurance, New York Life, Merrill Lynch, Architectural Data Convention, Nike, TYR, The New York Times, Smith Barney, Johnson & Johnson, Orthobiotech, Covance Pharmaceuticals, Powerwithin, Canada lecture series, London University, University of California Santa Barbara, Tokyo University, Tufts University, and other corporations.

Lynne Cox is the author of Swimming to Antarctica, Grayson, South With The Sun, Open Water Swimming Manual, a children’s book, Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas, and most recently Swimming in the Sink