More About Daniel Hermann

Daniel Hermann grew up in West Yorkshire in a childhood shaped by addiction and crime. Running became both an escape for him and an opportunity, and by his late teens his ability and determination had taken him all the way to a Great Britain vest as a junior 800m athlete.

Dan is quick to point out that he isn’t an Olympic champion, and in many ways that is central to his message. His story isn’t about being superhuman, but about what an ordinary person can discover by having a go, particularly when the odds aren’t especially favourable.

Since leaving competitive athletics, that philosophy has taken him a long way. He has cycled from John O’Groats to Land’s End, summited Mount Kilimanjaro, and in 2021 he completed the Marathon des Sables. 250km across the Sahara, the Marathon des Sables is widely described as the hottest race in the world, and in 2021 more than 40% of the field failed to finish.

Daniel Hermann | Corporate

For the last two decades, Dan has led the Pennine Sports Partnership, working with around 70 schools and 20,000 children across Kirklees, alongside nearly three decades of coaching young people. Whether speaking to hundreds of teenagers or a corporate leadership team, his working life has been built around one skill – connecting with people and helping them see what might be possible.

The response is already translating into repeat demand; one Huddersfield school has booked his assembly four times through word of mouth, with the Director of Student Support describing it as the best he has experienced in more than 20 years of working with young people.

He speaks about resilience, performing under pressure, and taking action before you feel ready. His talks combine an honest, sometimes startling life story with practical ideas audiences can take back into their own work.

Daniel Hermann | Keynotes

Get to the Start Line – The Power of Having a Go: Dan’s signature talk. A milk round at 13; a speedboat in Stockholm at 17, taken on with no experience; a GB call-up read in an internet café in Greece, four days before the race. The thread running through all of this is one repeatable decision – turning up before you feel ready.  This keynote makes the case that readiness is something you acquire after you start, and not a condition for starting.

Key Points:

– Start before you’re ready, the information you’re waiting for usually only arrives once you’ve begun.
– Separate the risk from the fear, name the actual downside and act on that rather than the feeling.
– Say yes to the thing you’re not qualified for; nobody’s best work sat comfortably inside their job description.
– Count entries, not just wins. Teams attempt more when starting is what gets recognised.

Perfect for: Conference openers, all-hands, sales kick-offs, the launch of change programmes, early careers, and graduate events.

The Extra Forty Percent – Performing When the Plan Has Already Failed: Marathon des Sables 2021, the hottest edition on record. On the double-marathon stage, Dan had run out of water, went down with heatstroke, and started the formal process of withdrawing from the race, but he finished it. This talk is an honest account of what keeps a person moving when the preparation has failed, the body is failing and quitting is the sensible option.

Key Points:

– Preparation is the performance; by the time the pressure arrives, the work that matters is already done or it isn’t.
– When the plan fails, shrink the goal – the next checkpoint, not the finish line.
– Recovery is a decision, not a reward. What you do in the hours after it goes wrong decides how the next day goes.
– Nobody finishes alone, the skill of asking and the skill of staying alongside someone slower than you.
– Reframe the ceiling. Where you think your limit is, and where it actually sits, are rarely the same place.

Perfect for: Leadership conferences, teams in sustained pressure, wellbeing and mental health weeks, year-end and deal-session audiences, operational and frontline teams.

Somebody Noticed – The One Person Who Changes a Trajectory: A retired Yorkshireman called Pete watched a scruffy kid win a school 800m, then tracked down his father’s phone number to say he had run one of the fastest times in the country and ought to come and train. Dan has since spent 20 years on the other side of that phone call, across 70 schools and 20,000 children. This talk is about what noticing costs, what it returns, and why potential stays invisible unless someone actively goes looking for it.

Key Points:

– Potential is invisible by default. Spotting it is an active job, not something a review cycle does for you.
– High standards and belief are the same act.
– The five-minute intervention; what a single call, introduction or piece of honest feedback is worth to someone.
– Be somebody’s Pete; the talk closes with each person naming one individual they will back over the next quarter.

Perfect for: Leadership and management development, HR and people conference, early careers, mentoring and sponsorship programme launches, social mobility and inclusion agendas, CSR and community events.

Daniel Hermann | Past Events

– Salendine Nook High School Academy, Huddersfield: Booked four times since 2023
– Holmfirth High School: Whole-year assemblies since 2022
– North Huddersfield Trust School, Fartown: Year 7 assembly
– Crowlees CE(VC) Junior and Infant School, Mirfield: Primary assembly
– University of Huddersfield: Staff talk
– Strictly Pennine, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield: Host, six sell-out evenings a year to audiences of 500
– Pennine Sports Partnership: 20 years hosting and speaking at major school sport events across Kirklees

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book Daniel Hermann for your next corporate event.

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