Manley was schooled on leadership through a mix of practical and academic. He twice served as an Officer in the Royal Navy, re-joining for the first Gulf War and in between Manley was an Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Marine Police. In 2000, he was selected as a skipper in the BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race, leading a team of volunteers, including novices, for 9 months in a 32,000 mile journey, the “wrong way”! Manley continued his adventures as part of the 3-man team that won the inaugural race to the Magnetic North Pole. The team faced polar bear attacks, and sub-zero temperatures, learning huge lessons about both surviving and competing in very difficult circumstances. The team’s record time of 10 days and 9 hours still stands. With many more adventures ahead, Manley considers himself to always be a “leader, in learning”. 

As an acclaimed and admired inspirational speaker Manley understands the impact of stories. Tapping into the power of story and metaphor to accelerate reflection, discovery and revelation, creates moments of deep understanding, breaking down barriers and leading to lasting transformational behavioural change. 

With the core of his talks revolving around his challenging experiences, Manley develops the personal themes of fulfilling your and your team’s potential and achieving far beyond your own perceived abilities, as well as drawing on the numerous leadership and team development lessons; give a team a real sense of purpose and direction, motivate and inspire them (lead them) and it is incredible what can be achieved. 

Manley subsequently applies his Leadership experience to great effect designing and delivered successful cultural change programs, and as an active board member of a number of organisations globally, delivering true “high performance cultures”. 

Rather than forcing “ compliance”, the focus is on gaining “commitment” by raising levels of self and team awareness, then aligning personal and organisational values & purpose leading to more effective business and personal relationships. 

In 2014, Manley published “Compassionate Leadership: How to Create and Maintain Engaged, Committed and High-Performing Teams”. In this highly acclaimed, entertaining and hugely readable book, Manley combines the two worlds of business and adventure to encourage leaders everywhere – at work, at home, in sports and mid-ocean – to take a new approach to creating teams of developed, self-aware and committed individuals. Having received a copy of

Manley’s book, the Dalai Lama has commended Manley for his work on compassion. 

In 2018 Manley launched the Compassionate Leadership Academy (CLA) as a continuation of all his work designed to transform the way people access leadership and personal development and further spread the impact of compassionate leadership worldwide. 

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