IF IT WORKS ON 50-FOOT WAVES,
IT WILL WORK FOR YOUR TEAM AND YOUR CUSTOMERS.

THE TRUST AND PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK BUILT IN THE WORLD'S MOST UNFORGIVING ENVIRONMENTS — AND PROVEN AS A SENIOR EXECUTIVE AND WORLD CHAMPION ATHLETE, SIMULTANEOUSLY, FOR 15 YEARS.

SENIOR EXECUTIVE AND WORLD-CLASS ATHLETE, SIMULTANEOUSLY, FOR 15 YEARS.

Matt Formston AM — Keynote Speaker. Author. Guinness World Record Holder

Valued
Clients

Matt Formston delivered a powerful and inspiring talk on ‘A Can Mindset’, leaving a lasting impact on our team. His ability to align his story of resilience, adaptability and peak performance with our Amazon Leadership Principles made his message not just motivational, but actionable. Beyond the stage, Matt personally engaged with our employees, taking time to sign 50+ copies of his book and share 1-on-1 insights. His authenticity, energy and practical wisdom make him an exceptional speaker for any organisation looking to inspire their people to overcome obstacles and achieve the impossible.

Jennifer Nguyen
Internal Communications Manager, Asia-Pacific & Japan, Amazon Web Services

WHAT YOUR PEOPLE LEAVE WITH.

THE CAN MINDSET

The Can Mindset isn't optimism — it's what happens when trust is high enough that teams stop self-limiting and start attempting goals that previously felt unreasonable. Proof — not inspiration — that change fatigue and impossible organisational targets look completely different when your people believe in each other enough to try.

THE STANDARDS

A new understanding of what standards actually are — and why the ones you quietly negotiate away are costing your organisation more than you think. The gap between your stated values and your daily behaviour is where trust dies. Matt shows exactly where to look and how to close it.

THE FRAMEWORK

A clear understanding of why trust is your most valuable commercial asset — driving higher margins, stronger client retention, and better team culture — and the practical framework to build it intentionally from Monday morning

Member of the Order of Australia AM
·
Board Chair
·
Senior Executive at Optus
·
Sustainability Executive
·
Federal Government Advisory Committee Member
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Pacesetter Award Winner — Optus
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Wiley Published Author
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Netflix Documentary Subject
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Paralympian Rio 2016
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2023 Heavy Water Award — Australia's Best Big Wave Surfer
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4× Adaptive Surfing World Champion
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Cycling World Champion
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Big Wave Guinness World Record Holder
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World Record 4km Tandem Pursuit
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World Cup Gold Medalist
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12× Australian Cycling Champion
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5× Australian Surfing Champion
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5× Hawaiian Adaptive Surfing Champion
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4× US Open Adaptive Surfing Champion
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3× Australian Freediving Champion
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3× Australian Freediving Record Holder
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Award Winning Children's Book Author
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TRACK CYCLING WORLD RECORD HOLDER
·
20× Australian Champion
·
15 YRS

Two careers.
Elite level.
Simultaneously.

EXECUTIVE

24 years inside corporate Australia

WORLD CHAMP

5 X World Champion across two sports. Paralympian

BLIND

Every framework stress-tested with less than 3% vision

MATT”S BUSEINSS TRUST FORMULA

TRUST

=

STANDARDS

×

CONSISTENCY

×

TIME

KEYNOTES & WORKSHOPS

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR PEOPLE TO LEAVE WITH?

Man in a white shirt giving a presentation to an audience seated at tables in a conference room.

THE BUSINESS TRUST

KEYNOTE

Trust is the most valuable asset any organisation can build. The teams, brands, and leaders that build it intentionally — with their people, their customers, and their partners — outperform the ones that assume it exists.Matt developed this framework where trust isn't a corporate value — it's a survival requirement. Blind, on 50-foot waves, leading a team where a single trust breakdown can cost a life, and running a senior executive career at Optus simultaneously. Your people leave with a practical framework they can use from Monday morning to build the kind of trust that makes everything else easier. There is no more credible proof of concept on any stage in the world.

Learn more →
Speaker presenting to an audience with two large screens showing cyclists riding a tandem bicycle on a velodrome track.

THE CAN MINDSET

KEYNOTE

Are there people in your organisation who have quietly decided that something isn't possible for them? A sale too big. A conversation too hard. A goal too far. At five years old Matt was told he would never get an education, never play sport, never hold a decent job. He went on to become a Guinness World Record holder, a five time world champion, and a Paralympian. Blind, he dove 60 feet through a World War Two shipwreck on a single breath — one end of a cane in his hand, the other end held by his coach. That is the Can Mindset in its purest form. Every person in your team will leave with a completely different relationship with the word can't — and proof that what they've been told isn't possible for them rarely is.

Learn more →
Freediver in black wetsuit and fins descending underwater along a rope in deep blue ocean.

THE BUSINESS TRUST

WORKSHOP

You already know trust matters. This workshop shows you exactly where yours is — and where it isn't. Matt's five pillars of trust — Self, Team, Partner, Leadership, Customer — applied directly to your organisation. Live diagnostic. Honest conversation. A plan your team leaves with and actually uses. This isn't consulting theory borrowed from a textbook. Matt has lived every pillar across two elite careers simultaneously — as a blind worldchampion athlete who depends on his team for his life, and as a senior executive leading large organisations through growth and change. For organisations ready to move from knowing trust matters to doing something about it.

Learn more →
Surfer riding a large blue ocean wave with white spray at the crest.

THE HARD STANDARDS

WORKSHOP

Your team knows what the standards are. The question is whether anyone is actually holding them. The gap between your stated values and your daily behaviour is where culture breaks down, trust erodes, and performance quietly drops. Matt has experienced the exact cost of letting standards slip — and the exact return of rebuilding them. Not as a concept. As a lived reality. He brings that experience into the room without judgement and without pretence. Your team will identify exactly which standards are driving results, which ones have been quietly negotiated away, and leave with the clarity and alignment to close that gap.

Learn more →
THE PROOF POINT

2014. THREE WORLDS. ONE YEAR.

In 2014 Matt set a world record in track cycling and became a World Champion in Aguascalientes, Mexico. In the same year he exceeded his Optus enterprise B2B sales target by 140% — managing complex, multi-million dollar strategic accounts — and won a national Pacesetter Award. That same year his first child was born. Not one then the other. All of it. Simultaneously. Blind. More than a decade later Matt has three children, a strong marriage, and is still competing at world championship level. Nothing crashed. Nothing burned. The framework that built trust in his team on 50-foot waves is the same one that has sustained performance across every part of his life for 15 years. This is not a story about sacrifice. This is a story about what becomes possible when your standards are non-negotiable and trust runs through everything you do.

Matt Formston cycling at the World Championships
Matt Formston with his family at the beach
Matt Formston speaking on stage

THE BLIND SEA

The documentary that proves the framework is real.

Now streaming on Netflix Australia and New Zealand.

WATCH NOW
WATCH NOW
Surfer riding a large ocean wave with two people on a jet ski nearby.
Now Streaming on Netflix
·
Top Ten Documentary Release in Australian Cinemas 2024
·
1,200+ Australian Cinema Screenings
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Yellowstone International Film Festival Official Selection
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Finalist Newport Beach Film Festival USA
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Finalist Documentary Australia Award 2024
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Impactful Story Award — Portuguese Surf Film Festival
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Sydney Opera House Screening
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Sydney Film Festival Official Selection
·
WHAT CLIENTS SAY

DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT.

Matt inspired our employees with incredible storytelling and lessons about leadership, perseverance and resilience. He is personable, funny and was very captivating on stage.

Kelsey Rust
Manager, Content Producer (Tradeshows & Events), Adobe

Matt takes you on a ride where you feel the highs and lows, and shows how he lifts himself to the next level repeatedly. He inspires audiences that nothing is beyond reach if you believe.

John Bonaser
General Manager, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

Matt was so inspirational and engaging. The team loved the games he got people up to play, and his presentation style. I have recommended him to so many people already.

Kelly Dalziel
PwC
BULK ORDERS

BUYING FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM?

Why Not? is built for leadership teams reading together. The eight Hard Standards land harder when a team works through them in parallel — same book, same week, same conversation. Bulk orders available for executive teams, leadership cohorts, board offsites, and corporate book clubs.

ENQUIRE ABOUT BULK ORDERS
ENQUIRE ABOUT BULK ORDERS
THE BOOKS

THE FRAMEWORK IN PRINT.

Why Not? by Matt Formston, published by Wiley
COMING AUGUST 2026

WHY NOT?

Breaking Limits in Sport, Business and Life
Published by Wiley

The book behind the framework. 15 years of elite athletic performance and senior executive leadership distilled into a practical guide for anyone who has ever been told their goal is unreasonable. Why Not? is the question Matt has asked at every defining moment of his life — and the answer has taken him to the top of the world in two completely different arenas. Now it's your turn.

Available August 2026. Pre-order secures your copy on release day.
Surfing in the
Dark, the first book in the Big Visions series, published by Berbay Books in partnership with Vision Australia
AVAILABLE NOW

SURFING IN THE DARK

Vision Australia · Berbay Publishing

The children's book that started a movement. Matt's story — from a five year old told he would never play sport to a world champion — told for the next generation. Part of Vision Australia's Big Visions series. Available in standard print and braille. On the NSW Premier's Reading List. For every child who has ever been told they can't.

BUY NOW
BUY NOW
Signed copies available. Bulk orders for schools and libraries welcome — contact us.
GET IN TOUCH

LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT YOUR PEOPLE NEED.

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