The Sweeney Agency

About Joe MacInnis:

Dr. Joe MacInnis is a physician-scientist, author and deep-sea explorer. He has led thirty expeditions into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans and written nine books about undersea exploration, including Underwater Man, Saving the Ocean, Titanic In A New Light and Breathing Underwater: The Quest to Live in the Sea. His work has earned him a number of distinctions, including his country’s highest honor, the Order of Canada.

In the 1960s, Dr. MacInnis was the medical director of the American Man-in-Sea program and worked on the U. S. Navy’s Sea Lab project. In the 1970s and 80s he led the teams that made the first scientific dives under the North Pole and discovered the world’s northernmost known shipwreck—HMS Breadalbane—under the ice of the Northwest Passage.

Dr. MacInnis was an advisor to the Titanic discovery team and co-leader of a $5-million expedition to film Titanic in the giant-screen Imax format. It was this expedition that inspired James Cameron’s Academy Award-winning movie. Dr. MacInnis is currently working with Cameron on a series of deep-sea documentary films.

He has written articles for Scientific American, National Geographic and Wired. One of his more recent books, published by National Geographic Books, is the companion volume to Cameron’s 3-D Imax film Aliens of the Deep. Dr.MacInnis' latest book, Deep Leadership: Essential Insights from High Risk Environments, shows how the leadership traits forged in extraordinary circumstances are transferable to our everyday lives.

Since 1985, Dr. MacInnis has made more than 500 presentations to Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, General Motors and Microsoft. In his speeches, he shares the values including courage, communication and teamwork that enhance performance under the ocean and in the corporate world.

What Joe MacInnis Talks About:

How does it feel to be among the first to descend more than two miles under the Atlantic Ocean and position your mini-sub on the rusting deck of RMS Titanic? What is it like to spend two months diving with Academy Award winning director James Cameron during a $14-million expedition to make a giant-screen film called Aliens of the Deep?

In his speeches, Dr. MacInnis shares the values including courage, communication, and teamwork that enhance performance under the ocean and in the workplace. Drawing on compelling examples and dramatic video clips, he provides an inspirational framework on how to deal with the challenge of sudden change. Using a combination of humor and scientific acumen he tailors his insights to the theme of your meeting, making him a relevant and indispensable resource for your audience.

Dr. MacInnis’ topics include:

DEEP Leadership Workshop
This presentation takes you on a perilous journey under the ocean and into space and introduces you to twelve individuals who lead dangerous lives, work with complex systems, and personify the essential attributes of leadership. They include marine scientists who use extreme-depth research subs to explore the ocean’s deepest depths and shuttle astronauts who orbit the earth at 17,000 miles an hour while constructing the International Space Station. Two miles under the ocean or more than 200 miles in space they confront lethal forces including nooxygen, sub-freezing temperatures and blood boiling, bone-crushing pressures. To survive and work effectively, they’ve become masters of collaboration whose skills include physical toughness, strategic imagination and team genius. Years of training and experience give them the rare dimension of character known as leadership.

Dr. MacInnis describes his struggle to lead six first-ever science expeditions under the ice of the Arctic Ocean. In these sessions you will meet Scott Carpenter, one of the ‘Original Seven’ Mercury astronauts and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. You will hear from Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the acclaimed French undersea pioneer and James Cameron, the Academy Award winning film director. Using experiences he’s shared with these and other pioneers, Dr. MacInnis introduces you to 12 essential attributes of leadership. He also outlines six steps to help you recognize these attributes and apply them to any endeavor including government, business, science or sports.

Leadership When Your Life Depends on It
Joe MacInnis is a medical doctor who studies leadership and teamwork in life-threatening environments from the deep ocean to outer space. He has worked on science and engineering projects with the US Navy, the Canadian government, the Russian Academy of Sciences and NASA. He’s currently studying the leadership and teamwork allowing astronauts to construct the International Space Station and sub pilots to navigate $25-million research subs to the ocean’s deepest depths.

In his 55 minute presentation, he uses dramatic video clips to take you on a perilous journey two miles under the ocean and 200 miles in space—telling unforgettable stories about unique individuals who embody the spirit of ‘deep leadership.’ Deep leadership’s components include mental resilience, fierce ingenuity, code-red humor, group genius and resolute courage. The audience takes home a new understanding of leadership and a renewed commitment to apply it.

Surviving Terrorism
During the past 30 years Dr. MacInnis has worked with individuals and teams from numerous universities, the US Navy, the French government, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and NASA. He believes that operating advanced technologies — such as extreme-depth research subs and the Space Shuttle — in life-threatening environments, leads to new forms of courage, ingenuity, and collaboration.

In 2002, Dr. MacInnis published SURVIVING TERRORISM: How to Protect Your Health, Wealth and Safety. The government of Ontario (Emergency Management Ontario) purchased 1,500 copies of the book. Dr. MacInnis believes that the first line of defense against terrorism must include new forms of personal and team leadership. In his keynote presentation he tells riveting, personal stories about his friends Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Academy Award winning director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron, and Shuttle astronaut Dave Williams. Using dramatic video clips he takes you on a perilous journey two miles under the ocean and 200 miles into space to illustrate the meaning of resolute courage, fierce innovation, high-empathy communication and radical collaboration. The audience takes home a new understanding of leadership and a renewed commitment to apply it.

Other Topics Include:

• Deep, Dangerous Lives: Leadership Lessons from Deep-Sea and Space Explorers
• Success: When Your Life Depends on it
• Risk-Management Lessons From the Titanic and Other Deep-Sea Challenges