John Graham

John Graham shipped out on a freighter when he was sixteen, took part in the first ascent of Mt. McKinley's North Wall at twenty, and hitchhiked around the world at twenty-two.

A Foreign Service Officer for fifteen years, he was in the middle of the revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam. For three years in the mid-seventies, he was a member of NATO's top-secret Nuclear Planning Group, then served as a foreign policy advisor to Senator John Glenn. As an assistant to Ambassador Andrew Young at the United Nations, he was deeply involved in U.S. initiatives in Southern Africa, South Asia and Cuba.

By most measures, he was very successful. But something was missing.

In 1980, a close brush with death aboard a burning cruise ship in the North Pacific forced him to a deeper search for meaning in his life. Now out of the Foreign Service, he began teaching better ways of handling challenge and conflict. Since 1983 he's been a leader of the Giraffe Heroes Project, an international organization moving people to stick their necks out for the common good. A frequent keynote speaker, he's also done TV and radio all over the world. Articles about him have appeared in major magazines and newspapers. In 2010 Graham formed and now leads Giraffe Heroes International, bringing his expertise and inspiration  to the world.

Graham audiences over almost 30 years as a professional speaker include dozens of major national and international conferences and organizations. For a partial list see the attached document, "Past Audiences."

He is the author of Outdoor Leadership, from Mountaineers Books; It's Up to Us, from the Giraffe Heroes Project; Stick Your Neck Out-A Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond, from Berrett-Koehler; and Sit Down Young Stranger, a memoir published in 2008 by Packard Books.

Graham walks his talk, including as an international peacemaker, active in the Middle East and Africa. He has a degree in geology from Harvard and one in engineering from Stanford, neither of which he ever expects to use.