Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 04/21/2025.
Jason Dorland spent his entire rowing career consumed in his singular pursuit of an Olympic Gold medal. Throughout that pursuit, he embraced an old-school approach to high performance—aggressive, combative, egoic. As defending Olympic Champions, his crew was expected to repeat. They didn’t; instead, they finished dead last in their final on the day it mattered most. Devastated, Jason retired from rowing and struggled for years to find a new direction and identity.
Eventually set up on a blind date, he met his future wife, Robyn Meagher, an Olympic middle-distance runner. At first, she represented a conundrum for Jason. Her approach to competition was the polar opposite of his. She didn’t race to win medals or hate her competitors; she ran because she loved running.
Years later, Jason returned to coaching and utilized everything he had learned from Robyn. He was determined to instill in his athletes a different approach to high performance, one that embraced LOVE as a competitive strategy—love for self, rowing, teammates, and your competitors! The results were nothing short of astounding; in ten years of coaching, Jason’s crews won 12 international championships.
Jason shares his humbling journey with humor and lived perspective. In this talk, he will share research on love and its impact on motivation and our capacity to perform at our best. He will also explore your “LOVE Score” and why this simple self-assessment is so important when determining the opportunities for growth in ourselves and those we lead.
As an elite rower, Jason Dorland was taught that the best strategy for dealing with failure was to “give himself a swift kick in the backside” and keep going. And, for the most part, it worked—until it didn’t.
After a devastating loss at the Olympics, Jason used his tried-and-true method to get back in the game. Revenge and retribution fueled his self-imposed “whipping stick.” Eventually, the stick Jason used to push himself broke, as did he.
He struggled with depression, anxiety, OCD behaviour and an eating disorder. Struggling back from that dark place, Jason exchanged his old tactics for something new—the power of self-compassion.
In this talk, Jason will share research on self-compassion and its surprising efficacy in supporting and sustaining high performance. Learn how kindness to self and others can fuel your goals in ways you may have never thought possible.
Jason Dorland is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as LOVE as a Competitive Strategy and Self-Compassion: It’s Tougher Than You Think!. The estimated speaking fee range to book Jason Dorland for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Jason Dorland generally travels from VictoriaCanada and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are JP Pawliw-Fry, Steve Mellor, Simon Sinek, Vince Poscente and Julie Cass. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Jason Dorland for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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