Warrant Officer Dave Bunting joined the British Army in 1984 at the age of 16 and soon became captured by adventure, travel and challenge. After a period as a military tradesman he undertook the rigorously demanding series of courses to be selected into the Army Physical Training Corps where he ...
Warrant Officer Dave Bunting joined the British Army in 1984 at the age of 16 and soon became captured by adventure, travel and challenge. After a period as a military tradesman he undertook the rigorously demanding series of courses to be selected into the Army Physical Training Corps where he became a specialist in mountain leadership training. He became the Chief Instructor of the Joint Service’s mountain training centres in Wales, Norway, Bavaria and Canada and undertook the arduous year long German Army Mountain Guide’s (Heeresbergfuhrer) course to become one of only a handful of British soldiers to have gained this prestigious qualification.
Dave has a passion for mountaineering and he has now been involved in the organisation and execution of numerous expeditions including 10 to the Himalayas. On his most recent expedition he faced his biggest and most testing challenge yet. As overall expedition leader Dave headed up the planning, team selection and preparation of not only an attempt to climb the formidable West Ridge of Mount Everest, but also two other teams, who tackled Lhakpa Ri and Island Peak, made of young people whom he hopes will sustain the future of mountaineering in the Armed Forces.
During Dave’s extensive employment teaching high level mountain activities and over 20 years as a climber he has led and developed a huge variety of people of all ages and ranks within the British Service’s including elite units such as The Royal Marines and Special Air Service (SAS). Dave is one of the founders of My Peak Potential, a company that, through its Leadership and Management Development Programme, aims to help companies improve their performance by improving their people.
"Afgelopen vrijdagmiddag heb ik in Valkenburg genoten van je voordracht en de diversiteit aan typetjes. Het leuke van ons vak is, dat je met zo'n middag weer eens in bepaald opzicht op de feiten gedrukt wordt! Zelfs voor een 'ouwe rot' in het vak was het weer leerzaam! Herhalen is de kracht van de reclame; herhalen is ook onze kracht in het leerproces !
Bedankt en zelf ook succes toegewenst!"
Delroy Cameron, Senior Project Manager:
"Dave Buntings presentation was excellent. He certainly held my attention. I believe that the pace, the structure and information that was shared was well thought through and delivered in such a way as to leave a lasting impact on the audience."
Chelsea Slater, Business Service Centre Manager:
"Dave's talk was really... remarkable — it was inspiring — made me want to join his climb team to the mountain. He was able to hold the crowd with his description and details of the expedition and the outcome of the story was moving. Although it was a venture that was far beyond what we do, there were parallels from his experience that I could relate to and hopefully will be able to use to make my projects more effective. The presentation itself was well executed – the media was appropriate and varied throughout the session."
Leigh Gardner, Senior Project Manager:
"The presentation by Dave Bunting was very good and was perhaps the most beneficial 'Leadership' lesson of the whole event."
John Owen, Senior Programme Manager:
"Dave's presentation and subsequent informal Q & A session was by far and away the best part of the whole 3 days.
It was highly relevant to the nature of our 'Event', Project Management in general and was expertly delivered."
Paul Anderson, Head of DDS Projects:
"Dave was an excellent speaker who delivered an interesting and relevant (to Leadership) presentation. It was well put together, described the leadership challenges (even on what turned out to be a failed attempt) and hit the mark with everyone in regards to the adversity we can all face. I thought Dave personally was very engaging and grabbed everyone's attention easily, was funny and thought provoking.
Fully recommend him to anyone. "
Steve Marshall, Transformation Manager:
"The slot he had to present in was at a time when everyone was tired. Not only did he manage to keep everyone’s attention he did it in such a way as to encourage questions to be asked."
Mike Waterman, Senior Project Manager:
"Dave was very good, delivery of key points was spot on, good use of material and a fab animation by PowerPoint showing the trek.
He was open to discussion and impressive with his answers."
Andrew Joyce, Senior Project Manager:
"One of the best presentations I've sat through and considering it was 8pm after a tiring day it was testament to Dave's presenting skills.
Engaging, entertaining and very relevant to why we were there. "
Roy Beckerson, Senior Consultant:
"An excellent presentation from Dave.
I think it is fair to say we were a tired bunch, but Dave's presentation really held everyone’s attention and provided a tremendous insight into both planning and leadership skills required for such a challenge.
I thought his presentation style was very effective, both informative and witty."
Fran McCabe, Senior Consultant:
"The presentation kept me entertained and interested, very important after the physically tiring couple of days (could have nodded off).
I thought that the fact that the expedition did not reach the top of Everest was particularly important; this made it possible to highlight the leadership issues. Initially I thought that Dave's presentation would have been better at the start of the event, but I now think that it was best delivered when he did i.e. on the last evening. This better enabled us to review how we went about our own project, our own failing were easily mathed to his successes.
Good to spend time with Dave after the presentation, more interesting rather than exploring specific leadership ideas."
Ken Paul, Senior Delivery Centre Manager:
"Very easy to listen to, he has a great mix between informative and humorous.
His subject matter was inspirational and crucially, is also relevant to a business context."