Toby Harnden
Orwell Prize-winning author and ex foreign correspondent
Expert on war reporting, CIA operations after 9/11, and thriving under pressure
Fee: Please inquire
Areas of Expertise
Toby is available for training, speaking and consulting engagements, with notable expertise in the following areas:
- Intelligence, clandestine operations
- Leadership, strategy & vision
- Security, counterterrorism
- Inspiring, motivating
Toby's Background
Toby Harnden knows how to tell a story. Better yet, he knows how to tell stories with actionable learnings and messages that resonate.
Toby is an expert on building rapport and trust. In these sessions he draws on his first-hand experience as author and journalist in persuading sources to talk, and draws on his extensive contact with CIA operatives who recruit agents.
He is also an expert in managing through crisis, and by drawing on his experience being detained in Iraq, imprisoned in Zimbabwe, and under fire in war zones, Toby helps audiences better prepare to survive crisis and life-threatening situations.
Toby also has an extraordinary presentation built around the case study of Team Alpha, the first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11 - a mind-bending lesson in leadership and team-based effectiveness.
Author of First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11 (for which he won the Orwell Prize for Books), Toby is a former foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and the Daily Telegraph, as well as a former Washington bureau chief of The Sunday Times of London. Toby reported from thirty-three countries, specialized in terrorism and war, and was imprisoned in Zimbabwe, prosecuted in Britain for protecting confidential sources. He was vindicated by a $23 million public inquiry in Ireland.
A dual British and US citizen, Toby spent a decade as a Royal Navy officer before becoming a journalist. He holds a First Class degree in modern history from Oxford and is also the author of Bandit Country: The IRA & South Armagh and Dead Men Risen: An Epic Story of War and Heroism in Afghanistan. Previously based in London, Belfast, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Washington, DC, he lives in Virginia today.
Presentation Examples
- Thriving Under Pressure
- Building Rapport
- How to Survive a Life-threatening Crisis
- Case study of Team Alpha, the first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11
Partnership Examples
- Virginia Tech
- New York Athletic Club
- Fordham University ROTC
- Special Forces Association
Want to request Toby's Services?
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