About Mark Francis
Speaker
For over four decades, Mark has inspired audiences worldwide to lead with courage and clarity. His message is simple: leadership isn’t a title — it’s a choice.
Author
Mark turns decades of experience in sport, business, and human behaviour into practical leadership wisdom for everyday life.
Coach
Working with leaders and teams, Mark brings clarity, accountability, and the confidence to step up and lead.
Captain-maker
Mark helps people take responsibility, own their direction, and choose to lead — starting with themselves.
Great Captains
Mark’s leadership journey began not in a boardroom, but on a rugby pitch.
From coaching England, Scotland, and Great Britain’s women’s teams to mentoring executives at organisations across 42 countries, he has spent his career observing what separates good leaders from truly great ones.
Across every culture, industry, and team, he discovered the same truth
Exceptional leaders create environments where excellence becomes inevitable.
That belief sits at the heart of everything Mark teaches.
Helping People Win – At Work and At Play
Captain in Business
Sales leadership, HR, people development, and transformational training. Mark has worked with organisations including the United Nations, HSBC, Danone, Zurich Assurance, Big Bus Tours, and many more.
Captain in Sport
Rugby (France)
Soccer mentality and performance coaching
Golf performance coaching
From grassroots athletes to world-class performers, Mark has coached teams to win with intelligence, not intensity.
Social Captain
Champion of women’s sport.
Advocate for community change.
Wine enthusiast.
Grandfather.
Someone who believes leadership matters everywhere, not just at work.
Sporting Intelligence
The framework behind Mark’s book, his keynote, and his coaching.
SpQ is built on four traits Mark sees in every outstanding leader.
Positive Intention
Self-Command
Thin-Slicing
Tribal Fire
These principles power Mark’s keynote Who’s Your Captain?, his book The Captaincy, and the programmes used across Uspire — a consultancy he co-founded to bring human, confident leadership to businesses worldwide.
The Interview
Mark believes leadership is deeply human.
It’s about…
Having the courage to start
The clarity to know what matters
The humility to listen
The conviction to act
The ability to gather the right people
From coaching England, Scotland, and Great Britain’s women’s teams to mentoring executives at organisations across 42 countries, he has spent his career observing what separates good leaders from truly great ones.
His talks are built to remind people of their power, not overwhelm them with theory.
Every story is chosen to spark belief.
Every idea is shaped to be usable.
Every moment is designed to make audiences think:
“What could I captain?”
Where You’ll Find Him Now
Writing. Speaking. Coaching leaders across the world.
And championing the change-makers who will captain the next generation of businesses, teams, and communities.
Mark continues to build his body of work through films, storytelling, and keynote experiences — all rooted in one mission:
Helping people discover the captain that already exists within them.
Invite Mark to Speak
Mark Francis
If your conference, event, or organisation needs a speaker who can energise a room, spark action, and create genuine behavioural shift, Mark would love to help.
