Jake Bailey is an internationally acclaimed educator on resilience, the youngest #1 bestselling author in New Zealand history, and as a Commonwealth Study Conference alumnus has been recognised as one of the most promising emerging leaders across the Commonwealth.
Jake first caused a global sensation aged 18, when he gave an end of year speech from a wheelchair as head boy of Christchurch Boy High. Delivered less than a week after Jake had been diagnosed with the most aggressive form of cancer known to man, the speech went on to touch the hearts of millions and draw support from across the globe.
Once in remission, Jake’s experience left him with questions: what exactly enables people to overcome adversity? Are we born with these skills, or are they trainable? And if so, what does it take to create people able to not only recover, but to grow from immense setbacks?
Following his study in positive psychology, Jake has shared his work with over 100,000 people, through thousands of presentations across dozens of cities. He has developed resilience strategies for corporations, organisations, and schools across the globe, educating audiences ranging from elite athletes to children in outback towns, Fortune 500 CEOs to prison inmates, and foreign governments to retirement homes on evidence-based tools to enable us to most effectively overcome the challenges we all face in life.
His work is especially focused on creating resilient young people, and how we can best prepare the next generation to not only cope, but thrive, in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

He has worked with nearly 200 schools across New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Portugal, and Myanmar, to equip not only students, but educators, parents, and communities with these skills.
Jake is driven by having himself seen the powerful impact that resilience has had on his own life both during and post-cancer, and consequently knowing the potential which these trainable and attainable skills can have on the success and happiness of others.