From Potential to Performance: Career Coaching Secrets with Ben Renshaw

In this episode of career coaching secrets our guest is Ben Renshaw, a seasoned professional and thought leader who shares valuable insights on leadership, career growth, and building long-term professional impact, drawing from his real-world experience to help listeners navigate career transitions, develop confidence, and make intentional decisions that align with their goals, whether they are emerging professionals or experienced leaders looking to level up.

You can find him on:

https://www.benrenshaw.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-renshaw/

Transcript

Ben Renshaw: 0:00

Probably about 20 years ago, I was so my mentor was the coach to the CEO of at the time the largest hospitality company in the world, IHG, Intercontinental Hotels Group, that they they now have 25, 30 brands. So you got now you've got Marriott Hilton and IHG, but at the time they were the largest in terms of number of rooms. And they uh and and my so my mentor was coaching their CEO, a remarkable man called Andy, whose background was branding and marketing. And he came into the organization, which was basically about numbers, and he created a core purpose for the organization, Great Hotels, Guest Love. And it coincided with the change in the strategy where they were going asset light, they were selling off all hotels across the world and putting the guest at the heart of the business. And little did I know, I came in and with a colleague, they were looking at the next version of their senior leadership development. And we created a program called Leading with Purpose.

Davis Nguyen : 1:03

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight-figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein: 1:34

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Ben Renshaw, one of today's leading voices on modern leadership, a speaker, executive coach, and author of 11 books, including How to Be a CEO, Purpose, and Super Coaching. He explores how leaders can succeed in a volatile, fast-changing world. His work bridges purpose and performance, and his advised senior leaders and organizations ranging from global corporations to entrepreneurial networks. Through his coaching and keynotes, Ben helps leaders build sustainable growth while staying grounded in what truly matters. Welcome to the show, Ben.

Ben Renshaw: 2:18

Thank you, Pedro. You you've done your research. That was a wonderful little summary.

Pedro Stein: 2:27

I appreciate it. It's great having you, Ben. And I like to rewind a bit, you know. I'm a sucker for the origin story. So every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, you know what? I guess this is what I'm doing now. And I know we were talking pre-podcast, you're more than 25 years in the game. So when was that for you, that shift?

unknown: 2:47

Yeah.

Ben Renshaw: 2:49

Absolutely. And I I do think the origins they they are significant and they play a part. So I'm I'm gonna rewind right to the beginning because I actually grew up and spent my entire education as a classical musician. I was a classical violin player, and I grew up at this little international music school called the Yehudi Menuin School, and we had 45 children from all over the world, and my father was my headmaster. Little did I know. So it was a very, very high-performing elite environment. We had children from all over the world at the time. We had the only children from mainland China studying in the West. We had children from India, South America, America, you're all over. And um, I think the skills that I really learned there, a lot of them still really apply to my life as a coach. However, music was not for me, and I remember a very distinct moment. I left I left school and I was going to music college in London, but I took a break, I took a gap year. And in music, you don't do that, you just keep going, keep practicing. But I went traveling and I had I had my backpack and my violin, and I remember a moment sitting down on the Mediterranean ocean overlooking uh in early January. So every all my friends were back in London studying in the cold and the gray, and I had this incredible experience of freedom, and I realized there's more to life than playing the violin. It took me a few more years though to stumble into the world of coaching, and it was really that I always had an interest in people and problems, and I thought if I put the two together, I'd be happy. So I did all my original training in America with a very eclectic mix to development, came back to the UK, and actually my first project was with a colleague, and we set up something called the Happiness Project on the back of our National Health Service, which in the UK, to look at happiness and well-being in a nation of misery and complaints, it was a very, very different reality. I was then very fortunate. We started getting invitations into organizations, and then I got drafted onto the coaching faculty for a big major global uh coaching program for a defense aerospace company. And the master coach on that became my mentor, my coach, the co-author of super coaching, and Graham Alexander was the originator of business coaching in Europe. So I was very fortunate, way before my time, I was played in at the C-suite level, didn't really know what I was doing, and but I was working with incredible clients, developing coaches, learning to be a coach, and I just completely fell in love with the whole methodology and philosophy of coaching.

Pedro Stein: 5:49

I love the fact that your father was uh your headmaster too, you know, that dynamic is always interesting to see, right? Father and son. And I like the footsteps, sounds organic, right? And natural. So when did it shift from you know, I'm helping people to I'm building a real business around this now?

unknown: 6:09

Yeah.

Ben Renshaw: 6:12

Um, I I think the shift to the business. I it's it's interesting when you ask that because I still regard myself as an artist. And and for me, coaching is an art. I mean, yes, it's a science, but it's an art. And I absolutely see my coaching as an expression of my art. And I give you an example. I I'm I'm very fortunate to be working with an organization at the moment, Hermes, the retailer. And their their origins and their heritage is in craftsmanship, and they absolutely perceive that I mean, they have two and a half thousand craftsmen in France making every product by hand. It's it's amazing. And in fact, their leadership, they describe their leadership as leading with art. So I actually really get my energy, and what I love is a much more artistic way of being. And now that absolutely has translated into a business, and I feel incredibly blessed and privileged to work with incredible clients all over the world and express my art through coaching. But I guess as a business, I'm really putting a form around that. Probably about 20 years ago, I was so my mentor was the coach to the CEO of at the time the largest hospitality company in the world, IHG, Intercontinental Hotels Group, that they they now have 25, 30 brands. So you got now you've got Marriott Hilton and IHG, but at the time they were the largest in terms of number of rooms. And they uh and and my so my mentor was coaching their CEO, a remarkable man called Andy, whose background was branding and marketing. And he came into the organization, which was basically about numbers, and he created a core purpose for the organization, Great Hotels, Guest Love. And it coincided with the change in the strategy where they were going asset light, they were selling off all hotels across the world and putting the guest at the heart of the business. And little did I know, I came in and with a colleague, they were looking at the next version of their senior leadership development. And we created a program called Leading with Purpose, and I was very privileged to run that for 10 years, coaching and developing a thousand leaders globally, including the exec committee. And and that, I guess that really that really formed at scale my business, but also really impacting a very big global corporation as well. So that that probably was the origins of the formation of my business from that perspective.

Pedro Stein: 9:06

Okay. I love the fact that we're in 2025 and we're talking about AI, mass production, obviously, and you're here telling me you're an artist and you want to be customizing, you know, the experience. I love that. So after you got rolling, you know, just so I can understand, who who are the people that kept showing up? You know, the ones you realize, okay, these are my people. And the reason I asked this is because you've been long enough, and I've seen coaches and talk to coaches all the time. And sometimes we see them trying to, how can I say this, embrace the entire world, you know, uh trying to help everyone, which is great. But sometimes we see people niching down or trying to find their own tribe. So, how how did that play out for you?

Ben Renshaw: 9:50

Yeah, I think the how that played out was I was very fortunate. So I was working with IHG and they were going through a transition succession in terms of the next CEO. And I was invited to coach the incoming CEO, uh, a gentleman called Richard. And he he'd been the CFO, global head of strategy, and we met, and he described himself as a reluctant leader. He he was um he described himself as a technocrat. So he was revered in the finance world and finance community, very strategic, but leading, inspiring, providing direction, fronting an organization with a different experience. So we we worked together, and thankfully he was successful coming into role. And and I so loved that experience of being very privileged and fortunate to coach a global CEO, that that began to put my attention and focus on where I'm best and where I want to spend my time is C-suite level. And I really cemented that when I wrote How to Be a CEO because I'm fascinated by the journey to CEO and being a CEO. It's completely unique, and it's a bit like becoming a parent. You can read the books and you can have the theory, but until you go through that process and you have that child in your arms, it you know, that there's nothing like it. And I remember Richard recounting that the day he took over the organization and he drove into the car park and he went up to the office and he overlooked, you know, and he suddenly realized the dawning realization the buck stops with me. I am now fully accountable for 350,000 colleagues globally, for thousands of owners, for all the shareholders, all the state, I mean the board, that that is a remarkable position. So I then wrote how to be a CEO, and I've just really doubled down in terms of the best use of me, and I I'm very clear on this, is it that C-suite, in particular with aspiring leaders? And I I just find the I think the the intellectual challenge of coaching and operating at that level. I thrive on that. It's complex, it's challenging, it's ambiguous, it there's a lot of uncertainty. You've got to be very comfortable at that space. You're asking big questions to drive big value, create big impact. I love that stuff, and and uh, and that definitely gets the best out of me.

Pedro Stein: 12:44

I mean, I love the the parenting analogy, you know, because it resonates so much with me. I'm a I'm a father of two kids, and the first one I was like, okay, let's study about this, you know, and the ins and outs of being a parent. And then the first I'm gonna, you know, or we put him in the tub, and hey, let's let's take a bath. The first I I was just exhausted. I was like, oh my god, am I gonna drown him? Um am I doing something wrong? So yeah, the the the you know, the ins and outs are really putting the skin in the game, you know, you need to be there just to experience that sometimes. And okay, I mean that's the coaching side. Now let's talk about the part nobody escapes, right? Which is marketing. And I know you you you publish multi multiple books. I know the next one is Beyond Profit. You just published it, right? But how do people usually find you?

Ben Renshaw: 13:34

It's a great question. Look, my career is it has been entirely based on relationship, and candidly, whenever I've invested in proactive marketing, I I would not be able to tell you the return. So I have come to the conclusion for me, and this is very personal, and it's just for me, that my best form of marketing is relationship. I'm very fortunate that my clients literally I can track them over 25 years. What tends to happen is leaders I coach, they go elsewhere, they take me with them. So I'll give you a very good example at the moment. So I was, in fact, one of my very, very first clients was the head of talent in telecommunications. She then left and went into aviation into Heathrow Airport, so our national airport, and brought me in there at least 15 years ago. And I started by running high potential leadership programs. I was then very fortunate to coach the delivery team for the they were building a new terminal, Terminal 2. So it was a two and a half billion pound program. It was our late Queen's Terminal, so it was named in her honor, and she was coming to open the terminal. And I remember this to the day. Delivery day was June the 14th, 2000, June the 4th, 2014. She was coming to open on the 27th of June. And I was caught fortunately coached that team, and it was successful. And on the back of that, I then went, it got scaled up to the whole organization, the work we were doing. That delivery director then went to another organization called Transport for London, which run our integrated network, London Underground, our bus service. It's the largest integrated network in the world. And that was about eight to ten years ago. He brought me in, even just yesterday. I was with his successor, uh, the director of London Underground. So I literally, once I'm in an organization, obviously it needs to work, you need to add value. But once you're doing that and you really build relationships and it grows, and then people take me with them. The books, I so I always wanted to write a book, but I I was not an academic. And you referenced my relationship with my father, who is an academic, so he's a professor, and but I am an educationalist at heart, so I'm a lifelong learner. Everything for me is about learning and development. So probably about 25 years ago, I had this idea. I want to write a book, no idea how to do it, but I'm reasonable at talking. So I managed to talk my way into my first book contract, and then I was contracted to write 60,000 words. I had no idea what I was doing. I don't so I went and I remember I read 120,000 words and had to just trash them, bin them because it was, but it was an amazing process, and I had this wonderful editor that just said, keep going, keep going, keep going. And as you say, I I you know, I can't remember 11 or 12 books now, and I and I am known, I I have my reputation is obviously now associated with my writing, but I've also gone deeper, and what I'm really known for is purpose, and that is just something that I have a fundamental belief in. I think understanding your why is one of the most important things in life, in work, in relationships. In my humble experience, most people haven't truly, truly gone on a meaningful enough inquiry to have a purpose, an enduring purpose, which provides their life with meaning and energy and impact. So, and I just and I I just keep writing about that in various ways. And the last book, Beyond Profit, it was a great collaboration with two academics, because I'm not an academic, but two academics, one who specializes in the well-being economy, and one who specializes in the governance of purpose-driven organizations. So, I what I also do when I write is I bring in skills that I don't have in order to get a much, much better outcome.

Pedro Stein: 18:14

I like that. And I especially like the white glove treatment, uh, backtracking 25 years for some customers and having and having ways to manage that. I really like that. And okay, now let's talk business for a second, right? So people find you either through your books or networking or a referral, right? So they resonate with your work and eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. So everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, Ben, what what does that experience look like right now?

unknown: 18:48

Yeah.

Ben Renshaw: 18:49

So my again, this is my preferred way of working, is and and and I'll describe this in terms of the the C-suite level. Because my my again, when you talk who's your tribe and who you work with, uh, I will always the the best use of me, C-suite level, big organizations that have budget. So with that, I will, it's a one-year program, and then I will contract to work with that leader on a monthly basis. So we'll have a monthly two-hour session, preferably in person, but I work globally, so of course that's not always the case. Um, and then what I will then do is they I they will have access to me. So again, my preference and to get the best out of me, it's a very live relationship. So it's not like I would just see you, Pedro, once a month and then goodbye. I I'm close. I'm close if they've got big milestones, uh, if they've got a lot going on. So I'll give you an example. Yesterday, I'm coaching a CEO whose business just got sold. The investors are coming in, they're in their next. Week. I'm like, I'm here for you. Anything, just text me, call me. You need me, I'm here. Yeah. Uh, and it's a very dynamic, very live way of working. I will track my clients in between. I know what's going on. I'm very close to that. Every is subject to so certainly at the outset of a new client relationship, I will conduct a bespoke 360 feedback. So I will ask them to nominate eight to ten nominees, line manager, peers, direct reports, others to get a really rounded picture. I will agree with the client what they would like feedback on. I will go out, I will then conduct interviews, I will then collate that report. That is a foundational piece of our work. What we will always do is contract to very specific outcomes of the coaching. So the ROI, how will we know what that will look like? And we really evidence that and we track that. Again, subject to the relationship, my preference is to always have a three-way conversation with the leader and their direct report, usually the CEO. If it's the CEO, then sometimes the chair. And again, what we will do that will drive clarity and alignment in terms of the outcomes and the agenda. Obviously, the conversations that I have are then confidential. So it's a very robust, you know, one-year program. That that's the primary offer. What I also do is I do a lot of executive team coaching, which again is a is a different methodology. So what I will then do is I will then work on what I call 90-day sprints. So if I'm working with an exec team, we will be contracted for a year. I will be with that team once a quarter, preferably for two days. Each quarter as well, I'll have a one-on-one with each team member, which is split two ways. One, I'll do a diagnostic. So I'll get insight and feedback about the team, about their leadership, about ways of working, about the results. And then I'll also have a 30-minute one-on-one conversation about their own development. I'm not their coach, so this would be supplementary to any coaching they have, but it's the context of the exec team and their leadership. And then the third program I run is leadership development programs. So these again, uh I give you an example at the moment where with one client, I have a three-year contract. I'm developing all hundred leaders in the business, and I have in a year, I have two days. So I have a day, and then six months later, another day. But we have a leadership management conference of three days in between.

Pedro Stein: 22:55

Okay. I mean, your work seems pretty hands-on. We're talking about one-on-ones, we're talking about executive team coaching and your third program. Okay. I know it's not that often, but it happens too. So, how do you think about capacity so you don't stretch yourself too thin?

Ben Renshaw: 23:12

Now, Pedro, this is this has always been my challenge. So I used I was in partnerships for 20 years, coaching, coaching partnerships. And candidly, I I burnt out on partnerships because when my experience, when you're in a partnership and you're trying to drive the business and run the partnership, it's about 40% of your time. So it's a very internal focus. Uh, and I just reached a point where I'm like, I my love and my passion and my energy and drive came from serving clients directly. So that was a strategic choice to then actually just come back to Ben Renshaw. Absolutely knowing that my the risk of that is capacity. So, what I do is when I need capacity, I then work with associates. So, I'll give you an example. The the client I mentioned, Transport for London. So we that's that program has run for seven years. We've scaled it to a thousand leaders in the business, but I just work with the top 20 to 30, and then I work with a consultancy that have other coaches and they do the rollout. Okay. So when when I need capacity and scale, I have to partner.

Pedro Stein: 24:33

Okay, you know, Ben, one thing every coach wrestles with at some point is pricing, and we don't need to talk hard numbers here, okay? And and how to package their work, especially because you've been so long in the game, you know. So, how do you think it about today? Because we see a lot of coaches that they struggle, you know. Sometimes it's a self-worth path that they take. Oh, am I worth to charge X or not? You know, it's kind of a mindset thing sometimes. Uh, so I want to understand there were any were there any lessons along the way that shaped how you landed where you were?

Ben Renshaw: 25:08

A lot of lessons. I um so look, initially, I I I completely resonate in terms of confidence but also capability, and I and I I think where I've landed is mindset is not enough, you know. Just to tell yourself, well, you're worth a thousand hour or whatever. No, I'm sorry. For me, the only way that I have built my credibility and my reputation and my value and what I can charge is based on feedback, on client evidence, evidence-based. The only way, so much for me, confidence is an outcome, it's an outcome of capability and results. And you put capability and results together. So, an example, so IHG, a thousand leaders, ten years, leading with purpose, seeing succession, seeing promotions, seeing the impact on the organization, seeing the ability to translate strategy to action, the impact on the share price, knowing that the quality of leadership had a direct impact on that. Heathrow, two and a half billion pound program, the Queen's Terminal opening on time on budget. No terminal in the history of terminals has ever opened on time on budget. Um, I could go on and on. I most recently uh I love chocolate, and we'll I've been very fortunate to work with a chocolate brand. When that CEO went in seven years ago, the the ambition was double the company, a billion-dollar company in seven years. Nobody believed it. We build that management and leadership capability, being purpose-led, collaboration, working together, talent manager excellence, building all talent management. They hit, they surpassed a billion last week. So for me, I and then my books. I'm very, very fortunate that I what I do is I interview leaders for my books, and then I ask them for testimonials. So it's like, don't don't ask me. I don't ask my client. So when I am so, an example, I remember with with Hermes, the retailer, the incredible client and the managing director, wonderful man, but he really wanted uh he wanted evidence on me. So it's so I just referred him to two or three, to two, two two CEOs and one chief people officer, and just said, speak to them, speak to them, get get feedback on me. So I and I think if you put all of that together, now the way I operate is I I have a day rate, I cost things on that. Um because of what I offer, because I I have multiple offerings, leadership development, which are they're bigger programs, longer term, my exec team development, my exec coaching, it allows me more flexibility in in terms of you know what I do. And um, so I have some clients that I've worked with for years, they're they're on a 40% reduction from 15 years ago to today because my commitment and my loyalty to them and knowing the benefit that I've received, and it's a tough climate out there, it's really tough. So I I'm I'm quite adaptable and and that for me, but that is just a very personal approach that's worked for me.

Pedro Stein: 28:52

I like the fact that you're you're connecting your self-worth to reality, you know. I love that that's too evidence. So I mean that's a solid look and how to approach pricing structure. Now I'm curious, Ben, about where you're taking all this, right? Looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there is there a next step you're excited about?

unknown: 29:15

Yeah.

Ben Renshaw: 29:16

Well, I got my I I I've just submitted my next book contract this week. Uh so it's it's uh working title future leadership, what's next and how to lead it. And and that's another collaboration with potentially one of the uh the leading consultancies in the world that do who have empirical research around mega trends and the future. So I'm really excited about looking at the future of leadership, capability required, what does that mean and look like? So my writing takes me into the future. So that's number one. In in terms of the work um and my business, I um I think I I the the space that I love the most is aspiring CEOs, aspire, very ambitious leaders. And I give you an example. I was invited to run a workshop in India in New Delhi in January of this year called Lead Like a CEO. And there's a um a very, very established coach and entrepreneur in India who read how to be a CEO, reached out to me. Um, so I think one bit I'm very excited about is just continued that kind of global reach. So I love uh like with the IHG, I was very global. I spent a huge amount of time in Asia Pacific and America. Since COVID, that's really changed. But I have an amazing client in Dubai. There's an organizer there that wants to spread my work and do retreats in uh Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and then if with India. So I think one dimension is definitely the global footprint, continuing to impact that. Another would absolutely be the aspiring leaders, and really, because that's a space I so believe in because they have such influence in terms of next generation. I do think a lot about you know the digital world. And I, as an example, I sat down this week with a branding marketing guru. He's actually a client of mine, and had that conversation because that in fact, one of my clients suggested that I create something called the School of Purpose. And this would be an online digital offer. There's actually a very similar model called the School of Life, which is led by a philosopher, and and it would be all things purpose, you know, purpose for life, relationships, work. But I would really need a strategic partner, digital partner that had that capability. Because one thing I've really learned is play to your strengths. Like I'm not, you know, I know what I'm best at. I'm not a businessman, I'm not a digital guru, I'm a I'm a world-class coach, and and and I'm gonna spend my time there. And I'm brilliant at originating content and programs and customization, all of that. That that's so so, therefore, for me, I'm I'm all so I I'm very open to collaborations, and I think I'm at a point where I'd rather we're in partnership and collaboration than build the business like that. I love that.

Pedro Stein: 32:39

You know, it's sometimes I I talk with a coach yesterday on the podcast, and he was like, you know what? I want to be something like the dentist, you know, he just sits down 20 minutes with a client and let the ops and all of that being taken care of off his plates, but he loves what he does, you know. He doesn't want to be like a hands-off owner totally, right? I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for, but it's some it kind of remember me.

Ben Renshaw: 33:06

I absolutely I I mean, if you said, look, Ben, scale your business, you know, develop you know, 20-30 coaches, have them all out there, you know, selling purpose and leadership development. I I like the idea of it, and and and I, you know, but it's just not me. And I and and I appreciate the trade-off with that because you know, I know leadership consultances that that have done incredibly well, they've sold, they've scaled, but but that's that business skill set that is not me.

Pedro Stein: 33:41

Okay, yeah, I like the transparency too. Ben, and if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

Ben Renshaw: 33:52

So the best way is just LinkedIn, you know, Ben Renshaw, so on a LinkedIn. I don't know the exact uh domain, but um that and uh I'm very active on LinkedIn, so that'd be great. Also visit the website benrenshaw.com, but that's a bit more of a holding site than it. I'm not I'm not live there. So LinkedIn is live.

Pedro Stein: 34:15

Okay, you know, there were a few things you shared today that really stuck with me, you know. As your father being the headmaster, I also have a father that I kind of followed his steps in a way, so I can resonate with that. I love the fact that you also have a music background. That's I would call it unusual for coaching, you know. Uh, but coaching, you know, you never know. Sometimes we see people from all over, but I really like that, very unique, you know. And also that you see yourself as an artist, you know, at heart. I love that too. And I also want to highlight the fact that you talked your way into a book, right? And then we're gonna figure out what what we're gonna do. I really like that. So very authentic, you know. Uh, you're not trying to play an act or something like that, it's just Ben Renshaw being Ben Renshaw. So I love that. And I appreciate what you do, Ben. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Ben Renshaw: 35:10

Pedro, look, I uh you're doing wonderful work, and it it's I really appreciate you reaching out and having a conversation. Because actually, every time you know I have a conversation like this, I learn. It's good for me, it tests my thinking. And where am I, where am I going, what's meaningful, what matters. So let's definitely keep in touch and it'd be great to hear from your audience and continue the conversation.

Davis Nguyen : 35:40

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.