E69 - Ben Francis: How to step back to take a leap forward

Ben Francis is the founder and ambitious entrepreneur behind leading UK fitness brand, Gymshark.

Ben founded Gymshark when he was 19, while still a student at Aston University. In addition to his full-time commitment to his studies, Ben juggled working as a pizza delivery man to fund his Gymshark venture. In August 2020, Gymshark became the first DTC brand in the UK to achieve Unicorn status (valuation over $1 billion) with no external capital funding. 

Ben recently announced he is returning to the helm of the company as CEO as the brand looks to expand in the US and Asia.

**

We have a brand new newsletter out for our members club THE HIGH PERFORMANCE CIRCLE! This month we have exclusive content including: 

Keynote: Winning when it’s impossible - Cath Bishop

High Performance Boosts:

* Mindset in Conflict zones - Hamish de Breton-Gordon

* Self-belief is Like a Muscle - Ben Saunders

Exclusive Podcast: Ric Lewis. Ric Lewis shared for the first time his 12 principles to a successful life and business

Go to www.thehighperformancepodcast.com to sign up for FREE! 

Want more from the High Performance Podcast? We have a book coming out! PRE-ORDER NOW: smarturl.it/hv0sdz

A big thanks to our founding partners Lotus Cars for their continued support. Look out for big plans around Goodwood Festival of Speed coming next weekend! Thanks also to GIVEMESPORT - the exclusive sports partner of the High Performance Podcast. To gain further access to editorial and social content from the Podcast click here https://www.givemesport.com/podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

### Summary: Lessons from the Founder of Gymshark, Ben Francis

Ben Francis, the founder of Gymshark, shares his insights on entrepreneurship, building a successful business, and the importance of company culture.

**Key Points:**

- **Drive and Desire:** Ben's drive to make a difference stems from his competitive nature and passion for fitness. He was determined to create something meaningful and impactful.


- **Passion for Making Things:** Ben's interest in tech and making things, particularly websites and apps, led him to combine his love for fitness and technology, eventually resulting in the creation of Gymshark.


- **Starting Small:** Ben emphasizes the importance of setting realistic goals and not aiming for immediate billion-dollar outcomes. He focused on involvement in the fitness industry, which eventually led to Gymshark's success.


- **The Power of Collaboration:** Ben realized the value of involving others with different skill sets to complement his own strengths and weaknesses. He learned to delegate and trust his team members to excel in their respective roles.


- **Importance of Strong Leadership:** Ben highlights the significance of strong leadership in creating a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. He emphasizes the need to galvanize a team in a certain direction and ensure everyone is on board with the company's vision.


- **Learning from Mistakes:** Ben acknowledges the importance of learning from mistakes and adapting accordingly. He experienced challenges, such as a website crash during Black Friday, which taught him the importance of a strong operational foundation.


- **The Role of Intuition and Risk-Taking:** Ben credits intuition and a willingness to take calculated risks as key factors in Gymshark's success. He emphasizes the importance of blending intuition with a strong appetite for risk to drive business growth.


- **Focus on Company Culture:** Ben stresses the significance of company culture, which he learned from his colleague Steve. He emphasizes transparency, accessibility of leadership, and a people-centric approach to avoid the pitfalls of a toxic work environment.


- **Surrounding Yourself with Talented People:** Ben acknowledges the importance of surrounding himself with talented individuals who complement his skills and expertise. He credits the contributions of his team members for Gymshark's achievements.


- **Adapting to Changing Circumstances:** Ben discusses the challenges of adapting to changing circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for businesses to be agile and resilient in the face of adversity.

**Overall Message:**

Ben Francis' journey with Gymshark highlights the importance of passion, collaboration, strong leadership, learning from mistakes, taking calculated risks, fostering a positive company culture, and surrounding oneself with talented individuals. He emphasizes the need for businesses to adapt to changing circumstances and remain resilient in the face of challenges.

**Navigating Change While Staying True to Your Core:**

Ben Francis, the founder and CEO of Gymshark, emphasizes the importance of culture and transparency in building a successful business. He believes that being open and accessible to customers, the community, and employees creates a sense of trust and loyalty. Francis highlights the significance of identifying and adhering to core values that define the company's identity. These values, such as humility, transparency, and a customer-centric approach, have been instrumental in Gymshark's growth and success.

**Maintaining Humility and Empathy:**

Francis stresses the virtue of humility, acknowledging that successful people often struggle with insecurities and concerns. He emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding that everyone has inherent value, regardless of their position or achievements. By fostering a culture of humility and empathy, Francis aims to create a positive and supportive work environment at Gymshark.

**Embracing Responsibility and Continuous Improvement:**

Francis believes that accepting responsibility is crucial for personal and professional growth. He encourages taking on more responsibilities to develop oneself and improve the business. By investing in personal development, relationships, and the community, Francis strives to make a positive impact and drive Gymshark's success.

**Overcoming Challenges and Seeking Feedback:**

Francis acknowledges his struggles with public speaking and his initial discomfort with media attention. He emphasizes the importance of seeking feedback, both positive and negative, to identify areas for improvement. He credits a 360-feedback exercise with helping him recognize his weaknesses and促使他采取行动来改善自己。

**Setting Clear Goals and Utilizing Resources:**

Francis highlights the effectiveness of setting clear goals and targets for personal and professional development. He explains how identifying specific areas for improvement and creating a tangible list of actions helped him overcome challenges and achieve his objectives. He also emphasizes the value of utilizing available resources, such as public speaking coaches, to accelerate his growth.

**Balancing Passion with Responsibility as a CEO:**

Francis discusses the transition from Founder to CEO and the challenges of balancing his passion for certain aspects of the business with the responsibilities of being a chief executive. He recognizes the need to maintain transparency and effectively communicate strategy to his team while also dedicating time to areas that may not excite him as much.

**Finding Meaning and Fulfillment through Responsibility:**

Francis expresses his love for his work and the inspiration he draws from the positive impact Gymshark has had on people's lives. He believes that taking on responsibility and making a difference in the world brings meaning and fulfillment to his life. He emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with talented individuals who can contribute to personal and professional growth.

**The Role of Wealth and Success in Happiness:**

Francis reflects on the relationship between wealth and happiness, acknowledging that there is a point where money can provide choice and opportunities. However, he cautions against the assumption that wealth alone can lead to happiness. He emphasizes the significance of focusing on things that bring personal fulfillment, such as taking care of loved ones, giving back to the community, and pursuing meaningful endeavors.

**Podcast Episode Summary: Navigating the Challenges of Entrepreneurial Success with Ben Francis, Founder of Gymshark**

In this episode of the High Performance Podcast, host Jake Humphrey engages in a candid conversation with Ben Francis, the founder of the leading UK fitness brand Gymshark.

Ben's journey as an entrepreneur began at the age of 19 while he was still a student at Aston University. Despite the demands of his studies, he juggled working as a pizza delivery man to fund his Gymshark venture. In August 2020, Gymshark became the first DTC brand in the UK to achieve Unicorn status (valuation over $1 billion) with no external capital funding.

Ben recently announced his return to the helm of the company as CEO, aiming to expand Gymshark's presence in the US and Asia.

**Key Insights from the Podcast:**

* **The Importance of Self-Awareness:** Ben emphasizes the significance of self-awareness in identifying areas for improvement and adapting to changing circumstances. He acknowledges his tendency to speak impulsively and is actively working to become more thoughtful in his communication.

* **Embracing a Growth Mindset:** Ben believes in the power of a growth mindset, constantly seeking opportunities for self-development. He encourages individuals to learn from everyone they meet and to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth.

* **Balancing Ambition and Personal Fulfillment:** Ben reflects on the substantial financial offers he received for Gymshark, which would have allowed him to retire early. However, his passion for the business and the positive impact it has on people's lives outweighs his desire for personal wealth.

* **The Value of Self-Care:** Ben emphasizes the importance of taking time for self-care and rest to maintain high performance. He recognizes the need to protect his time and prioritize activities that contribute to his overall well-being.

* **The Power of Humility:** Ben highlights the importance of humility in leadership. He believes that leaders should be open to learning from others and willing to admit their mistakes. He also emphasizes the significance of accessibility and transparency in building a strong company culture.

* **The Entrepreneurial Journey:** Ben acknowledges the challenges and sacrifices involved in the entrepreneurial journey. He encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to trust their gut, embrace calculated risks, and learn from their failures.

* **The Importance of Non-Negotiables:** Ben shares his three non-negotiables for high performance: open-mindedness, a focus on self-development, and humility. He believes that these qualities are essential for achieving success in any endeavor.

* **The Golden Rule for High-Performance Living:** Ben's golden rule for living a high-performance life is simple: prioritize self-development. He encourages individuals to understand who they are, where they want to be, and take daily steps to bridge the gap between the two.

**Overall, the conversation with Ben Francis offers valuable insights into the mindset, strategies, and challenges involved in building a successful business while maintaining a balanced and fulfilling life.**

**Summary of the Podcast Episode:**

**Podcast Title:** The High Performance Podcast
**Episode Title:** Ben Francis - Founder of Gymshark
**Guest:** Ben Francis, Founder and CEO of Gymshark

**Overview:**

In this episode, Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes engage in a captivating conversation with Ben Francis, the founder and CEO of Gymshark, a leading UK fitness brand. Ben shares his inspiring journey of building Gymshark from a small startup to a multi-million dollar company. He emphasizes the significance of perseverance, adaptability, and customer-centricity in achieving business success.

**Key Points:**

1. **Humble Beginnings:**
- Ben started Gymshark while he was a student at Aston University, juggling his studies with working as a pizza delivery man to fund his venture.

2. **Rapid Growth and Success:**
- Gymshark achieved remarkable growth, becoming the first DTC (direct-to-consumer) brand in the UK to reach Unicorn status (valuation over $1 billion) with no external capital funding.

3. **Customer-Centric Approach:**
- Ben highlights the importance of listening to customer feedback and adapting products and services accordingly. He believes that understanding customer needs is crucial for a brand's success.

4. **Adaptability and Innovation:**
- Ben emphasizes the need for businesses to be adaptable and innovative in a rapidly changing market landscape. He stresses the importance of constantly evolving and staying ahead of the curve.

5. **Return to Leadership:**
- Ben recently announced his return as CEO of Gymshark, aiming to expand the brand's presence in the US and Asia.

6. **High Performance Circle Newsletter:**
- The podcast team promotes their new newsletter, "The High Performance Circle," which features exclusive content, including keynote speeches, high-performance boosts, and interviews with influential individuals.

7. **Upcoming Book:**
- Jake and Damian announce the upcoming release of their book, encouraging listeners to pre-order it.

8. **Gratitude and Appreciation:**
- The hosts express gratitude to their founding partners, Lotus Cars, and GIVEMESPORT for their continued support.

9. **Call to Action:**
- The hosts encourage listeners to spread the word about the podcast, share it with friends and colleagues, and leave positive reviews.

**Conclusion:**

The episode provides valuable insights into the world of entrepreneurship and business success through the journey of Ben Francis and Gymshark. It emphasizes the importance of customer-centricity, adaptability, and innovation in achieving remarkable growth and maintaining a competitive edge in the market. The podcast also promotes the "High Performance Circle" newsletter and the upcoming book, offering listeners access to exclusive content and expert perspectives.

[00:00.000 -> 00:04.800] Another week, another high performance podcast.
[00:04.800 -> 00:06.000] Hi there, it's Jake here.
[00:06.000 -> 00:09.200] Welcome along to a conversation that I really hope you're going
[00:09.200 -> 00:12.300] to get a lot from because you're about to hear from one of the
[00:12.300 -> 00:18.600] most if not the most successful young British businessmen ever.
[00:19.000 -> 00:24.000] Today, lessons from the founder of Gymshark, Ben Francis.
[00:26.400 -> 00:29.600] That was a moment where it almost felt like everything around me just stopped,
[00:29.600 -> 00:31.600] time just stopped and it was almost like an ego death.
[00:31.600 -> 00:34.800] And I thought, right, whatever is in that 360 feedback,
[00:34.800 -> 00:38.800] I am going to list down and I, by any means necessary,
[00:38.800 -> 00:39.600] I'm going to improve that.
[00:39.600 -> 00:42.400] And that was a moment when I had to reinvent myself.
[00:42.400 -> 00:46.320] So this is a really interesting time actually for us to hear from Ben because it was only
[00:46.320 -> 00:51.160] announced a few days ago that he stepped back into the CEO role at Gymshark and this is
[00:51.160 -> 00:55.400] the first interview that he's agreed to do to talk about that change in his career.
[00:55.400 -> 00:59.820] So first of all, massive thanks to Gymshark, huge thanks to Ben as well for coming on and
[00:59.820 -> 01:05.380] sharing so much and no matter what your career is, your job, your business, what point you're
[01:05.380 -> 01:09.620] at in your life, I promise you will get so much from what you're about to hear from Ben.
[01:09.620 -> 01:14.140] So grab a pen, grab some paper and get ready for a conversation with him.
[01:14.140 -> 01:18.560] Can I please just really quickly remind you that it's, uh, it's getting to an exciting
[01:18.560 -> 01:23.580] stage for Damien and I with our high performance book, which I think we're, I think we're about
[01:23.580 -> 01:28.240] 99% of the way there. The book is out in December and if you want to pre-order the book you'll be
[01:28.240 -> 01:31.520] the first to get it and you can do that just by clicking the link in this
[01:31.520 -> 01:36.600] podcast but keep on enjoying the podcast please keep on sharing and talking about
[01:36.600 -> 01:40.520] it thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people who downloaded and listened
[01:40.520 -> 01:50.280] last week I really hope you get a lot from today's episode. Our conversation with the founder of Gymshark and the new CEO of Gymshark,
[01:50.280 -> 01:54.760] Ben Francis, comes next.
[01:54.760 -> 01:59.240] At Fred Meyer, shopping with pickup and delivery is the same as shopping in
[01:59.240 -> 02:04.760] store. Same low prices, deals and rewards on the same high-quality items. It's one
[02:04.760 -> 02:05.360] small click
[02:05.360 -> 02:09.840] for groceries, one big win for busy families everywhere. Start your card today
[02:09.840 -> 02:14.880] at fredmeyer.com. Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone. Restrictions apply, see site for
[02:14.880 -> 02:19.080] details. And right now you can save when you shop your faves. Just buy six or more
[02:19.080 -> 02:23.080] participating sale items and save 50 cents each with your card. Fred Meyer,
[02:23.080 -> 02:27.680] fresh for everyone.
[02:32.000 -> 02:37.920] On our podcast we love to highlight businesses that are doing things a better way so you can live a better life and that's why when I found Mint Mobile I had to share. So Mint Mobile ditched
[02:37.920 -> 02:43.600] retail stores and all those overhead costs and instead sells their phone plans online and passes
[02:43.600 -> 02:48.920] those savings to you. And for a limited time they're passing on even more savings with a new customer
[02:48.920 -> 02:53.840] offer that cuts all Mint Mobile plans to $15 a month when you purchase a
[02:53.840 -> 03:01.880] three-month plan. That's unlimited talk, text and data for $15 a month. And by the
[03:01.880 -> 03:08.820] way the quality of Mint Mobile's wireless service in comparison to providers that we've worked with before is incredible.
[03:08.820 -> 03:14.080] Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans for 15 bucks a
[03:14.080 -> 03:18.100] month. So say goodbye to your overpriced wireless plans, those jaw-dropping
[03:18.100 -> 03:22.020] monthly bills, those unexpected overages because all the plans come with
[03:22.020 -> 03:30.640] unlimited talk and text and high- speed data delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan,
[03:30.640 -> 03:34.080] bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts.
[03:34.080 -> 03:38.700] So ditch overpriced wireless with Mint Mobile's limited time deal and get premium wireless
[03:38.700 -> 04:28.760] service for just $15 a month. To get this new customer offer and your new 3 month unlimited Before we get going, we can't start, see Mint Mobile for details. that they're announcing. It's an absolutely beautiful car. So as they prepare to say goodbye to the legendary Lotus Elise, it's time to meet a brand
[04:28.760 -> 04:33.040] new Lotus. You can find all the information at Lotus cars across social
[04:33.040 -> 04:38.000] media or log on to Lotus cars.com but without our founding partner there would
[04:38.000 -> 04:44.880] be no high-performance podcast. Thanks as always. Love you Lotus.
[04:42.860 -> 04:46.660] Thanks as always. Love you Lotus
[04:53.220 -> 04:55.220] Today we're joined by someone who I would say Damien is our most requested high-performance podcast guest So we often ask who do you want on the high-performance?
[04:55.460 -> 04:58.740] Podcast because we think it's great to listen to you and then react to what you say
[04:58.740 -> 05:06.120] And I would say 80% of the time people are saying please get Ben Francis from Gymshark on your podcast.
[05:06.120 -> 05:07.320] So that's exactly what we've done.
[05:07.320 -> 05:10.360] Ben, welcome along to High Performance.
[05:10.360 -> 05:12.900] A person who was studying, living their life
[05:12.900 -> 05:14.060] like a lot of young people do,
[05:14.060 -> 05:15.960] and I know you started sort of developing apps
[05:15.960 -> 05:17.400] and doing various business things,
[05:17.400 -> 05:19.200] but it's creating Gymshark,
[05:19.200 -> 05:21.720] which people love to talk about figures.
[05:21.720 -> 05:23.240] It was announced not too long ago
[05:23.240 -> 05:25.480] that the company's valued at over a billion pounds,
[05:25.480 -> 05:27.680] which made a lot of headlines and things.
[05:27.680 -> 05:29.280] And I think the reason why so many people
[05:29.280 -> 05:32.120] want to hear you talk is that old phrase,
[05:32.120 -> 05:33.440] if you see it, you can be it.
[05:33.440 -> 05:34.720] You know, people want to believe
[05:34.720 -> 05:36.240] that everything is out there for them,
[05:36.240 -> 05:37.640] and why shouldn't they?
[05:37.640 -> 05:41.000] So we'll get into the ins and outs of your mindset
[05:41.000 -> 05:44.040] and how you ended up sitting here talking to us today.
[05:44.040 -> 05:46.740] But we always start every episode of this podcast
[05:46.740 -> 05:48.420] with the same question.
[05:48.420 -> 05:51.020] What is high performance?
[05:51.020 -> 05:53.460] What is high performance to you?
[05:53.460 -> 05:55.180] To be honest, I was having to think about this
[05:55.180 -> 05:56.520] on the train down.
[05:57.540 -> 06:00.100] I feel like high performance is so many different things.
[06:00.100 -> 06:01.180] It's like a team that's greater
[06:01.180 -> 06:02.440] than the sum of their parts.
[06:02.440 -> 06:07.700] It's obviously a group or an individual that exceeds expectations and performs greater
[06:07.700 -> 06:08.900] than the average.
[06:08.900 -> 06:10.800] But yeah, for me, it's about having a team
[06:10.800 -> 06:12.600] that is truly greater than the sum of their parts.
[06:12.600 -> 06:15.000] They are truly cohesive and they're all moving
[06:15.000 -> 06:16.500] in the same direction.
[06:16.500 -> 06:17.800] You're almost the first person, I think,
[06:17.800 -> 06:20.400] that has taken that and straightaway put it on other people,
[06:20.400 -> 06:23.700] moved it to team rather than an individual answer.
[06:23.700 -> 06:28.540] But the truth is that this whole thing came from an individual desire that you had to be
[06:28.540 -> 06:32.660] different and to go and to go and make an impact. So before we get into where
[06:32.660 -> 06:35.500] Gymshark are now and all the amazing things that you've got going on at the
[06:35.500 -> 06:40.660] moment, can you just explain to us where this drive and this desire came from do
[06:40.660 -> 06:45.800] you think? As in my desire to grow businesses or... Your desire to create
[06:45.800 -> 06:50.000] them I suppose at the very beginning. So I'm not really sure so my both of my
[06:50.000 -> 06:55.080] grandparents ran their own business on my dad's side they ran like a local taxi
[06:55.080 -> 06:59.360] company on my mom's side my granddad lined furnaces he still does now and
[06:59.360 -> 07:04.560] that's sort of the first sort of job I had was working with him so I definitely
[07:04.560 -> 07:06.720] got a work ethic from those guys.
[07:06.720 -> 07:08.880] My parents as well, incredibly hard working.
[07:08.880 -> 07:11.440] My mom's worked in the NHS my entire life
[07:11.440 -> 07:14.180] up until about three weeks ago when she retired.
[07:14.180 -> 07:16.200] Dad, very, very hard working as well.
[07:16.200 -> 07:20.460] So I definitely got, you know, my work ethic
[07:20.460 -> 07:21.900] from those guys.
[07:21.900 -> 07:23.360] I think I'm definitely competitive as well.
[07:23.360 -> 07:28.600] So growing up, absolutely loved football, massively into into sport but I don't think I could say that
[07:28.600 -> 07:30.920] there's one specific place where it all came from.
[07:30.920 -> 07:35.280] So you went off to university and what were your aspirations from that from
[07:35.280 -> 07:39.800] that stage Ben? When I went to university, take a step back, when I did my GCSEs
[07:39.800 -> 07:44.440] which I didn't do particularly well at my GCSEs I was like averaging, I'd say
[07:44.440 -> 07:45.800] an average grade would be like a D.
[07:45.800 -> 07:47.720] I think the best, I think I got a B in English.
[07:47.720 -> 07:49.480] I've got no idea how I did that.
[07:49.480 -> 07:52.320] For whatever reason, I didn't identify with school and I wasn't misbehaved.
[07:52.320 -> 07:53.360] I wasn't a naughty kid.
[07:53.360 -> 07:55.600] For whatever reason, it just didn't work for me.
[07:55.760 -> 07:59.480] And I think looking back now, the reason for that is going back
[07:59.480 -> 08:01.960] to that English grade, because I didn't really try too hard
[08:01.960 -> 08:04.040] and I wasn't interested in English, but I got a good grade.
[08:04.360 -> 08:07.080] There were other things that I was interested in and I didn't get as good a grade. So it just for me, it didn't really try too hard and I wasn't interested in English but I got a good grade. There were other things that I was interested in and I didn't
[08:07.080 -> 08:10.900] get as good a grade so it just for me it didn't make sense. The sort of input
[08:10.900 -> 08:15.520] didn't match the output. 16 years old got into the gym and absolutely fell in love
[08:15.520 -> 08:20.160] for so many different reasons but I would say the main one is because I knew
[08:20.160 -> 08:24.040] that if I turned up five days a week for a year then in a year I would be better
[08:24.040 -> 08:27.640] off than sort of previously when I started.
[08:27.640 -> 08:28.600] Fall in love with the gym,
[08:28.600 -> 08:29.640] then I went into my A-levels
[08:29.640 -> 08:31.120] and I did very well at my A-levels.
[08:31.120 -> 08:33.220] I sort of got incredibly good grades
[08:33.220 -> 08:34.500] that really, really surprised me.
[08:34.500 -> 08:36.960] And I was fortunate enough to get into university.
[08:36.960 -> 08:38.720] And my parents in particular were so, so proud
[08:38.720 -> 08:40.440] because no one in my family had been to university before.
[08:40.440 -> 08:41.900] It was a massive, massive thing for me.
[08:41.900 -> 08:44.440] And I'd worked so incredibly hard to get there.
[08:44.440 -> 08:47.840] So got into university and I studied business.
[08:47.840 -> 08:51.080] And I must admit, I didn't love university,
[08:51.080 -> 08:52.080] but equally I didn't hate it.
[08:52.080 -> 08:53.720] I was, again, I was just sort of indifferent
[08:53.720 -> 08:54.540] about the whole thing.
[08:54.540 -> 08:56.240] And then it was at that point
[08:56.240 -> 08:58.000] that I then got into Gymshark.
[08:58.920 -> 09:00.640] The other thing I would say is before that,
[09:00.640 -> 09:02.840] throughout school, throughout university,
[09:02.840 -> 09:04.720] throughout A-levels, I was always making things
[09:04.720 -> 09:05.240] or trying to work out how to make websites or apps and things like that. that throughout school, throughout university, throughout A-levels I was
[09:03.720 -> 09:07.160] always making things or trying to work
[09:05.240 -> 09:09.240] out how to make websites or apps and
[09:07.160 -> 09:10.720] things like that and and the core of
[09:09.240 -> 09:12.640] that love for making things particularly
[09:10.720 -> 09:14.960] in tech came from my my A-level IT
[09:12.640 -> 09:17.320] class. But what was it about making
[09:14.960 -> 09:19.200] things that seemed to ignite that
[09:17.320 -> 09:20.600] spark in you? I don't know to be honest. I just
[09:19.200 -> 09:22.400] really enjoyed it and the other thing as
[09:20.600 -> 09:23.640] well was when I was making things and
[09:22.400 -> 09:24.960] again I didn't think about this at the
[09:23.640 -> 09:27.120] time so I don't want it to seem like I
[09:24.960 -> 09:26.160] was some 18 year old
[09:26.160 -> 09:28.120] that had a plan, I certainly didn't.
[09:28.120 -> 09:30.760] Looking back, I set the bar extremely low.
[09:30.760 -> 09:32.160] So the first website that I made,
[09:32.160 -> 09:34.520] I made with some of my best mates and neighbors,
[09:34.520 -> 09:37.900] was a website that sold number plates for cars, basically.
[09:37.900 -> 09:39.520] After that, when I was 16,
[09:39.520 -> 09:41.080] that's when I fell in love with the gym.
[09:41.080 -> 09:42.740] And I thought, right, let's try and use
[09:42.740 -> 09:46.120] this newfound ability
[09:43.960 -> 09:48.680] I learned in my tech class, i.e. websites
[09:46.120 -> 09:51.360] and building apps to try and mix that
[09:48.680 -> 09:53.360] love with fitness. So it was like the
[09:51.360 -> 09:55.720] combination of two passions basically.
[09:53.360 -> 09:57.080] It was I love fitness, I'm falling in love
[09:55.720 -> 09:59.440] with tech and making things, so how can
[09:57.080 -> 10:01.280] I combine those? After that, fitness
[09:59.440 -> 10:03.640] forums, fitness social networks, fitness
[10:01.280 -> 10:06.120] apps and eventually led to Gymshark.
[10:03.640 -> 10:06.800] And were they making money for you, those apps?
[10:06.800 -> 10:08.200] No, they didn't.
[10:08.200 -> 10:09.360] And everything was cheap back then.
[10:09.360 -> 10:12.120] So web domains, I mean, I think they still are really,
[10:12.120 -> 10:14.680] if I'm honest, like three pound for a web domain.
[10:14.680 -> 10:16.500] I had to pay for an Apple developer license
[10:16.500 -> 10:17.540] to be able to develop apps.
[10:17.540 -> 10:19.800] But I mean, at the time I was working at Pizza Hut,
[10:19.800 -> 10:21.740] I think it might've been like 40, 50 quid
[10:21.740 -> 10:23.040] for the developer license.
[10:24.340 -> 10:25.440] No, they weren't making money.
[10:25.440 -> 10:27.040] It was purely a passion project.
[10:27.040 -> 10:29.000] But I think that's the important thing here though,
[10:29.000 -> 10:32.040] because often what people do is they'll go, right?
[10:32.040 -> 10:34.380] Yeah, have you heard Ben Francis
[10:34.380 -> 10:36.040] on the High Performance Podcast?
[10:36.040 -> 10:36.880] Yeah, he was great.
[10:36.880 -> 10:37.720] What do you want to do?
[10:37.720 -> 10:38.560] What do you want to achieve?
[10:38.560 -> 10:39.460] What business do you want to run?
[10:39.460 -> 10:42.920] Like you weren't doing any of this with an outcome goal
[10:42.920 -> 10:44.880] of I'm going to set up a clothing brand
[10:44.880 -> 10:45.880] worth over a billion quid.
[10:45.880 -> 10:48.720] It was basically what do I enjoy doing?
[10:48.720 -> 10:50.160] And you focused on your passions.
[10:50.160 -> 10:51.480] And I think that is a really good lesson
[10:51.480 -> 10:53.440] and a good message for anyone listening to this,
[10:53.440 -> 10:55.560] that that is probably the best place to start.
[10:55.560 -> 10:56.400] Exactly.
[10:56.400 -> 10:58.360] And like, if I look at the fitness things I did,
[10:58.360 -> 11:00.440] it's because I wanted involvement in the fitness industry.
[11:00.440 -> 11:01.960] So if we go back to when I was 16,
[11:01.960 -> 11:03.480] fitness changed my entire life.
[11:03.480 -> 11:05.040] It got me good grades at school
[11:05.040 -> 11:12.360] It got me into university, you know, my parents were incredibly proud of me the positive reinforcement indirectly for me getting into fitness was
[11:13.080 -> 11:18.040] Sublime fortunately enough about 20 minutes from where I grew up in the Birmingham NEC every year
[11:18.040 -> 11:19.240] They would do an event called body power
[11:19.240 -> 11:24.860] Which I loved I would go every single year with my mates for this opportunity to just be involved in fitness
[11:25.060 -> 11:30.400] So I had this moment where I loved fitness. I had this skill to make things particularly from a tech perspective
[11:30.400 -> 11:35.760] I wanted I just wanted involvement in fitness. So if that meant me making a fitness social network or forum or
[11:36.280 -> 11:42.880] Gym shark as a clothing website the bar wasn't to your point Jake billion-dollar business billion-quid business or whatever or revenue
[11:42.880 -> 11:46.960] It was I just want to be involved and if this gets me involved I'm happy with that.
[11:46.960 -> 11:50.560] But what was it about fitness? I mean that's an intriguing answer that you
[11:50.560 -> 11:55.200] talk about, I love it. What was it that you grew to love about it? So
[11:55.200 -> 11:59.160] growing up I loved sport, so again massively into football. It was clear
[11:59.160 -> 12:04.520] that I wasn't good enough to be a professional footballer and I was very
[12:04.520 -> 12:06.720] very skinny as a kid very very thin
[12:06.720 -> 12:09.800] definitely got knocked around a little bit so going into the gym and building
[12:09.800 -> 12:13.460] muscle it gave me self-confidence it gave me direction it gave me structure
[12:13.460 -> 12:18.000] it gave me a lot of things that maybe wouldn't oftentimes come with school but
[12:18.000 -> 12:21.920] for whatever reason I just didn't quite get out of school. So you eventually
[12:21.920 -> 12:26.140] created Gym Shock right and it was you and uh, Lewis you and Lewis did this together
[12:26.660 -> 12:28.660] when did you realize the power of
[12:29.900 -> 12:37.340] Other people getting information getting talent getting knowledge from others to come and add to your plan to create this clothing brand
[12:37.340 -> 12:39.700] Um, so it took it took a few years
[12:39.700 -> 12:44.740] So from a front-end perspective the the brand really started to kick off after after two years
[12:44.740 -> 12:45.000] And I think that's important to reference as well because if people are looking to start a business So from a front end perspective, the brand really started to kick off after two years.
[12:45.000 -> 12:46.860] And I think that's important to reference as well,
[12:46.860 -> 12:49.520] because if people are looking to start a business,
[12:50.440 -> 12:52.800] you can't sort of subscribe to short termism.
[12:52.800 -> 12:54.040] Like if you truly love it,
[12:54.040 -> 12:56.160] if I didn't love it, or if we didn't love fitness,
[12:56.160 -> 12:57.920] then after the first year you'd have gone,
[12:57.920 -> 12:59.200] let's pack this in and do something else,
[12:59.200 -> 13:01.160] something that will essentially pay better.
[13:01.160 -> 13:03.160] So the first two years were very, very tough.
[13:03.160 -> 13:07.960] Didn't really get much sales or anything like that. And then eventually through lots of different reasons, the brand ended
[13:07.960 -> 13:14.040] up blowing up. And it was during this period, we would essentially be going around the world,
[13:14.040 -> 13:19.120] going out, going to these different events, doing different things. And my brother, who
[13:19.120 -> 13:22.560] decided not to go to university, came in to basically work the back end of the business,
[13:22.560 -> 13:25.480] package the orders, send them out and do the basic bits.
[13:25.480 -> 13:29.800] So all of a sudden then, and this is only very slight, but you realize that one additional
[13:29.800 -> 13:33.540] person in the business can increase productivity massively.
[13:33.540 -> 13:40.600] The first couple of years, my role in the business was to have a vision and to drag
[13:40.600 -> 13:44.260] the business there almost by any means necessary.
[13:44.260 -> 13:46.160] And just through passion, through dedication, whatever it is, I had to drag the business there almost by any means necessary and just through passion, through dedication,
[13:46.160 -> 13:48.000] whatever it is, I had to drag the business there.
[13:48.000 -> 13:50.520] And that was fine when we weren't surrounded
[13:50.520 -> 13:52.120] with loads of people because essentially
[13:52.120 -> 13:53.600] there's not many people to alienate
[13:53.600 -> 13:54.440] and do you know what I mean?
[13:54.440 -> 13:55.280] There's not many people to get on board.
[13:55.280 -> 13:57.560] You can make decisions quickly and you can move.
[13:57.560 -> 13:58.800] I think that's what a lot of people
[13:58.800 -> 14:01.140] tend to call the entrepreneurial years.
[14:01.140 -> 14:03.200] Once we started to get people in the business,
[14:03.200 -> 14:08.000] I realized that if I continued to act that way, then I would start to alienate people and going back
[14:08.000 -> 14:10.760] to what high performance is, if you want to create a team that is truly greater
[14:10.760 -> 14:13.600] than the sum of their parts, then you need to get everyone on board and move
[14:13.600 -> 14:16.800] it in the right direction. You need to put people in roles that lean into their
[14:16.800 -> 14:20.800] skill sets and that includes myself by the way. You know, you need to be making
[14:20.800 -> 14:24.120] sure that you can galvanize a team in a certain direction. So after the first
[14:24.120 -> 14:25.900] couple of years, I really had to learn the hard way
[14:25.900 -> 14:30.280] How are you told by someone this isn't the way to do it or were you looking at it thinking?
[14:30.440 -> 14:33.480] I'm not sure. This is really me not at that point
[14:33.480 -> 14:39.140] No to the the point where I think I really started to almost get told as it were was when Steve came in who?
[14:39.360 -> 14:44.140] The CEO for that period he came into the business and if I'm honest
[14:44.140 -> 14:45.200] He didn't tell me.
[14:45.200 -> 14:46.640] And that's another thing that I've realized
[14:46.640 -> 14:48.400] is I've definitely learned by watching.
[14:48.400 -> 14:51.700] So Steve, for example, is a, he's utterly brilliant
[14:51.700 -> 14:55.320] with people management, finance, operations,
[14:55.320 -> 14:56.960] logistics, and things like that.
[14:56.960 -> 14:58.280] There was a guy called Paul that came in
[14:58.280 -> 14:59.640] who basically acted as the chairman
[14:59.640 -> 15:01.400] and he was really thinking about, you know,
[15:01.400 -> 15:03.080] the structure of the business.
[15:03.080 -> 15:06.720] And I could watch these two guys and realize that they were brilliant at the things I was
[15:06.720 -> 15:10.760] terrible at. So I could double down and focus on brand, product, marketing, socials,
[15:10.760 -> 15:15.000] all these sorts of things, and sort of allow those guys to work on on their
[15:15.000 -> 15:19.800] strengths. So they didn't tell me, as it were, what to do. But when you see
[15:19.800 -> 15:23.360] someone who's a great people manager do something infinitely better than you can,
[15:23.360 -> 15:28.160] it's it's fairly obvious. So give us an example of something that you saw then
[15:28.160 -> 15:33.120] that made you sit up and go ah that's that's a brilliant people management. So
[15:33.120 -> 15:39.160] I I mean I still am but particularly in the early days I was so emotionally
[15:39.160 -> 15:42.840] invested in the product that sometimes it would get the better of me and I
[15:42.840 -> 15:46.000] would be I'd essentially be a bit snappy. Something wouldn't be how I would want,
[15:46.000 -> 15:49.140] something wouldn't be exactly how I'd imagined it.
[15:49.140 -> 15:50.200] And for better or for worse,
[15:50.200 -> 15:51.440] I'd essentially snapped at people
[15:51.440 -> 15:54.320] and I would end up alienating people around me.
[15:54.320 -> 15:57.260] And then what Steve could do is get the same result
[15:57.260 -> 15:59.280] as what I wanted, the product to a place
[15:59.280 -> 16:02.080] where we wanted it to be, but do it in a way
[16:02.080 -> 16:04.880] where everyone else also wanted it to be there.
[16:04.880 -> 16:05.040] So I, in the early days, just didn't essentially I wanted it to be, but do it in a way where everyone else also wanted it to be there.
[16:05.040 -> 16:09.020] So, I, in the early days, just didn't essentially
[16:09.020 -> 16:10.980] have the skills to be a great people manager,
[16:10.980 -> 16:13.400] and then when I see Steve do it in a much more efficient
[16:13.400 -> 16:14.960] and better way than me, then I think,
[16:14.960 -> 16:18.060] oh, okay, maybe my behavior needs to change here.
[16:18.060 -> 16:20.320] And at this point, when Steve was coming into the business
[16:20.320 -> 16:22.340] and you'd been going for a while,
[16:22.340 -> 16:26.200] and you were successful and it had blown up, as you call it. What did you want it to be then?
[16:26.200 -> 16:27.880] What was your, at this point,
[16:27.880 -> 16:29.680] what was your vision for Gymshark?
[16:29.680 -> 16:32.400] Because it sounds like you had quite a clear idea.
[16:32.400 -> 16:33.240] This is a weird one.
[16:33.240 -> 16:36.000] So you have like a dream as to where you want it to be.
[16:36.000 -> 16:37.720] Like the dream has been for a long, long time
[16:37.720 -> 16:39.960] to be one of the greatest brands in the world.
[16:39.960 -> 16:41.240] And that's definitely held us in good step
[16:41.240 -> 16:44.040] because it's given us a sort of a very long-term mindset
[16:44.040 -> 16:46.280] in the decisions that we make.
[16:46.280 -> 16:47.800] But equally, because the business is growing
[16:47.800 -> 16:50.080] so, so, so quickly,
[16:50.080 -> 16:53.220] it's like an incredibly chaotic environment.
[16:53.220 -> 16:54.900] I wish we had more footage
[16:54.900 -> 16:56.040] and people could really have been there
[16:56.040 -> 16:58.600] just to experience just how chaotic it was in the early days.
[16:58.600 -> 17:00.480] So you have a long-term vision and dream,
[17:00.480 -> 17:03.220] one of the greatest brands on the planet.
[17:03.220 -> 17:04.720] But then when you rock up, you know,
[17:04.720 -> 17:05.800] in the morning at the office
[17:05.800 -> 17:07.440] and it feels like you spend an entire day
[17:07.440 -> 17:09.200] just putting fires out,
[17:09.200 -> 17:10.800] it's difficult to sort of balance those two.
[17:10.800 -> 17:12.960] So what were the fires and what was the chaos?
[17:12.960 -> 17:16.440] Could you give us a day back in that period,
[17:16.440 -> 17:18.160] what it really felt like to be in the middle
[17:18.160 -> 17:19.480] of the Gymshark tornado?
[17:19.480 -> 17:21.800] I mean, I'll give you an example.
[17:21.800 -> 17:24.960] Probably the best example and one of the biggest lessons
[17:24.960 -> 17:25.800] for me in terms
[17:25.800 -> 17:32.200] of the importance of a strong back end of a business was we had a Black Friday period
[17:32.200 -> 17:36.260] and historically Gymshark doesn't really do sales. We'll do a sale in around the summer
[17:36.260 -> 17:40.600] and Black Friday. So Black Friday would always be the biggest sale. And earlier on in that
[17:40.600 -> 17:45.560] year we'd moved web systems and essentially we didn't do enough due diligence
[17:45.560 -> 17:48.640] because I just thought I knew best.
[17:48.640 -> 17:50.160] We moved web systems, we did the sale
[17:50.160 -> 17:51.800] and the website was flooded with traffic
[17:51.800 -> 17:53.860] and the website just completely crashed.
[17:53.860 -> 17:55.120] It crashed and then it came back
[17:55.120 -> 17:57.720] and then people were essentially getting products
[17:57.720 -> 17:58.640] without paying for it.
[17:58.640 -> 17:59.960] So they were putting in orders for free
[17:59.960 -> 18:01.560] and we're talking thousands and thousands of orders.
[18:01.560 -> 18:03.080] And then there were other people that were paying for orders
[18:03.080 -> 18:05.320] and then not getting things sent.
[18:05.320 -> 18:09.720] So then we had weeks and weeks of apologizing.
[18:09.720 -> 18:12.320] I wrote, literally hand wrote thousands of notes to people
[18:12.320 -> 18:14.760] that had essentially been negatively affected by the sale.
[18:14.760 -> 18:16.400] The entire business stopped.
[18:16.400 -> 18:17.960] It took us the best part of a year
[18:17.960 -> 18:19.400] to fully recover from that,
[18:19.400 -> 18:21.800] from essentially a poor week
[18:21.800 -> 18:24.760] due to not enough operational rigidity in the business.
[18:24.760 -> 18:27.760] Like we had people, there's a guy called Alfred who runs our social media now.
[18:27.760 -> 18:30.560] He started the week before Black Friday
[18:30.960 -> 18:34.320] and it took him about a year before he could actually do his job
[18:34.320 -> 18:37.320] because the whole business stopped and everyone jumped on customer support.
[18:38.240 -> 18:40.240] Like I said, I was doing everything that I needed to do.
[18:40.800 -> 18:43.400] We had to then reassess all of our operational systems.
[18:43.720 -> 18:46.900] And it was just because I didn't have enough of an appreciation
[18:46.900 -> 18:50.100] for the importance of a strong back end of a business.
[18:50.100 -> 18:54.600] I was essentially too infatuated with the brand and the product
[18:54.600 -> 18:57.200] and the front end albeit extremely important things.
[18:57.200 -> 18:59.500] But you know, if you haven't got strong foundations and you
[18:59.500 -> 19:01.400] can't have have a strong front end either.
[19:01.700 -> 19:04.300] Do you reflect on that period now because I imagine it's
[19:04.300 -> 19:05.640] very different now at Gymshark and we'll get on to that shortly. But Do you reflect on that period now? Cause I imagine it's very different now at Gymshark
[19:05.640 -> 19:07.160] and we'll get onto that shortly.
[19:07.160 -> 19:09.920] Like, do you reflect on that period as being exciting?
[19:09.920 -> 19:11.400] Yeah, it was hugely exciting.
[19:11.400 -> 19:15.520] So we, we did our first event I mentioned previously.
[19:15.520 -> 19:17.680] We did a first event after it was about two years
[19:17.680 -> 19:19.840] into the business and this was the thing that blew us up.
[19:19.840 -> 19:22.000] We went from doing 300 pound a day in revenue
[19:22.000 -> 19:24.440] to the 30,000 pound in the first half an hour
[19:24.440 -> 19:29.000] of the website being live after the show and like at 20 years old nothing
[19:29.000 -> 19:32.160] nothing prepares you for that. What happened at that show then that altered your business so
[19:32.160 -> 19:38.000] drastically? We stumbled upon essentially the marketing model that many
[19:38.000 -> 19:43.560] people use today so we had a new product that we built specifically for this
[19:43.560 -> 19:45.200] event that we didn't sell online
[19:48.060 -> 19:52.900] Whilst we were at the event not through design by the way Just because we weren't back home and we couldn't send out the orders. We turned the website off. So we accidentally created scarcity
[19:53.800 -> 19:57.860] We grew up watching youtubers and our youtubers were our heroes
[19:57.860 -> 20:01.800] I learned everything in fitness from youtubers and we asked them to come to the event and they fortunately said yes
[20:01.800 -> 20:04.560] So we had the sort of influences here. We had the scarcity
[20:04.560 -> 20:07.000] We had the in real life event and they fortunately said yes. So we had the sort of influences here. We had the scarcity, we had the in real life event.
[20:07.000 -> 20:11.540] And then we did this thing where we would go to the event
[20:11.540 -> 20:13.440] and then everyone would come in, buy their stuff
[20:13.440 -> 20:15.480] and whoever was left on the event, at the event
[20:15.480 -> 20:17.980] from the community, from a customer point of view,
[20:17.980 -> 20:19.480] we said, listen, we're gonna head down to Ironworks
[20:19.480 -> 20:21.320] and get a lift in, which is a gym in Kings Norton.
[20:21.320 -> 20:23.280] And we said, if you guys wanna come, then let's go.
[20:23.280 -> 20:25.920] So you had the Gymshark staff, you had the community and you had the athletes
[20:25.920 -> 20:30.080] finished up at the office or finished up at the event, went to Ironworks to lift
[20:30.080 -> 20:33.920] and sort of got a Nando's after and we inadvertently started to create a
[20:33.920 -> 20:36.920] community and people were posting all of this online, it was Facebook at the time
[20:36.920 -> 20:41.480] and Gymshark started to go viral. So over this weekend we had scarcity, we had the
[20:41.480 -> 20:48.680] event, we had the influencers, we had the community that was being built and Jim shot was going viral on social and that's where that
[20:48.800 -> 20:51.860] 300 to 30,000 pound moment happened. You're very modest
[20:52.360 -> 20:56.720] But I can't imagine that you get that many right decisions just by luck
[20:56.720 -> 20:57.000] Okay
[20:57.000 -> 21:01.960] Well, we inadvertently invited everyone to go you must have understood the power of community to have done that
[21:01.960 -> 21:05.160] No to have invited those people to come with you. It just felt right.
[21:05.160 -> 21:06.000] So this was not a strategic decision.
[21:06.000 -> 21:07.600] But it's an instinct thing, is that what we're talking about?
[21:07.600 -> 21:08.440] It was definitely instinct.
[21:08.440 -> 21:10.440] So we'd finished the event and it's just a bit weird, right?
[21:10.440 -> 21:12.680] It's like everyone was there and it was like,
[21:12.680 -> 21:15.280] we're going to lift, I'm not going to not invite
[21:15.280 -> 21:18.040] someone else that's around us that seems cool.
[21:18.040 -> 21:19.280] And it just felt like the right thing to do.
[21:19.280 -> 21:22.200] And even with the YouTubers that we work with,
[21:22.200 -> 21:23.520] they're our heroes.
[21:23.520 -> 21:25.080] Like we were blown away at the fact
[21:25.080 -> 21:26.240] that they responded to us.
[21:26.240 -> 21:28.520] And then we ended up making friends with them on Skype
[21:28.520 -> 21:30.400] sort of thing and just chatting to them every night.
[21:30.400 -> 21:33.280] It was a combination of intuition and fortune.
[21:33.280 -> 21:34.980] And that's been a common thread
[21:34.980 -> 21:36.120] throughout the Gymshark story.
[21:36.120 -> 21:38.360] There has been several times where
[21:39.280 -> 21:40.440] we've essentially flipped a coin
[21:40.440 -> 21:41.320] and it could have gone either way,
[21:41.320 -> 21:42.760] where we've emptied the bank account
[21:42.760 -> 21:43.940] on a particular investment,
[21:43.940 -> 21:46.840] where we've bitten off a little bit more than we can chew.
[21:46.840 -> 21:51.820] In the early days, I remember I managed to get a factory to send us product for free
[21:51.820 -> 21:56.280] on an email handshake that I would send them the money because we couldn't afford to buy
[21:56.280 -> 21:57.280] it in the first place.
[21:57.280 -> 22:00.980] There's been so many moments where things have gone our way.
[22:00.980 -> 22:06.860] Now I think that blended with intuition and I think we have a great appetite for
[22:06.860 -> 22:10.320] risk as well I think that really helped. I think those things blended has really
[22:10.320 -> 22:11.940] helped Gymshark to get where it is today.
[22:11.940 -> 22:17.540] So the growth has been incredible Ben, but how much time and energy have you
[22:17.540 -> 22:23.700] invested in the culture that you have at Gymshark? Because in the news recently
[22:23.700 -> 22:25.400] there's been the story of BrewDog
[22:25.400 -> 22:27.720] and some of the cultural challenges
[22:27.720 -> 22:29.120] that their staff have talked,
[22:29.120 -> 22:31.400] or the toxic culture behind scenes.
[22:31.400 -> 22:33.360] And their CEO has come out and said,
[22:33.360 -> 22:35.240] we've almost grown too fast,
[22:35.240 -> 22:38.040] that we've been focused on the brand and the front end
[22:38.040 -> 22:40.960] and not what's going on in our organization.
[22:40.960 -> 22:44.720] So how much time did you spend reflecting on that?
[22:44.720 -> 22:45.360] So that was led by Steve. So everything I know did you spend reflecting on that? So that was led
[22:45.360 -> 22:49.640] by Steve. So everything I know from a business culture perspective I learned
[22:49.640 -> 22:53.360] from Steve. So for the first couple of years honestly we just built the
[22:53.360 -> 22:56.400] business and we loved it and we just didn't think about things like this. But
[22:56.400 -> 23:00.720] when Steve came in he really embedded and and taught me the power of culture.
[23:00.720 -> 23:08.720] The reason that Steve is so culture focused is because he worked at places in the past where it went wrong, where it didn't work, where
[23:08.720 -> 23:13.240] they were doing things for the wrong reason, essentially to push a number for
[23:13.240 -> 23:19.760] a commercial value rather than for the business. So I think Steve saw the other
[23:19.760 -> 23:24.400] side of things which is why he was so, and is to this day, so pro-culture and
[23:24.400 -> 23:27.600] making sure that leadership are always accessible.
[23:27.600 -> 23:29.360] We are incredibly transparent.
[23:29.360 -> 23:31.720] I mean, we sort of joke a little bit.
[23:31.720 -> 23:36.160] I think I often share more numbers on my YouTube channel than what some businesses share with
[23:36.160 -> 23:38.480] their internal teams.
[23:38.480 -> 23:40.200] And that's been really, really important to us.
[23:40.200 -> 23:43.920] And that's a combination of Steve's influence, Steve teaching me and the business how important
[23:43.920 -> 23:45.440] culture is,
[23:45.440 -> 23:48.520] blended with us approaching a business build
[23:48.520 -> 23:49.680] in a way that makes sense.
[23:49.680 -> 23:52.320] So because I've got little to no experience previously,
[23:52.320 -> 23:55.040] I don't know what it is like in the corporate world.
[23:55.040 -> 23:55.880] I've had two jobs.
[23:55.880 -> 23:57.880] I worked for my granddad lining furnaces
[23:57.880 -> 23:59.760] and I was a delivery driver at Pizza Hut.
[23:59.760 -> 24:01.680] I don't know any alternative.
[24:01.680 -> 24:03.880] So the combination of those two things
[24:03.880 -> 24:05.680] has really led us to
[24:05.680 -> 24:06.680] double down on culture.
[24:06.680 -> 24:09.480] And it's, it's the first thing we talk about.
[24:09.480 -> 24:11.560] Why is that openness so important then?
[24:11.560 -> 24:13.760] Mainly honestly, because it feels right.
[24:13.760 -> 24:14.840] Steve also told me something.
[24:14.840 -> 24:18.520] He said, you want to almost like when you're in an interview,
[24:18.520 -> 24:19.360] one of the things they have,
[24:19.360 -> 24:21.680] you have to ask yourself is would I work for this person?
[24:21.680 -> 24:22.920] I always think that about Gymshark.
[24:22.920 -> 24:25.320] I think, would I work for this company if I didn't you know
[24:25.320 -> 24:30.320] If I didn't start it or own own shares in it and the answer is 100% Yes, I would
[24:30.960 -> 24:34.600] Absolutely love to work at Jim shot for so many different reasons and culture would be number one
[24:34.600 -> 24:39.320] And you have to fill in a few small blanks for me here, but Lewis stepped away from the business
[24:39.320 -> 24:44.280] Yes a year ago or something. I do Lewis basically me and Lewis started the business together. We worked
[24:44.960 -> 24:47.600] Literally shoulder-to-shoulder every single day for the first three
[24:47.600 -> 24:52.640] years he then took a step back and was basically a silent shareholder and then
[24:52.640 -> 24:56.960] last year so he actually left the day-to-day the business after probably
[24:56.960 -> 25:01.320] about four or five years ago and he sold his stake a year ago and then an
[25:01.320 -> 25:08.120] American investment firm General Atlantic came in yeah so you've suddenly lost the guy you set the business up with. Steve who
[25:08.120 -> 25:10.920] sounds like he's brilliant but he's come with loads of experience from other
[25:10.920 -> 25:14.940] businesses he's come in and then this American investment firm have come in
[25:14.940 -> 25:18.680] and taken the portion that Lewis had and it's all everything's changed a bit. Yeah.
[25:18.680 -> 25:24.360] How are you then keeping the core the DNA of Gymshark? How are you making your
[25:24.360 -> 25:25.340] voice heard still
[25:25.340 -> 25:30.020] amongst all that change? So first and foremost when we looked at bringing an
[25:30.020 -> 25:32.840] investor on again going back to Corkshare being the first thing that's the first
[25:32.840 -> 25:35.340] thing that we said to every single person when we walked through when they
[25:35.340 -> 25:38.260] walked through the door and we started having these conversations you know we
[25:38.260 -> 25:43.440] wanted to partner with the right person we were very very fortunate to have the
[25:43.440 -> 25:46.060] opportunity to pick between several different brilliant firms,
[25:46.060 -> 25:47.820] by the way, like there was several brilliant,
[25:47.820 -> 25:49.240] brilliant companies that we had the opportunity
[25:49.240 -> 25:50.420] to work with.
[25:50.420 -> 25:53.800] And General Atlantic were the company,
[25:53.800 -> 25:55.120] particularly the individuals that we worked with
[25:55.120 -> 25:57.060] at General Atlantic, just completely and utterly
[25:57.060 -> 25:59.240] got the Gymshark brand, got the Gymshark culture.
[25:59.240 -> 26:03.120] They realized that we're wanting to build the best brand.
[26:03.120 -> 26:04.840] And it sounds a bit odd to say,
[26:04.840 -> 26:07.500] given the fact that we've grown so quickly but fast growth isn't our
[26:07.500 -> 26:10.300] priority it's about building a great great brand and they've really bought
[26:10.300 -> 26:13.900] into that so that was really really important from a cultural point of view
[26:13.900 -> 26:17.540] and I mean I don't really think it matters too much but there were other
[26:17.540 -> 26:21.420] companies that offered a higher valuation on Gymshark but we opted not
[26:21.420 -> 26:24.540] to take the higher valuation because we wanted to focus on the company that we
[26:24.540 -> 26:26.440] felt really fitted with our values and could help Gymshark, but we opted not to take the higher valuation because we wanted to focus on the company that we felt really fitted with our values
[26:26.440 -> 26:28.440] and could help Gymshark grow in the right way.
[26:28.440 -> 26:32.080] So tell us those values then that define the culture.
[26:32.080 -> 26:33.960] So it's about being, like I said,
[26:33.960 -> 26:36.220] humble is probably the most important one.
[26:36.220 -> 26:37.640] And that's really, really important to me
[26:37.640 -> 26:41.040] because I've seen people lose their humility.
[26:41.040 -> 26:44.160] And from that point, I think it's very much downhill.
[26:44.160 -> 26:45.440] Being truly transparent as a business, and that's both I think it's very much downhill. Being truly transparent
[26:45.440 -> 26:50.320] as a business and that's both internally and that's externally accessible so I guess from
[26:50.320 -> 26:56.220] my point of view I like to think I'm quite accessible both to customers, community, young
[26:56.220 -> 27:01.080] business owners that maybe want to see what might be possible in the future, the staff
[27:01.080 -> 27:05.900] like, for example I wouldn't have my own office at Gymshark, I'll perch wherever.
[27:05.900 -> 27:08.760] And that's the same for everyone, regardless of level.
[27:08.760 -> 27:11.260] So yeah, those things are really, really important to us.
[27:11.260 -> 27:14.580] And ultimately, the long-term ambition is to try
[27:14.580 -> 27:16.840] and do everything we can to build
[27:16.840 -> 27:18.060] the greatest brand possible,
[27:18.060 -> 27:19.420] unite the conditioning community,
[27:19.420 -> 27:21.300] whether you're an accountant that wants to go
[27:21.300 -> 27:23.740] to the gym once a week, or an elite athlete that,
[27:23.740 -> 27:26.760] you know, wants to run a, you know, a world record 5K,
[27:26.760 -> 27:30.000] or someone that wants to deadlift, you know, silly numbers,
[27:30.000 -> 27:31.800] we want to help support you on that journey.
[27:31.800 -> 27:34.000] So tell us how you came up with those values,
[27:34.000 -> 27:35.760] because I think there's a lot of people
[27:35.760 -> 27:38.600] like would listen to this, that would be thinking,
[27:38.600 -> 27:41.680] okay, so how do I identify my own,
[27:41.680 -> 27:44.480] whether it's for a family or a business?
[27:44.480 -> 27:45.340] It was a weird one.
[27:45.340 -> 27:47.120] It wasn't a case of us creating the values
[27:47.120 -> 27:49.220] because we were, at the time of doing this,
[27:49.220 -> 27:50.380] we were a successful business
[27:50.380 -> 27:51.560] that had built a great culture.
[27:51.560 -> 27:53.620] It was more of a case of uncovering the things
[27:53.620 -> 27:55.280] that really make Gymshark tick.
[27:55.280 -> 27:56.900] And there was a moment where we sort of,
[27:56.900 -> 27:58.220] we were chatting to someone in the business
[27:58.220 -> 28:01.740] who'd recently joined and they came to us and they said,
[28:01.740 -> 28:03.640] the level of transparency in this business
[28:03.640 -> 28:04.740] is like nothing I've ever known.
[28:04.740 -> 28:08.280] But again, to me, it was completely normal normal and then that's where that one came from
[28:08.920 -> 28:14.760] Humility so so so important whether whether you're myself in the leadership team just joined in the business
[28:15.240 -> 28:17.780] Being a part of Gymshark is a truly special place
[28:18.160 -> 28:21.600] But equally there is an opportunity to become a little bit less humble
[28:21.600 -> 28:24.080] And again, that's something that Steve's really pushed with us
[28:24.080 -> 28:29.000] So tell me about this and because a lot of people talk about the virtue of humility,
[28:29.000 -> 28:33.680] but it's often a cliche or a meme, you know, someone standing in front of a big posh house
[28:33.680 -> 28:35.640] telling you that I'm just like you.
[28:35.640 -> 28:36.640] Yeah.
[28:36.640 -> 28:40.800] Tell me how you retain humility then.
[28:40.800 -> 28:46.800] So there's a few things that I think, for example, I'm a firm believer that you can
[28:46.800 -> 28:51.080] learn something from everyone that you meet, and I'm also a firm believer that every individual
[28:51.080 -> 28:53.480] has the opportunity to be the best in the world at something.
[28:53.480 -> 28:55.600] Now to some people it's more niche than others.
[28:55.600 -> 28:59.980] Ronaldo is the best footballer in the world, you know, some people might be the best videographer
[28:59.980 -> 29:03.160] in the world, someone might be the best animator in the world, you know, there's varying degrees
[29:03.160 -> 29:07.960] of how broad your ability to be one of the best in the world is. But I firmly believe
[29:07.960 -> 29:12.600] that. Steve also pushes empathy a lot. And I think being humble and empathetic are very,
[29:12.600 -> 29:15.680] actually quite closely aligned. And he always says, don't ask someone how they are, but
[29:15.680 -> 29:21.560] then don't wait for the answer. I think if you truly care about people, and you believe
[29:21.560 -> 29:26.440] that there's inherent value in every single individual then you'll realize that no matter how successful you are
[29:27.140 -> 29:30.860] It makes no difference ultimately. I think I think that's really important
[29:30.860 -> 29:35.560] Yeah, and I think a lot of people, you know, they look at big business and think oh, I'm gonna set up a big business
[29:35.560 -> 29:37.120] It's gonna be really valuable
[29:37.120 -> 29:43.580] I've ever come a bit of a bastard and throw my weight around and be ruthless and just focus on the finances and you're really
[29:43.580 -> 29:49.000] Talking about you can be successful and have the total antithesis of that in terms of
[29:49.000 -> 29:53.560] your mindset now I'm in now a position that I wasn't in a few years ago so I
[29:53.560 -> 29:56.120] can look at things in a slightly different lens and from a
[29:56.120 -> 30:00.880] different angle as well and I'm very fortunate to have met some incredibly
[30:00.880 -> 30:05.280] wildly successful people like way way more successful than myself.
[30:05.280 -> 30:08.480] Like it dwarfs any of the, any of Gymshark success.
[30:08.480 -> 30:11.080] And the really interesting thing that really hit me
[30:11.080 -> 30:12.960] like a ton of bricks when I first noticed it
[30:12.960 -> 30:16.300] was those successful people all have the same problems.
[30:16.300 -> 30:17.920] They all have insecurities.
[30:17.920 -> 30:19.800] They all have concerns.
[30:19.800 -> 30:20.640] Do you know what I mean?
[30:20.640 -> 30:22.640] Just because the business or your career
[30:22.640 -> 30:23.920] or your life is at a certain point,
[30:23.920 -> 30:26.680] it doesn't mean that all of those things just disappear.
[30:26.680 -> 30:27.620] That really hit me,
[30:27.620 -> 30:29.280] because I, like most maybe,
[30:29.280 -> 30:31.920] thought that when I meet these people,
[30:31.920 -> 30:36.080] like that run these tech firms that are worth billions
[30:36.080 -> 30:37.640] and billions and billions, tens of billions,
[30:37.640 -> 30:39.400] sometimes hundreds of billions,
[30:39.400 -> 30:41.840] I thought that they'd almost have it all figured out.
[30:41.840 -> 30:43.720] And honestly, everyone is winging it.
[30:43.720 -> 30:45.580] So then that made me feel so much better
[30:45.580 -> 30:47.980] about me winging it and those around me winging it
[30:47.980 -> 30:51.860] because I'm not the only one sort of thing.
[30:51.860 -> 30:53.300] So what are your insecurities then?
[30:53.300 -> 30:54.940] Because anyone that follows you on Instagram
[30:54.940 -> 30:58.940] will see you work out, you're obviously in great shape,
[30:58.940 -> 31:00.180] you've got a brilliant business,
[31:00.180 -> 31:01.780] you've got a lovely partner.
[31:01.780 -> 31:07.820] Like it looks great from the outside, but are you saying even you have insecurities and yeah
[31:07.820 -> 31:12.080] I'm so like I'm to the thing that I've tried to do is I've tried to heap as much
[31:12.240 -> 31:17.780] Responsibility onto myself as possible because that's really helped me both improve myself. It's almost like the more responsibility
[31:17.780 -> 31:23.800] I burden myself with the more the stronger I get as an individual and that's investment in terms of the business
[31:23.800 -> 31:26.740] That's investment in terms of my personal relationships.
[31:26.740 -> 31:32.320] Just accepting responsibility has been so so important to me in terms of my insecurities.
[31:32.320 -> 31:33.360] There's many to be honest.
[31:33.360 -> 31:36.040] I've really struggled with public speaking.
[31:36.040 -> 31:40.160] I've really struggled with I had to have some proper media training to even feel comfortable
[31:40.160 -> 31:41.960] in a situation like this a few years ago.
[31:41.960 -> 31:49.200] I'd be properly struggling with this now and I I've definitely improving. What would have been the struggle because it seems so natural if you
[31:49.200 -> 31:52.040] just to sit and talk about your life story what would have bothered you? I
[31:52.040 -> 31:55.600] don't know I'd overthink things I'd think what do I want to say what don't I
[31:55.600 -> 31:58.560] want to say and I just struggled with that and there was a few sort of
[31:58.560 -> 32:01.280] techniques that I learned through the media training which really helped me.
[32:01.280 -> 32:05.240] The other thing as well which which I've never mentioned this
[32:05.240 -> 32:07.760] to almost anyone sort of publicly,
[32:07.760 -> 32:10.840] I've definitely got this thing where I'm a little bit scared
[32:10.840 -> 32:13.620] about being someone that could only found a business.
[32:13.620 -> 32:15.800] And what I mean by that is I don't want to be a founder
[32:15.800 -> 32:17.280] that can't then run a business.
[32:17.280 -> 32:19.760] And that's one of the reasons why I think I'm definitely
[32:19.760 -> 32:24.200] working incredibly hard at being a great operator as well.
[32:24.200 -> 32:28.000] And equally, I want to be able to really improve
[32:28.000 -> 32:30.800] those around me, improve the world, improve the community.
[32:30.800 -> 32:32.000] And that's really important to me as well.
[32:32.000 -> 32:34.000] So I think I'm concerned that I might not be able to do enough there.
[32:34.000 -> 32:36.800] But the thing that I'm definitely thinking about now at the moment
[32:36.800 -> 32:40.000] is just being as great an operator as I can
[32:40.000 -> 32:43.000] and doing my best by the people around me.
[33:05.000 -> 33:09.000] As a person with a very deep voice, and doing my best by the people around me. LinkedIn has the targeting capabilities to help you reach the world's largest professional audience. That's right, over 70 million decision makers all in one place.
[33:09.000 -> 33:15.000] All the bigwigs, then mediumwigs, also smallwigs who are on the path to becoming bigwigs.
[33:15.000 -> 33:17.000] Okay, that's enough about wigs.
[33:17.000 -> 33:21.000] LinkedIn ads allows you to focus on getting your B2B message to the right people.
[33:21.000 -> 33:25.500] So, does that mean you should use ads on LinkedIn instead of hiring me,
[33:25.500 -> 33:28.200] the man with the deepest voice in the world?
[33:28.200 -> 33:30.000] Yes, yes it does.
[33:30.000 -> 33:32.200] Get started today and see why LinkedIn
[33:32.200 -> 33:34.600] is the place to be, to be.
[33:34.600 -> 33:37.900] We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign.
[33:37.900 -> 33:41.000] Go to linkedin.com slash results to claim your credit.
[33:41.000 -> 33:43.300] That's linkedin.com slash results.
[33:43.300 -> 33:45.500] Terms and conditions apply.
[33:45.500 -> 33:48.040] Fred Meyer always gives you savings and rewards
[33:48.040 -> 33:50.040] on top of our lower than low prices.
[33:50.040 -> 33:51.640] And when you download the Fred Meyer app,
[33:51.640 -> 33:54.940] you can enjoy over $500 in savings every week
[33:54.940 -> 33:56.080] with digital coupons.
[33:56.080 -> 33:57.780] Plus, you can earn fuel points to save
[33:57.780 -> 33:59.540] up to $1 per gallon at the pump.
[33:59.540 -> 34:01.280] So it's easy to save big.
[34:01.280 -> 34:03.120] Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone.
[34:03.120 -> 34:04.220] Savings may vary by state.
[34:04.220 -> 34:09.480] Fuel restrictions apply. We've locked in low prices to help you save big store wide. Look for the locked
[34:09.480 -> 34:14.440] in low prices tags and enjoy extra savings throughout the store. Fred Meyer, fresh for
[34:14.440 -> 34:21.480] everyone. On our podcast, we love to highlight businesses that are doing things a better
[34:21.480 -> 34:26.800] way so you can live a better life. And that's why when I found Mint Mobile I had to share.
[34:26.800 -> 34:30.200] So Mint Mobile ditched retail stores and all those overhead costs
[34:30.200 -> 34:35.200] and instead sells their phone plans online and passes those savings to you.
[34:35.200 -> 34:38.000] And for a limited time they're passing on even more savings
[34:38.000 -> 34:43.000] with a new customer offer that cuts all Mint Mobile plans to $15 a month
[34:43.000 -> 34:46.280] when you purchase a 3 month plan. That's unlimited
[34:46.280 -> 34:54.780] talk, text and data for $15 a month. And by the way, the quality of Mint Mobile's wireless
[34:54.780 -> 35:00.280] service in comparison to providers that we've worked with before is incredible. Mint Mobile
[35:00.280 -> 35:09.400] is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans for 15 bucks a month. So say bye bye to your overpriced wireless plans, those jaw-dropping monthly bills, those
[35:09.400 -> 35:13.880] unexpected overages, because all the plans come with unlimited talk and text and high
[35:13.880 -> 35:18.320] speed data delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.
[35:18.320 -> 35:22.800] Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan, bring your phone number along with all your
[35:22.800 -> 35:24.360] existing contacts.
[35:24.360 -> 35:29.000] So ditch overpriced wireless with Mint Mobile's limited time deal and get premium wireless
[35:29.000 -> 35:33.840] service for just $15 a month. To get this new customer offer and your new
[35:33.840 -> 35:46.720] 3 month unlimited wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to mintmobile.com slash HPP. Cut your
[35:44.440 -> 35:49.480] wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at
[35:46.720 -> 35:51.640] mintmobile.com slash HPP.
[35:49.480 -> 35:55.680] Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply.
[35:51.640 -> 35:57.840] See Mint Mobile for details. I think one of
[35:55.680 -> 36:00.400] the virtues that you characterize so
[35:57.840 -> 36:03.080] well is self-awareness and I think that
[36:00.400 -> 36:06.120] self-awareness to step away from CEO
[36:03.080 -> 36:07.520] role originally and bring Steve in to Iawn, i gyd, rwy'n credu bod y gwybodaeth ei fod yn ymdrech ar ôl rôl CEO yn y blynyddoedd, ac yn cymryd Stephen i'w wneud hynny.
[36:07.520 -> 36:09.840] Ac rwy'n gwybod eich bod chi wedi sôn amdano,
[36:09.840 -> 36:11.280] rydych chi'n mynd yn ôl i hynny,
[36:11.280 -> 36:16.000] heb ddod o'r amser i ddatblygu'r sgiliau rydych chi'n teimlo eich bod chi'n ddifrifo.
[36:16.000 -> 36:19.680] Felly, sut rydych chi'n gweithio'r sylwad o'r gwybodaeth ei fod,
[36:19.680 -> 36:22.240] lle bydd pobl yn rhoi'ch cymorth i chi
[36:22.240 -> 36:24.480] a'u gwybod bod yn gallu bod yn ddiogel iawn
[36:24.480 -> 36:28.520] neu'n siarad gyda chanddorfa radicol i chi? Felly, rwy'n credu mai dyna'r rhai pethau. will give you feedback and know that they can be brutally honest or speak with radical candor to you? So I think that's a few things so going back to what we
[36:28.520 -> 36:32.360] spoke about earlier in terms of being humble and transparent and being
[36:32.360 -> 36:35.820] transparent I think that certainly helps so I'll try and feed back to people as
[36:35.820 -> 36:40.300] much as possible in the nicest way possible and I also think I definitely
[36:40.300 -> 36:43.820] ask for feedback a lot now I'm in a real fortunate position where I'm now
[36:43.820 -> 36:45.120] surrounded by people
[36:45.120 -> 36:47.680] that are comfortable giving me feedback.
[36:47.680 -> 36:49.820] There's a thing that you can do.
[36:49.820 -> 36:51.160] This was another, this was almost a bit
[36:51.160 -> 36:53.040] of an ego death for me, right?
[36:53.040 -> 36:55.000] A few years ago, when I was sort of just starting
[36:55.000 -> 36:57.280] on this journey, we did something called 360 feedback,
[36:57.280 -> 36:59.200] which I don't know if you guys are aware,
[36:59.200 -> 37:01.640] but for those that aren't, what you do is you out,
[37:01.640 -> 37:04.840] you basically list people around you that you work with,
[37:04.840 -> 37:06.200] or you spend a lot of time with.
[37:06.200 -> 37:08.940] They fill in a questionnaire and like confidentially,
[37:08.940 -> 37:10.520] you can't see who answered what
[37:10.520 -> 37:13.540] and they sort of tick different boxes to describe you.
[37:13.540 -> 37:15.020] And people can add in comments as well.
[37:15.020 -> 37:16.240] I had this 360 feedback.
[37:16.240 -> 37:18.240] It must've been like 20 or 30 pages.
[37:18.240 -> 37:19.360] I had about seven or eight people
[37:19.360 -> 37:20.920] that all contributed to it.
[37:20.920 -> 37:21.800] I read through the whole thing
[37:21.800 -> 37:23.000] and it completely broke my heart.
[37:23.000 -> 37:24.100] I thought that's not me.
[37:24.100 -> 37:27.440] That's just doesn't sound like me. Everyone else is wrong. In reality, everyone else is right. I read through the whole thing and it completely broke my heart. I thought that's not me, that's just doesn't sound like me, everyone else is wrong. In
[37:27.440 -> 37:31.280] reality everyone else is right, I was the problem. So what sort of feedback did you
[37:31.280 -> 37:37.840] get Ben? Give us just a quick example. Abrasive, can be too direct at times, not
[37:37.840 -> 37:43.600] thoughtful. I mentioned earlier about being sort of too direct in terms of my
[37:43.600 -> 37:45.000] product feedback
[37:49.400 -> 37:51.560] Not empathetic enough. Even when you read it. Did you still not believe it? No, I didn't believe it This is the thing and this is the thing that really changed it
[37:51.560 -> 37:55.440] I took it home and I put it on the side and then I went off went to the gym did whatever
[37:56.120 -> 38:03.400] Come home from the gym and Robin who's my fiance now was just finishing reading it and I was so
[38:04.360 -> 38:05.600] Annoyed that she'd read it and I was
[38:05.600 -> 38:08.000] like why are you reading that that's mine don't look at it it's not even
[38:08.000 -> 38:12.400] right anyway anyway whatever cool down an hour later I said what did you think
[38:12.400 -> 38:16.080] of that anyway and she said that's the most accurate
[38:16.080 -> 38:21.040] description of you I've ever seen and I was like oh god and that was a
[38:21.040 -> 38:24.160] moment where it almost felt like everything around me just stopped time
[38:24.160 -> 38:25.240] just stopped and it was almost like
[38:25.240 -> 38:28.900] An ego death and I thought right whatever is in that 360 feedback
[38:28.900 -> 38:31.300] I am gonna list down and I
[38:31.600 -> 38:32.800] By any means necessary
[38:32.800 -> 38:37.780] I'm going to improve that and that was a moment when I had to reinvent myself and it was a really really important moment that
[38:37.780 -> 38:39.780] and it's funny because it's the combination of
[38:39.860 -> 38:44.260] professional feedback with the validation on the personal side and I do talk a lot about
[38:44.540 -> 38:46.020] the balance between the two
[38:46.020 -> 38:47.300] and the importance of having both,
[38:47.300 -> 38:49.640] but yeah, that was a big moment.
[38:49.640 -> 38:51.300] See what I love there is that,
[38:51.300 -> 38:53.480] like the way you just described how you listed it down
[38:53.480 -> 38:55.560] and then you thought I want to do it.
[38:55.560 -> 38:57.220] That was a parallel of how you described
[38:57.220 -> 38:59.260] going to the gym as a 16 year old,
[38:59.260 -> 39:01.720] like looking at how do I lift weights
[39:01.720 -> 39:04.820] to develop my biceps or whatever it is.
[39:04.820 -> 39:06.200] Is that mindset
[39:06.200 -> 39:10.040] consistent then from you as a 16 year old going into the gym for the first
[39:10.040 -> 39:15.000] time to you now being CEO again? Yeah, so the reason that I'm I really believe
[39:15.000 -> 39:18.840] that and I think it works and it certainly works for me. So going back
[39:18.840 -> 39:27.320] into the the chief exec role, two years ago Steve sat down with me and he said, shockingly enough, he said, Ben,
[39:27.320 -> 39:31.920] the business is now moving to a point where it needs a new leadership and Ben, I think
[39:31.920 -> 39:38.440] you could be the next CEO. So that shocked me. But what that did was it then it gave
[39:38.440 -> 39:41.200] me something to aim for. So then I sort of left that we flew home and I sort of thought
[39:41.200 -> 39:45.480] to myself, well, so I could be the CEO. Steve thinks I can be the CEO, maybe I can't.
[39:45.480 -> 39:48.920] To be the CEO, I need to do this, this, this, this, and this.
[39:48.920 -> 39:51.800] So what that did is it gave me something to aim for,
[39:51.800 -> 39:53.720] and it gave me a tangible list of things
[39:53.720 -> 39:54.680] that I needed to improve.
[39:54.680 -> 39:56.240] I'll give you an example.
[39:56.240 -> 39:58.120] One of those things was public speaking.
[39:58.120 -> 40:00.400] Terrible public speaker, horrifically nervous,
[40:00.400 -> 40:01.960] fumbled my words.
[40:01.960 -> 40:04.720] I was good in one-on-ones, but not as a public speaker.
[40:04.720 -> 40:08.360] Funnily enough, then a few weeks weeks later I was at a random event and you
[40:08.360 -> 40:11.120] know, hello how are you, doing the introductions, hi I'm Ben and I met
[40:11.120 -> 40:15.360] someone and they said their job is they're a public speaking coach. Now
[40:15.360 -> 40:18.800] normally I would have just, hello good to meet you, moved on and gone on with my
[40:18.800 -> 40:22.080] day but then all of a sudden that triggered the list in my head for me
[40:22.080 -> 40:24.480] to get to where I wanted to be as the chief exec, one of those things with
[40:24.480 -> 40:26.540] public speaking. I said can I get you
[40:26.540 -> 40:31.160] details can you teach me how to public speak I need help basically and that's
[40:31.160 -> 40:34.020] why I think it's so powerful because when you've got something to aim for all
[40:34.020 -> 40:38.480] of a sudden these opportunities that pop up in daily life then almost illuminate
[40:38.480 -> 40:42.020] in front of you because of the list that you've got and the direction you've put
[40:42.020 -> 40:45.040] for yourself yeah that's your reticular activating system
[40:45.040 -> 40:45.880] that's referred to.
[40:45.880 -> 40:46.840] It's a what?
[40:46.840 -> 40:48.840] It's called your reticular activating system.
[40:48.840 -> 40:51.300] So the way that people explain it is that,
[40:51.300 -> 40:53.580] like when you decide you're gonna buy a certain car,
[40:53.580 -> 40:56.080] you then start noticing that car on the road all the time
[40:56.080 -> 40:57.040] and you start seeing it.
[40:57.040 -> 40:59.520] So what Ben's describing is when you've got a goal
[40:59.520 -> 41:02.880] or a target, your brain often filters out
[41:02.880 -> 41:07.000] unnecessary information, but then now it starts to spot the information
[41:07.000 -> 41:08.000] that's relevant.
[41:08.000 -> 41:09.000] I mean, it's like I do it now.
[41:09.000 -> 41:11.000] I've got my phone over here.
[41:11.000 -> 41:13.000] On my phone, I'll have a list of things,
[41:13.000 -> 41:15.000] either quotes or things that I want to do
[41:15.000 -> 41:17.000] so that every day, even if I'm not reading it,
[41:17.000 -> 41:18.000] when I unlock my phone,
[41:18.000 -> 41:20.000] everyone just stares at their phone needlessly
[41:20.000 -> 41:21.000] throughout the day.
[41:21.000 -> 41:24.000] I think at least then, you know, something else is,
[41:24.000 -> 41:28.120] you know, is there and it's going into my head. So what you working on at the moment then?
[41:28.520 -> 41:31.840] so in the past my role has been it's been characterized as
[41:32.120 -> 41:38.040] Founder is essentially what it's been called and and what that that means is I've jumped across the business into different areas
[41:38.040 -> 41:43.220] So I've done a chief marketing officer role a chief brand officer role chief product chief tech
[41:43.220 -> 41:46.240] I've sat in the entirety of the business,
[41:46.240 -> 41:47.760] but it's been a case of like jump in,
[41:47.760 -> 41:49.560] get super involved in something you're passionate about,
[41:49.560 -> 41:50.600] then move out.
[41:50.600 -> 41:54.400] Now I'm trying to train myself to be a great chief exec,
[41:54.400 -> 41:57.940] and it's just that one step a little bit more removed.
[41:57.940 -> 41:59.720] And it's interesting because I'm trying to balance that
[41:59.720 -> 42:01.880] with my love for certain elements of the business,
[42:01.880 -> 42:05.140] but also maintaining transparency on a front end perspective.
[42:05.140 -> 42:06.240] So that's what I'm working on now.
[42:06.240 -> 42:07.920] I'm trying to be the best chief exec possible.
[42:07.920 -> 42:11.060] I'm trying to work out how to communicate strategy
[42:11.060 -> 42:11.900] in a better way.
[42:11.900 -> 42:13.480] So at the moment, for example,
[42:13.480 -> 42:15.460] we'll build a long-term strategy.
[42:15.460 -> 42:18.360] I'll sort of write down in a scruffy way,
[42:18.360 -> 42:19.560] the way that I think it is.
[42:19.560 -> 42:23.280] But then for me to get that into a digestible presentation
[42:23.280 -> 42:24.120] at the moment is something
[42:24.120 -> 42:26.720] that I haven't got the skillset to do. so I work with others to help me do that.
[42:26.720 -> 42:29.520] So that's something I think I would love to get better at.
[42:29.520 -> 42:32.760] And in the spirit of openness and transparency
[42:32.760 -> 42:34.280] that we've spoken about a lot,
[42:34.280 -> 42:36.640] you know, this is quite a nice little exclusive for us
[42:36.640 -> 42:37.800] that you're talking to us,
[42:37.800 -> 42:39.160] having only just announced you're back
[42:39.160 -> 42:41.440] as the CEO of Gymshark.
[42:41.440 -> 42:42.440] Like, how are you feeling?
[42:42.440 -> 42:43.920] Like, are you feeling under pressure
[42:43.920 -> 42:47.800] to deliver in your own company? Honestly, I'm the most excited I've ever been. I
[42:47.800 -> 42:52.440] absolutely love it. Like so do I feel pressure? Yes. I feel like I'm just
[42:52.440 -> 42:55.280] quoting Steve at the moment. He always says to me pressure is a privilege and
[42:55.280 -> 42:59.440] he always always says that. So I feel honored to be able to do the role. I'm
[42:59.440 -> 43:04.080] proud of the fact that I've gotten myself to a point of of being able to do
[43:04.080 -> 43:08.720] it. Because the other thing with Steve is he wouldn't tell me and the people around
[43:08.720 -> 43:12.120] me wouldn't allow me to do this or wouldn't tell me that I could do this if
[43:12.120 -> 43:15.240] they didn't think I could they're very very honest with me so I'm proud of the
[43:15.240 -> 43:18.420] fact that I've gotten to this point and I'm genuinely excited for the future
[43:18.420 -> 43:23.920] because Gymshark now is at a stage where I mean it's an outdated figure because
[43:23.920 -> 43:27.140] we're sort of end of June now aren't we but last calendar year we did half a billion
[43:27.140 -> 43:30.720] dollars in revenue just through our website and this calendar year it's
[43:30.720 -> 43:35.600] growing rapidly again and you know the runway going forward it's it's more and
[43:35.600 -> 43:40.300] more and more and I've really got this ambition for Gymshark to be the UK
[43:40.300 -> 43:44.180] fitness brand there isn't really a true fitness brand from the UK in the States
[43:44.180 -> 43:45.280] in Canada and Germany,
[43:45.280 -> 43:47.840] there's great brands, but not from here.
[43:47.840 -> 43:50.360] So I'm really looking forward to embarking on that journey.
[43:50.360 -> 43:54.000] And yeah, being in that, you know, that next level of,
[43:54.000 -> 43:55.440] being under that next level of pressure,
[43:55.440 -> 43:57.560] because as a founder, you can flit in and you can flit out.
[43:57.560 -> 43:59.680] I didn't have to turn up on a Wednesday if I didn't want to,
[43:59.680 -> 44:03.280] whereas as a CEO, I have to be present all the time.
[44:03.280 -> 44:06.720] I have to be making sure I am dedicating time
[44:06.720 -> 44:08.800] to areas of the business that maybe don't excite me
[44:08.800 -> 44:11.140] as much as others and give them the same passion
[44:11.140 -> 44:13.300] and determination as I do the things I love.
[44:13.300 -> 44:14.420] Well, can I ask you a question then
[44:14.420 -> 44:16.340] that I think a lot of people will be listening for,
[44:16.340 -> 44:18.200] of like, why do you want that pressure?
[44:18.200 -> 44:21.240] Why do you want to do things that don't excite you
[44:21.240 -> 44:24.600] or stretch your comfort zone when it would be feasible
[44:24.600 -> 44:25.400] for you to walk away
[44:25.400 -> 44:29.260] And you don't have to work again for the rest of your life. You can go and enjoy
[44:30.200 -> 44:34.160] Exotic holidays you can go and travel you can do anything your heart desires
[44:34.360 -> 44:42.120] So why are you choosing to put yourself into this position? I honestly I just love it. I love I love the vision. I've
[44:43.320 -> 44:45.880] I've met people throughout, you know,
[44:45.880 -> 44:47.360] in pre-COVID times when we would travel,
[44:47.360 -> 44:48.720] I've met people that have told me
[44:48.720 -> 44:50.500] about how much the brand has inspired them,
[44:50.500 -> 44:51.920] how much the story has inspired them,
[44:51.920 -> 44:53.900] how much the brand has, you know,
[44:53.900 -> 44:55.480] people have started businesses based on the brand.
[44:55.480 -> 44:58.120] People have lost masses of weight because of the brand.
[44:58.120 -> 45:00.520] People have completely revolutionized their mental health
[45:00.520 -> 45:01.360] because of the brand.
[45:01.360 -> 45:02.400] People have built muscle because of the brand.
[45:02.400 -> 45:05.240] And that makes me so incredibly proud.
[45:05.240 -> 45:07.000] That combined with the fact that I get to work
[45:07.000 -> 45:09.920] with some of the best people in the world.
[45:09.920 -> 45:14.320] I'm in a situation where if I want to learn about data,
[45:14.320 -> 45:16.560] one of the best people in the world
[45:16.560 -> 45:17.840] is our chief data officer.
[45:17.840 -> 45:20.080] If I want to learn about product,
[45:20.080 -> 45:21.880] our chief product officer is again,
[45:21.880 -> 45:23.340] one of the best in the world.
[45:23.340 -> 45:24.800] It's like having the dream job.
[45:24.800 -> 45:26.560] If you want to improve, I can do it
[45:26.560 -> 45:28.240] like on a turbocharged basis
[45:28.240 -> 45:29.560] because I have the best people around me.
[45:29.560 -> 45:31.880] Normally what you do, and it's brilliant
[45:31.880 -> 45:33.480] that you guys are doing this podcast
[45:33.480 -> 45:34.880] and you've got things like YouTube
[45:34.880 -> 45:38.200] because it gives people that maybe aren't in my position
[45:38.200 -> 45:39.880] access to great minds,
[45:39.880 -> 45:42.240] whereas I've almost got the level above that
[45:42.240 -> 45:44.440] where I can literally sit one-on-one
[45:44.440 -> 45:45.360] with great minds
[45:45.360 -> 45:46.200] and learn from them.
[45:46.200 -> 45:48.000] And I absolutely love that.
[45:48.000 -> 45:50.000] And it is going back to the thing I mentioned previously
[45:50.000 -> 45:52.960] is, and you know, this has been talked a lot about online
[45:52.960 -> 45:54.840] is responsibility does give meaning in life.
[45:54.840 -> 45:56.160] I truly believe that.
[45:56.160 -> 45:58.960] Again, an obvious question that a lot of people would ask
[45:58.960 -> 46:02.920] is that does great wealth or great success make you happier?
[46:02.920 -> 46:04.520] How would you answer that?
[46:04.520 -> 46:10.240] I feel like I've always been quite happy. So I was there a time I must admit right
[46:10.240 -> 46:14.360] there are times when I do think about I could finish at Pizza Hut I'd get the
[46:14.360 -> 46:18.040] free pizza at the end of the end of the end of the shift and I and then I go to
[46:18.040 -> 46:21.720] the gym with my mates like that was such a carefree incredible time and I
[46:21.720 -> 46:25.320] absolutely love that but equally I live an amazing life now
[46:25.320 -> 46:26.300] and I love that now.
[46:26.300 -> 46:28.960] So I would say to a point, yes,
[46:28.960 -> 46:30.600] because I've also been able to do things
[46:30.600 -> 46:32.200] that make me incredibly proud.
[46:32.200 -> 46:34.160] So I've been able to look after my parents,
[46:34.160 -> 46:37.800] my grandparents, you know, my wider family.
[46:37.800 -> 46:39.720] I was recently announced,
[46:39.720 -> 46:41.840] which is a proper moment for me and my family.
[46:41.840 -> 46:43.060] I was announced as patron
[46:43.060 -> 46:47.080] of Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital. having watched my mom, I mean she works
[46:47.080 -> 46:50.760] in the NHS in Selly Oak or she worked in the NHS in Selly Oak, having
[46:50.760 -> 46:55.600] watched her she would work all night, come home, drop me off at school, sleep
[46:55.600 -> 46:58.680] all day and then pick me up after after school. So to be able to give my bit
[46:58.680 -> 47:02.400] back to the NHS is really important to me. So it's putting me in a position
[47:02.400 -> 47:05.000] where I can look after those around me.
[47:05.000 -> 47:07.240] I get the opportunity to focus on things
[47:07.240 -> 47:08.120] that are important to me,
[47:08.120 -> 47:11.440] such as the patronage of Birmingham Women's and Children's.
[47:11.440 -> 47:14.920] And equally, money does just give you choice.
[47:14.920 -> 47:17.400] Like it doesn't make you a better person.
[47:17.400 -> 47:19.680] I think there's a level where it does make you happy,
[47:19.680 -> 47:21.240] but it just gives you choice ultimately.
[47:21.240 -> 47:22.360] I really believe that.
[47:22.360 -> 47:23.880] It can also make you a worse person.
[47:23.880 -> 47:27.160] I mean, what's the current valuation of gym shock more than a
[47:27.160 -> 47:33.920] billion yeah and you have what 50% so I said just over 70 right so if we do
[47:33.920 -> 47:37.720] rough maths would make you worth 700 million pounds right if that's just
[47:37.720 -> 47:41.920] plucking a figure out there that's the sort of money that can completely
[47:41.920 -> 47:47.320] transform transform someone's mindset and not for the good, but for the worse, actually.
[47:47.320 -> 47:49.280] How careful have you had to be to make sure
[47:49.280 -> 47:51.760] that that doesn't happen or has that come easy for you?
[47:51.760 -> 47:54.640] So there's a saying I've heard as well a few years back.
[47:54.640 -> 47:56.720] If you give a half crazy person money,
[47:56.720 -> 47:59.280] then they go full crazy pretty quick.
[47:59.280 -> 48:01.840] That's something that's definitely rang true.
[48:01.840 -> 48:04.960] And I have an incredible fiance, right?
[48:04.960 -> 48:07.400] She keeps me so, so, so grounded.
[48:07.400 -> 48:10.320] She calls me out, like I've got an amazing family.
[48:10.320 -> 48:13.240] I've got brilliant people around me who,
[48:14.840 -> 48:17.400] I think if I did ever start to stray,
[48:17.400 -> 48:18.900] they would call me out.
[48:18.900 -> 48:21.640] I think I'm at the point now where I'm mature enough
[48:21.640 -> 48:23.400] and I've lived with this long enough now
[48:23.400 -> 48:24.560] to know how to deal with it.
[48:24.560 -> 48:31.200] Like being candid from the age of 2021 we have had offers for the business that
[48:31.200 -> 48:35.120] would allow me to retire and completely change my life and almost live happily ever after.
[48:35.120 -> 48:40.640] So I've had this for a long long time now. It's not anything that's new. In the recent
[48:40.640 -> 48:43.640] deal with Gemini Atlantic I actually took the opportunity to increase my shareholding
[48:43.640 -> 48:45.600] because I really believed in the business that much.
[48:45.600 -> 48:49.200] My passion for the business and the cause severely outweighs
[48:49.200 -> 48:51.400] my desire, you know, for personal finance.
[48:51.400 -> 48:53.600] And again, that's not to say that I don't enjoy that.
[48:53.600 -> 48:54.600] I absolutely do.
[48:54.600 -> 48:56.800] It's a massive, massive privilege.
[48:56.800 -> 49:00.000] But equally, it's not the be all and end all.
[49:00.000 -> 49:02.400] And there's so much in this conversation to be impressed by.
[49:02.400 -> 49:06.800] I mean, I think for me, one of the real big things that people might not have known is
[49:06.800 -> 49:10.000] that you took this step back and you went into all the areas of the business to improve
[49:10.000 -> 49:11.000] yourself.
[49:11.000 -> 49:15.440] So self-improvement is constantly there, but so is your like relentless energy and drive
[49:15.440 -> 49:16.760] and desire.
[49:16.760 -> 49:21.280] How much time do you spend taking a step back, sitting quietly with a smile on your face
[49:21.280 -> 49:25.200] thinking, bloody hell boy, you did okay actually.
[49:25.200 -> 49:26.080] Probably not enough.
[49:26.080 -> 49:27.860] So it's more in those quiet moments,
[49:27.860 -> 49:29.520] which happen less and less now because of COVID.
[49:29.520 -> 49:34.520] So I would, I mean, the year I met my other half,
[49:34.720 -> 49:36.480] which was five or six years ago now,
[49:36.480 -> 49:39.680] we did 52 flights that year.
[49:39.680 -> 49:41.180] After that, it was like 30, 40 flights.
[49:41.180 -> 49:42.400] Like we travel a lot.
[49:42.400 -> 49:44.320] And it's in that moment when you sat on a plane
[49:44.320 -> 49:46.720] and there is nothing else to do. you can't go on your phone.
[49:46.720 -> 49:47.760] That's when it was sort of hit to me.
[49:47.760 -> 49:49.880] It's even coming down here on the train today,
[49:49.880 -> 49:51.300] sat on your own.
[49:51.300 -> 49:53.480] It does, you do think about a little bit then,
[49:53.480 -> 49:56.520] even sometimes turning up to Gymshark HQ,
[49:56.520 -> 49:58.680] which is also expanding rapidly,
[49:58.680 -> 50:01.680] walking up and seeing that logo is really cool
[50:01.680 -> 50:05.000] because it is, you know, it's changed a lot of lives
[50:05.400 -> 50:08.600] and the logo does hold a great place
[50:08.600 -> 50:11.320] in people's hearts now, which is incredibly humbling.
[50:11.320 -> 50:13.880] So one of our great questions that we like asking Ben
[50:13.880 -> 50:17.400] is an idea from the management writer, Jim Collins,
[50:17.400 -> 50:20.400] where he talks about having a to stop list,
[50:20.400 -> 50:22.160] a to don't list.
[50:22.160 -> 50:26.480] Now, you're somebody that has got a whole heap
[50:26.480 -> 50:30.120] of different demands on your time and your energy.
[50:30.120 -> 50:32.200] What are the things that you don't do
[50:32.200 -> 50:34.960] that you just resolutely refuse to take on?
[50:34.960 -> 50:36.880] One of the things I want to stop doing is saying,
[50:36.880 -> 50:39.840] I feel like I need to get better at speaking.
[50:39.840 -> 50:41.880] And I need to, I've seen great people do it.
[50:41.880 -> 50:43.560] Like if you ask them a question
[50:43.560 -> 50:45.400] and they don't know what the answer is, they'll almost take a step back and think. And that's something that I want to, I've seen great people do it. Like if you ask them a question and they don't know what the answer is,
[50:45.400 -> 50:47.200] they'll almost take a step back and think,
[50:47.200 -> 50:48.440] and that's something that I want to do.
[50:48.440 -> 50:49.840] I'm too Ermie at the moment.
[50:51.160 -> 50:52.000] There it goes.
[50:52.000 -> 50:52.820] What else?
[50:52.820 -> 50:54.440] Yeah, exactly, it's a nightmare.
[50:54.440 -> 50:56.280] What else do I want to stop?
[50:56.280 -> 50:57.360] I really don't know.
[50:57.360 -> 50:58.940] So you don't say yes too often?
[50:58.940 -> 50:59.780] I think I do, yeah.
[50:59.780 -> 51:01.920] I'm very open with my time.
[51:01.920 -> 51:04.680] Accessibility is really important to me and Gymshark.
[51:04.680 -> 51:06.880] So I've been very, very busy this week,
[51:06.880 -> 51:10.200] but then there was a really cool young business owner
[51:10.200 -> 51:13.520] from Manchester who really wanted to have a look
[51:13.520 -> 51:15.120] around the office and see the headquarters
[51:15.120 -> 51:17.000] and almost get inspiration.
[51:17.000 -> 51:18.840] And I said yes to it and I loved every second of it
[51:18.840 -> 51:20.500] and it was definitely the right thing to do,
[51:20.500 -> 51:22.960] but there's only so much of that you can do.
[51:22.960 -> 51:24.160] So I have to protect my time.
[51:24.160 -> 51:27.000] So I think I could probably get better at protecting my time. And if I'm honest, it's something I'm just not very good at. ond mae yna ddau o hynny y gallwch ei wneud, felly rhaid i mi gynllunio fy mhobl amser. Felly rwy'n credu y byddwn yn gwella'n well ar gynllunio fy mhobl amser.
[51:27.000 -> 51:29.000] Ac os ydw i'n ddiogel, mae'n rhywbeth rwyf dim yn dda iawn arno,
[51:29.000 -> 51:33.000] felly dyna'r peth sy'n ymwneud â'i gynllunio i rywun arall.
[51:33.000 -> 51:36.000] Oherwydd y rhesymau rwy'n gofyn yw, rwy'n credu,
[51:36.000 -> 51:39.000] eto, mae'n mynd yn ôl i'r penderfyniad rydych chi wedi'i wneud i ddod allan
[51:39.000 -> 51:43.000] fel CEO yn y blynyddoedd, cyn i gyd, rwy'n gwybod eich bod chi wedi dod allan i mewn i'r penderfyniad,
[51:43.000 -> 51:46.640] ond rwy'n meddwl ond oedd yna ddiddorol iawn o adnoddio, a'r rhaid i mi ddweud, dechrau gwneud hyn, a gadael rhywun arall i'w ddweud. before I know you've come back into it, but I just thought there was a real courage in that of recognizing I need to stop doing this
[51:46.640 -> 51:48.400] and let somebody else take it on.
[51:48.400 -> 51:50.200] And that's why I was wondering how you apply
[51:50.200 -> 51:53.760] that same principle elsewhere in your life.
[51:53.760 -> 51:55.600] I think you sort of have to pick your battles, right?
[51:55.600 -> 51:59.000] There's certain things that I will want to have a go at
[51:59.000 -> 52:01.040] and get an improve on.
[52:01.040 -> 52:03.680] And then there's certain things that I will essentially just,
[52:03.680 -> 52:04.560] I'm not going to get to that.
[52:04.560 -> 52:07.320] Someone else needs to do it. And I'll give it a go in my spare time to try and improve
[52:07.360 -> 52:09.840] Yeah, do you know about survivorship bias?
[52:10.400 -> 52:14.800] Which basically means people that have done really well love telling everyone how they've done really well
[52:14.800 -> 52:19.760] And they don't see all the people that didn't quite make it and they just assume everyone everyone can do it now
[52:20.080 -> 52:25.420] Sometimes we get an accusation on these podcasts that oh, yeah, you're talking to people who've been really successful
[52:25.640 -> 52:30.600] Therefore they have survivorship bias. I always say that people that don't listen to this podcast because
[52:31.320 -> 52:37.960] They don't hear the fact that 80% of our conversation is actually with people like you about the failures and the struggles and and the difficult
[52:37.960 -> 52:38.820] times
[52:38.820 -> 52:39.960] but I think there is
[52:39.960 -> 52:44.880] there is only a benefit to getting someone like you to come on here and share your story and share your journey and
[52:45.680 -> 52:50.580] The way that you've done it for other people that dream of doing the same thing and before we walked out here and sat down
[52:50.580 -> 52:51.520] I said, oh, yeah, you know
[52:51.520 -> 52:54.100] I just think it's great for people to hear this because
[52:54.360 -> 52:58.240] They they would probably hope that they can do the same thing and your immediate answer was well
[52:58.240 -> 53:01.800] They can I think that's a really good message before we move into our quickfire
[53:02.320 -> 53:08.480] Final few questions a really good message to leave people on is that you still have this belief that anyone listening to this podcast
[53:09.120 -> 53:14.400] regardless of where they're from their background that they can do this they can make a success of
[53:14.400 -> 53:19.280] their life and now more than ever because if you look at online it's growing massively right and
[53:19.280 -> 53:28.320] that we haven't lived during in a period where a niche can be so powerful. Like there are kids that are really good at FIFA, that have full businesses and channels
[53:28.320 -> 53:32.320] and social platforms and all sorts that are doing incredible things in the world.
[53:32.320 -> 53:33.760] That was never, never possible before.
[53:33.760 -> 53:37.920] So what the internet has done is allowed people that have a niche interest to truly turn that
[53:37.920 -> 53:38.920] into a career.
[53:38.920 -> 53:40.600] I think that's really important.
[53:40.600 -> 53:45.000] And now even more than that, we're now coming out of the COVID pandemic.
[53:45.000 -> 53:47.500] If you look at many of the greatest businesses in the world,
[53:47.500 -> 53:50.500] they were all started in and around a period of chaos.
[53:50.500 -> 53:56.400] And now as we leave chaos, I think there is genuinely an opportunity to create special businesses to,
[53:56.400 -> 54:00.000] you know, it's an opportunity for you to double down on what you're truly passionate about.
[54:00.000 -> 54:01.500] And I think that's really important.
[54:01.500 -> 54:05.400] I think the more people that see this as an opportunity the better
[54:06.200 -> 54:08.200] Brilliant. It's a very good mindset to have
[54:08.960 -> 54:11.560] Talking of mindsets. What are your three?
[54:12.680 -> 54:19.220] Non-negotiables that you and the people around you have to buy into Ben. I want people around me that are open-minded that are
[54:19.740 -> 54:21.740] focusing on self-development and
[54:22.200 -> 54:23.880] and are humble
[54:23.880 -> 54:27.100] What's the one piece of advice you'd give to a teenage Ben
[54:27.100 -> 54:28.320] just starting out?
[54:28.320 -> 54:30.600] The thing that's really stood me in good stead
[54:30.600 -> 54:32.180] is trusting my gut.
[54:32.180 -> 54:33.320] And I don't have many regrets,
[54:33.320 -> 54:34.560] but the regrets that I do have
[54:34.560 -> 54:36.060] are when I haven't trusted my gut
[54:36.060 -> 54:38.560] and I'm a firm, firm believer in that.
[54:38.560 -> 54:41.300] So I would say, trust your gut.
[54:41.300 -> 54:43.700] I would say really take time to understand who you are
[54:43.700 -> 54:45.440] and what you want
[54:45.440 -> 54:47.240] and learn something from everyone that you meet.
[54:47.240 -> 54:48.320] What's your greatest strength
[54:48.320 -> 54:50.360] and what is your biggest weakness?
[54:50.360 -> 54:52.720] I do think my greatest strength is,
[54:52.720 -> 54:55.760] I think it's a combination, I think it's self-awareness
[54:55.760 -> 54:57.160] and I've definitely got an ability
[54:57.160 -> 54:59.920] to learn things quickly and almost apply them.
[54:59.920 -> 55:01.960] So I've been able to reinvent myself several times
[55:01.960 -> 55:03.320] throughout my life.
[55:03.320 -> 55:05.720] So I'd say that's probably my biggest strength.
[55:05.720 -> 55:07.800] My biggest weakness.
[55:07.800 -> 55:11.680] So I'm not naturally attuned to public speaking,
[55:11.680 -> 55:12.600] working with teams,
[55:12.600 -> 55:14.300] even some things when it comes to numbers,
[55:14.300 -> 55:16.640] they're naturally really, they're terrible for me.
[55:16.640 -> 55:18.080] Like I'm literally paving over the cracks
[55:18.080 -> 55:19.280] to be any good at them.
[55:19.280 -> 55:21.480] And I do often get almost envious of people
[55:21.480 -> 55:22.720] that are naturally brilliant.
[55:22.720 -> 55:27.760] So yeah, my weakness actually is funny enough, I don't think I'm naturally built for that
[55:27.760 -> 55:30.880] sort of thing, but I think it's something I will hopefully improve at.
[55:30.880 -> 55:36.000] What's one book recommendation you'd offer our listeners? So I'm not a massive
[55:36.000 -> 55:40.400] massive reader. There's a few books that have been really important to me and
[55:40.400 -> 55:44.520] have sort of changed things. There's one, which is gonna sound really boring, but
[55:44.520 -> 55:46.700] it's probably the one that impacted me the most.
[55:46.700 -> 55:49.760] And it's a book called, a guy called Charlie Munger,
[55:49.760 -> 55:51.760] and it's called Poor Charlie's Almanac.
[55:51.760 -> 55:54.760] And it's basically a book that I'm pretty sure
[55:54.760 -> 55:56.160] it's all of the talks he's ever done,
[55:56.160 -> 55:57.920] talks and things that he's written,
[55:57.920 -> 55:59.480] basically brought into one book.
[55:59.480 -> 56:00.600] He works for Warren Buffett, is that right?
[56:00.600 -> 56:01.440] Yeah, exactly that.
[56:01.440 -> 56:10.060] And the reason that that really impacted me was because I went into it thinking this guy's an investor is a financier
[56:10.060 -> 56:13.400] we will have nothing in common and interestingly enough he
[56:13.980 -> 56:19.840] Really is a brand focused person and he breaks things down and approaches problems in such a brilliant way
[56:20.380 -> 56:22.380] He's almost got this mental
[56:22.580 -> 56:25.040] Toolkit or Swiss Army knife in terms of how to how
[56:25.040 -> 56:29.920] to solve problems and and that really fascinated me because I think you don't
[56:29.920 -> 56:33.000] want to always try and solve problems in the same way. There's a quote he uses in
[56:33.000 -> 56:36.800] it where he says, to the man with the hammer every problem looks pretty much
[56:36.800 -> 56:40.000] like a nail and I always remind myself of that because I think everyone has
[56:40.000 -> 56:44.560] their go-to way of solving problems and I think it's sometimes interesting to
[56:44.560 -> 56:46.000] try and solve problems in different ways
[56:46.000 -> 56:47.840] or look at things from a different angle.
[56:47.840 -> 56:50.800] And he really opened up my mind to that way of thinking.
[56:50.800 -> 56:51.640] It's great.
[56:51.640 -> 56:53.520] And the final question from us,
[56:53.520 -> 56:55.120] kind of your last message for people really,
[56:55.120 -> 56:57.520] which is your one golden rule
[56:57.520 -> 56:58.860] or your one message for people
[56:58.860 -> 57:01.480] to live a high performance life.
[57:01.480 -> 57:03.520] It has to be self-development.
[57:03.520 -> 57:04.440] Understand who you are,
[57:04.440 -> 57:05.560] understand where you want to be,
[57:05.560 -> 57:09.980] and put in daily steps to get yourself there.
[57:09.980 -> 57:11.720] Ben, that has been absolutely brilliant.
[57:11.720 -> 57:13.440] Thank you so much for coming and joining us.
[57:13.440 -> 57:14.280] Thank you.
[57:14.280 -> 57:15.280] Real privilege, thank you, Ben.
[57:15.280 -> 57:18.560] ♪♪♪♪♪
[57:18.560 -> 57:19.400] Damien.
[57:19.400 -> 57:20.360] Jaheik.
[57:20.360 -> 57:21.760] What an impressive young man.
[57:21.760 -> 57:22.600] Yeah, phenomenal.
[57:22.600 -> 57:25.540] I think, I hope it comes across for people listening
[57:25.540 -> 57:31.400] But I think we're both energized having met him and just inspired by his story and just the way
[57:31.400 -> 57:35.180] He can do it to himself is such humility and transparency
[57:35.220 -> 57:39.320] Yeah, I mean you sort of got the sense that nothing there was nothing that we couldn't talk about
[57:39.320 -> 57:42.860] There's nothing that he wouldn't share but more than that
[57:43.840 -> 57:47.380] Like he was totally disarmingly honest about stuff.
[57:47.380 -> 57:48.680] I mean, I even like the fact that,
[57:48.680 -> 57:49.840] you know, he kept mentioning Steve,
[57:49.840 -> 57:53.020] who was the previous CEO before he took the role back again.
[57:53.020 -> 57:55.440] Even when, you know, like often people hear a good quote
[57:55.440 -> 57:56.280] and they think, I'll have that,
[57:56.280 -> 57:57.740] yeah, that'll make me look good.
[57:57.740 -> 57:59.360] When he shares the things he's learned,
[57:59.360 -> 58:02.440] he tells us where he learned them, who he learned them from.
[58:02.440 -> 58:03.920] Like, the guy's so modest.
[58:03.920 -> 58:05.680] And I think we live in a world where we're like well
[58:05.680 -> 58:11.660] You can either be modest or successful which one do you want to be you can either be kind or you can be a billionaire
[58:11.660 -> 58:14.200] Which one do you want to be? Well, he's showing you can be both
[58:14.280 -> 58:21.260] Yeah, the power of and rather than either or I think the fact that you can be successful and be humble
[58:21.600 -> 58:25.920] You can be a business leader and you can be kind again they
[58:25.920 -> 58:29.960] say it's not either or it's it's both and and I think when I think he's a
[58:29.960 -> 58:34.880] living embodiment of that philosophy and keep evolving guys as well like I think
[58:34.880 -> 58:38.240] a lot of people would go yeah done that create a business worth a billion from
[58:38.240 -> 58:41.880] zero I've made a what they call it a unicorn don't they a business they've
[58:41.880 -> 58:46.080] formed that's valued over a billion lovely. I'll walk away and chill out
[58:46.080 -> 58:48.680] Where as he goes right now I need to evolve now. I need to become a
[58:49.380 -> 58:56.440] Proper CEO and I love the fact that I think I think that we are a bit obsessed with founders in the modern world
[58:56.440 -> 59:01.220] We're obsessed with what did you? Oh, yeah, he's he's only the CEO, but that guy's the founder of the business
[59:01.220 -> 59:07.600] Yeah, he flips it on its head. He's like I didn't want to just be a founder like I came up with a good idea I want to run the
[59:07.600 -> 59:11.720] business he understands that running a successful business that's the real work
[59:11.720 -> 59:15.920] and he is not afraid of hard work no one I think what's worth emphasizing with
[59:15.920 -> 59:20.080] this is that he could have just cashed his chips in when the American
[59:20.080 -> 59:23.920] investment company came in he could have cashed his chips in and walked away with
[59:23.920 -> 59:27.160] money that would have set him him up his children his grandchildren up for the investment company came in he could have cashed his chips in and walked away with
[59:23.920 -> 59:28.600] money that would have set him up his
[59:27.160 -> 59:30.520] children his grandchildren up for the
[59:28.600 -> 59:32.800] rest of their lives and yet he chose not
[59:30.520 -> 59:36.200] to do that he's chosen to stay to go and
[59:32.800 -> 59:38.800] learn how to be a CEO to develop what he
[59:36.200 -> 59:42.640] perceived as his weaknesses that's growth
[59:38.800 -> 59:45.440] mindset in one individual there somebody
[59:42.640 -> 59:47.360] that is demonstrating passion for learning and developing.
[59:47.360 -> 59:49.000] And like a lot of people, I look from the outside
[59:49.000 -> 59:51.720] at Jim Shark and I'm like, well, how do you do, like,
[59:51.720 -> 59:54.680] how is there so many businesses and brands
[59:54.680 -> 59:58.560] and creators and self-starters everywhere?
[59:58.560 -> 01:00:00.480] But only a few of them, very few of them,
[01:00:00.480 -> 01:00:02.120] are as successful as that.
[01:00:02.120 -> 01:00:03.640] You sit and have an hour's conversation with him
[01:00:03.640 -> 01:00:07.760] and now I totally understand the kinds of mindset and approach that you
[01:00:07.760 -> 01:00:12.080] need to be successful it doesn't mean you can just go and recreate it but it
[01:00:12.080 -> 01:00:14.880] is a really good reminder that it's there for anyone if they really get it
[01:00:14.880 -> 01:00:19.040] right yep and what was interesting when we finished recording there Ben made a
[01:00:19.040 -> 01:00:23.440] just a telling remark that one of his big frustrations is people hear this
[01:00:23.440 -> 01:00:28.440] story and say oh it was an overnight overnight success but he was keen to emphasize he had five
[01:00:28.440 -> 01:00:31.800] little businesses that he could try to get off the ground before he went into
[01:00:31.800 -> 01:00:36.980] Gymshire setting up websites of selling number plates for cars and I think even
[01:00:36.980 -> 01:00:42.600] at his young age he's tried, failed, learned, reflected and then come back and
[01:00:42.600 -> 01:00:49.000] done something different again but at the heart of it, he found something that combined his passions of keeping fit
[01:00:49.000 -> 01:00:52.000] and creating an online business as well.
[01:00:52.000 -> 01:00:57.000] Really interesting conversation, and I hope anyone listening to this got a lot from it.
[01:00:57.000 -> 01:00:58.000] Thanks a lot, Damien.
[01:00:58.000 -> 01:00:59.000] Thanks, Jake. I loved it.
[01:01:02.000 -> 01:01:06.320] Now, one of the things that we're quite enjoying on this series of the High Performance Podcast
[01:01:06.320 -> 01:01:10.600] is meeting listeners and chatting to them about their experience of listening to the
[01:01:10.600 -> 01:01:16.880] podcast. So let's do that right now. Damien, Jake, Caitlin.
[01:01:16.880 -> 01:01:17.880] Hi.
[01:01:17.880 -> 01:01:18.880] How are you doing?
[01:01:18.880 -> 01:01:21.880] I'm great, thank you. How are you?
[01:01:21.880 -> 01:01:26.000] Well, yeah, we're good. Listen, thanks very much for pinging your message to us to say
[01:01:26.000 -> 01:01:30.800] how much you're enjoying the podcast and that you particularly enjoy the Damien, Jake moment.
[01:01:30.800 -> 01:01:31.680] I do.
[01:01:31.680 -> 01:01:36.000] So what is it about that? Because we get more messages about that bit than anything else.
[01:01:36.000 -> 01:01:40.880] I think it's this, I think what it is, is at the end of a podcast, you know, I've listened to it,
[01:01:40.880 -> 01:01:46.720] I'm kind of awestruck, have got a, you know, notes, a
[01:01:46.720 -> 01:01:51.200] page full of ideas. And it sounds like you feel the same at the end. Like, it sounds
[01:01:51.200 -> 01:01:56.320] like you're also awestruck. Like, I think that's what's so exciting about it is that
[01:01:56.320 -> 01:02:00.760] you're not here like, okay, another podcast done. You're both like, oh my gosh, that was
[01:02:00.760 -> 01:02:01.760] amazing.
[01:02:01.760 -> 01:02:08.040] Love that. So let's sort of go back to sort of, I suppose, your journey with high performance.
[01:02:08.040 -> 01:02:12.600] Like when you started listening to the podcasts, I'm always interested in these two questions,
[01:02:12.600 -> 01:02:14.720] like how did you find it?
[01:02:14.720 -> 01:02:17.200] And where were you at then compared to now?
[01:02:17.200 -> 01:02:22.840] Yeah, so I was put onto it by my boyfriend, who's also my business partner.
[01:02:22.840 -> 01:02:25.400] And we were living with my parents in lockdown
[01:02:25.400 -> 01:02:29.280] because we were living on our own and we didn't want to spend all that time just the two of
[01:02:29.280 -> 01:02:34.160] us because it would have been quite stressful. And he was like, you have to listen to Holly
[01:02:34.160 -> 01:02:39.960] Tucker's episode. Like, this is unreal. It was a really stressful time. You know, it
[01:02:39.960 -> 01:02:45.800] was it was lockdown three. He couldn't go home to spend his Christmas with his family.
[01:02:45.800 -> 01:02:48.480] There were six adults in my house.
[01:02:48.480 -> 01:02:52.760] We were trying to start a business whilst also I work for a startup in my day job and
[01:02:52.760 -> 01:02:54.540] I'm also doing an MBA.
[01:02:54.540 -> 01:02:57.060] So it was super stressful.
[01:02:57.060 -> 01:03:00.780] And I was out for a walk on my own in the woods and I was listening to that and I was
[01:03:00.780 -> 01:03:04.420] listening to Holly Tucker talk about, you know, when she went on like that safari with
[01:03:04.420 -> 01:03:08.640] her son and she was just talking about how that was kind of what she'd been aiming for, being
[01:03:08.640 -> 01:03:14.000] able to give her family those experiences. And it just, every time I listen to it, it just spurs me
[01:03:14.000 -> 01:03:22.080] on like it whenever I'm in a dip, which is often in this stressful life. I literally, every episode
[01:03:22.080 -> 01:03:27.520] brings me up. I genuinely think I've learned tactics and lessons
[01:03:27.520 -> 01:03:32.520] that really have helped me to stay up more often.
[01:03:33.560 -> 01:03:35.240] I really believe that, I really do.
[01:03:35.240 -> 01:03:38.120] And what would you say has been the best tip
[01:03:38.120 -> 01:03:39.520] or tactic that you've learned then?
[01:03:39.520 -> 01:03:42.760] Okay, well, this is gonna sound very sycophantic,
[01:03:42.760 -> 01:03:46.240] but it was your quote that you can do everything, you can do anything,
[01:03:46.240 -> 01:03:52.480] but you can't do everything. And I wish I had heard that last March when I started an MBA.
[01:03:53.760 -> 01:03:57.920] I wish someone had said to me, well, actually my boyfriend did say at the time, but I wish someone
[01:03:57.920 -> 01:04:02.560] had said, maybe do this later. Like maybe now is not the best time, but here I am. I now I'm much
[01:04:02.560 -> 01:04:08.000] better at being like, something will come along again. You can't do all of this right now. And if you try to do it, you're
[01:04:08.000 -> 01:04:13.160] going to spread yourself too thin. Whereas before, I think I kind of wildly bashed through
[01:04:13.160 -> 01:04:17.760] things expecting to be excellent at all of them. And it obviously just crashed and burned.
[01:04:17.760 -> 01:04:22.080] And I also think Caitlin, that there's still this kind of, there's still this sense that,
[01:04:22.080 -> 01:04:26.900] well, look, how much can you really get from it? It's only a podcast, it's only like people talking about the
[01:04:26.900 -> 01:04:30.140] lives they've lived or the lessons they've learned but it's so good to hear
[01:04:30.140 -> 01:04:33.920] you talking like this because I think that there's almost nothing more
[01:04:33.920 -> 01:04:38.860] powerful than other people's experiences that become someone else's lessons, do
[01:04:38.860 -> 01:04:41.100] you know what I mean? And that's basically what's happening, you know
[01:04:41.100 -> 01:04:44.880] people are sharing what they've done and then people like you and myself and
[01:04:44.880 -> 01:04:46.660] Damien are just getting so much from them.
[01:04:46.660 -> 01:04:50.660] Yeah, absolutely. I listen to this a lot. I said this in my message, but I listen to
[01:04:50.660 -> 01:04:55.020] your questions and then I pause it and answer it as if it was myself because I think it's
[01:04:55.020 -> 01:05:00.560] a really good way to try and get to the bottom of things. And you talk a lot about like how
[01:05:00.560 -> 01:05:05.160] high performing people often have like trauma often have trauma in their past.
[01:05:05.160 -> 01:05:07.660] I've always been like, oh, that's so interesting. Yeah, they do.
[01:05:07.660 -> 01:05:09.320] Then I realized I have that.
[01:05:09.320 -> 01:05:10.800] When I was at uni,
[01:05:10.800 -> 01:05:12.320] my first term at Cambridge,
[01:05:12.320 -> 01:05:15.200] I had this freak accident and I went blind.
[01:05:15.200 -> 01:05:18.040] It was the most horrific thing ever,
[01:05:18.040 -> 01:05:20.440] but for some crazy reason,
[01:05:20.440 -> 01:05:22.760] I was like, I'm going to go back to uni and carry on.
[01:05:22.760 -> 01:05:28.600] It was so difficult, but what it really taught me was that I physically had to rest. I couldn't, I couldn't like,
[01:05:28.600 -> 01:05:31.240] I was doing an English degree, so I could only read a little bit and then I'd have to
[01:05:31.240 -> 01:05:36.680] have a nap or whatever. And I actually think that that is why I now, my whole business
[01:05:36.680 -> 01:05:40.960] is centered around rest and productivity and high performance. And I feel like there are
[01:05:40.960 -> 01:05:46.440] times when you have to push on and there are times when you have to slow down. And I learned that the hard way.
[01:05:46.440 -> 01:05:48.000] And that's the whole point of my business
[01:05:48.000 -> 01:05:49.520] is I don't want other people to burn out
[01:05:49.520 -> 01:05:50.420] and have to learn that way.
[01:05:50.420 -> 01:05:52.760] I want people to learn like a high performance
[01:05:52.760 -> 01:05:55.640] I think is doing both pushing and resting,
[01:05:55.640 -> 01:05:58.220] pushing and resting and doing that in that way.
[01:05:58.220 -> 01:05:59.720] So when you say about people learning
[01:05:59.720 -> 01:06:01.400] from other people's experiences,
[01:06:01.400 -> 01:06:02.520] when I listened to that, I was like,
[01:06:02.520 -> 01:06:03.880] I have that to share with people.
[01:06:03.880 -> 01:06:06.080] Like, that's what I want to try and communicate with people.
[01:06:06.080 -> 01:06:08.960] Don't wait until something terrible happens
[01:06:08.960 -> 01:06:13.200] and you're blind to like take care of yourself.
[01:06:13.200 -> 01:06:15.600] So what would you say then are your non-negotiables?
[01:06:15.600 -> 01:06:17.720] And Caitlin, if we ask you the question
[01:06:17.720 -> 01:06:18.960] that we ask every guest,
[01:06:18.960 -> 01:06:21.000] what were, what are your three non-negotiables?
[01:06:21.000 -> 01:06:22.720] Well, obviously every time you ask a guest something,
[01:06:22.720 -> 01:06:23.920] I'm like, oh, those are my three now.
[01:06:23.920 -> 01:06:28.160] Cause they're so good. I think a hundred
[01:06:28.160 -> 01:06:31.920] percent integrity. My mum has always said she's a very strong Irish woman since I was
[01:06:31.920 -> 01:06:37.240] very small. All you have is your integrity. So that a hundred percent compassion and humour
[01:06:37.240 -> 01:06:43.320] because it is so hard when you're trying to excel, it's really tough and you get knocked
[01:06:43.320 -> 01:06:45.360] back so often that you have to just be like, Oh God, sometimes you just trying to excel, it's really tough and you get knocked back so often that you have
[01:06:45.360 -> 01:06:50.560] to just be like, oh God, sometimes you just have to laugh. It's great. What would you say to people
[01:06:50.560 -> 01:06:55.200] who are hearing this conversation? And maybe this is the first podcast they've listened to, which,
[01:06:55.200 -> 01:06:58.800] which is the one, I mean, obviously you mentioned Holly Tucker was the first one, which is the one
[01:06:58.800 -> 01:07:08.160] that of all of them has left you most kind of awestruck? Easy, Kevin Sinfield, like his clarity and understanding of teams and leadership,
[01:07:08.160 -> 01:07:12.320] I think is mind blowing. And I think the way that you can apply that to
[01:07:13.120 -> 01:07:18.080] business is just clear cut. It's so it's, that's the thing I love about your sports episodes
[01:07:18.080 -> 01:07:21.520] is how they're not just about sport. They're, they're about culture and teams
[01:07:21.520 -> 01:07:23.680] and working with people. And that was amazing.
[01:07:22.720 -> 01:07:24.120] They're about culture and teams and working with people. And that's amazing.
[01:07:24.120 -> 01:07:27.880] ♪♪
[01:07:27.880 -> 01:07:29.880] I always enjoy those conversations.
[01:07:29.880 -> 01:07:32.360] It's like, we never get to see people, do we, Damien?
[01:07:32.360 -> 01:07:35.560] Then suddenly someone pops up and you realize the impact.
[01:07:35.560 -> 01:07:38.760] Yeah, I find it, like we said to Caitlin there,
[01:07:38.760 -> 01:07:41.000] it's real validation of our sense of purpose.
[01:07:41.000 -> 01:07:43.960] It just taps into our why,
[01:07:43.960 -> 01:07:46.160] which is, again, a big theme that we hear of.Y. sy'n ymddangos ar y gynllun fawr y byddwn yn ei chyflawni.
[01:07:46.160 -> 01:08:27.280] Mae nifer o'n bwysig i ni, dydy'n ddim? Ie, rwy'n gwybod bod rhai o'r cyfrifau o ran hyn wedi clywed, ac rwy'n credu
[01:08:27.280 -> 01:08:30.640] bod pobl yn meddwl ein bod ni'n rhaid i ni ddod o'r ffordd i gael cymorth,
[01:08:30.640 -> 01:08:34.080] oherwydd rydyn ni'n siarad amdano, rydyn ni'n ei wneud ar gyfer yr olygfa, nid yr ymdrech.
[01:08:34.080 -> 01:08:37.440] Ond fel y dweudwch, i gael hynny allan ar gyfrif, mae angen i ni
[01:08:37.440 -> 01:08:42.320] cael cymorth o bobl sy'n dda iawn
[01:08:42.320 -> 01:08:45.000] i ein galluogi i'w gynhydiad i'r cyhoedd gwahanol.
[01:08:45.800 -> 01:08:47.520] Ac mae'r cyfeiriad yn ffordd da i'w wneud.
[01:08:47.520 -> 01:08:50.520] Mae cyfnodau cyfnodol, mae sgwrsau style Ted
[01:08:50.520 -> 01:08:54.320] ac mae cyfnodau cyntaf o'r podcast sy'n ymlaen
[01:08:54.320 -> 01:08:57.280] y gellir gwneud, y gwybodaeth yw bod pobl yn rôl corporeg
[01:08:57.280 -> 01:08:58.320] efallai'n ddigon llwyr
[01:08:58.320 -> 01:09:00.600] y bydd eu cwmni'n gadael iddyn nhw i fynd i'r ymrwymiad,
[01:09:00.600 -> 01:09:03.200] neu efallai y byddent yn gwneud swydd proffesiynol
[01:09:03.200 -> 01:09:06.000] sy'n cael cyfle i rai o'r pethau hyn yn gwneud swydd proffesiynol sy'n cael cymryd gysylltiad â rhai o'r pethau hyn,
[01:09:06.000 -> 01:09:08.000] ond mae llawer o bobl sy'n gwneud hynny
[01:09:08.000 -> 01:09:10.000] ac mae'n eu hyn sy'n eich helpu.
[01:09:10.000 -> 01:09:12.000] Nid yw'n ymwneud â
[01:09:12.000 -> 01:09:14.000] gweld ymweld â'r elit
[01:09:14.000 -> 01:09:16.000] neu'r rhai sy'n gallu eu cymryd.
[01:09:16.000 -> 01:09:18.000] Mae'n ymwneud â gwneud y peth hwnnw gysylltiadol
[01:09:18.000 -> 01:09:20.000] i bawb byw yn llwyddiannus ar eu cyfansodau.
[01:09:20.000 -> 01:09:22.000] Iawn, yn unig.
[01:09:22.000 -> 01:09:24.000] Os ydych chi'n eisiau ysgrifennu i'r Cyfeillgarwch Llwybr Gynhyrchol
[01:09:24.000 -> 01:09:46.880] ymwneud â thehighperformancepodcast.com ymw email address, you'll get an invite. And then you're in the circle. And it is free to be in the circle. And as Damien says, there is loads of brilliant content there. And this week, Damien, a whole raft of new stuff appears on the high performance fideo'r podcast gyda Rick Lewis, sy'n ymdrechion mwyaf.
[01:09:46.880 -> 01:09:48.200] Ac mae'n rhedeg rhywbeth gyda ni
[01:09:48.200 -> 01:09:50.520] y mae pobl wedi gofyn iddyn nhw rhedeg am flwyddyn.
[01:09:50.520 -> 01:09:51.560] Mae'n bob amser wedi dweud na.
[01:09:51.560 -> 01:09:52.560] Ac roedd yn honno'n honno'n hawdd
[01:09:52.560 -> 01:09:55.360] y pwyswchwn i ni rhedeg y cwbl hwn, oedd o, oes?
[01:09:55.360 -> 01:09:56.400] Ie, roedd yn brif.
[01:09:56.400 -> 01:09:59.000] Mae'n siarad am ei gynllunau
[01:09:59.000 -> 01:10:00.200] y mae'n dweud, mae'n iddo,
[01:10:00.200 -> 01:10:03.240] fel y bobl sy'n clywed James Timpson
[01:10:03.240 -> 01:10:04.880] yn dweud nad oes llawer o rhylau
[01:10:04.880 -> 01:10:06.400] yn ei sefydliad, mae'r cynllunau sy'n cyflarifol i bobl sy'n clywed James Timpson yn dweud nad oes ganddo llawer o rhylau yn ei sefydliad,
[01:10:06.400 -> 01:10:10.080] mae principiaid sy'n eu hyrwyddo ac mae Rick wedi 12 o'u rhylau
[01:10:10.080 -> 01:10:13.520] sy'n ei allu sefydlu dynion cyffredinol
[01:10:13.520 -> 01:10:15.120] mewn tri busnesau gwahanol,
[01:10:15.120 -> 01:10:19.360] a bod pob un o'u rhylau wedi bod yn gyffredinol.
[01:10:19.360 -> 01:10:22.560] Felly pan ddewisom ymchwilio,
[01:10:22.560 -> 01:10:24.480] dweudodd eich bod ddim yn rhan o'r principiaid hwn,
[01:10:24.480 -> 01:10:26.960] oherwydd byddai'r newyddion yn ymgyrchu nhw yn amlwg, heb unrhyw cyfathreau, dweudodd eich bod yn ddweud nad oedd yn rhedeg y pwyntiau hynny, oherwydd y llyfrgellion byddai'n gwneud nhw'n ddysgu
[01:10:26.960 -> 01:10:29.480] yn amlwg, heb unrhyw cyfathrebu neu'n ddewis,
[01:10:29.480 -> 01:10:31.360] er mwyn i ni fod yn ddigon llwyr
[01:10:31.360 -> 01:10:33.880] oedd eisiau rhedeg y pwyntiau hynny gyda ni,
[01:10:33.880 -> 01:10:35.880] ac roedd y cwrs yn ffenomenol.
[01:10:35.880 -> 01:10:37.600] Iawn, wel, dwi'n mynd i drwy ddau o'r pwyntiau.
[01:10:37.600 -> 01:10:39.520] Dwi'n mynd i ddweud ein pwysicau,
[01:10:39.520 -> 01:10:42.080] yr un pwynt y gall pobl clywed ar y cyfnod o gyfrifol cyffredin.
[01:10:42.080 -> 01:10:42.920] Beth byddwch chi'n mynd i'w wneud?
[01:10:42.920 -> 01:10:45.000] Byddwn i'n mynd i'r cyntaf
[01:10:45.000 -> 01:10:46.000] a ddweudwyd gyda ni,
[01:10:46.000 -> 01:10:47.000] a oedd o ran,
[01:10:47.000 -> 01:10:49.000] mae'r cymhyrch yn y gwlad.
[01:10:49.000 -> 01:10:50.000] Felly roedd y syniad
[01:10:50.000 -> 01:10:51.000] eich bod chi ddim yn cymharu
[01:10:51.000 -> 01:10:52.000] gyda'ch cymdeithaswyr,
[01:10:52.000 -> 01:10:53.000] ddim yn cymharu gyda'ch cymdeithaswyr,
[01:10:53.000 -> 01:10:55.000] y bobl rydych chi'n gweithio arnyn nhw,
[01:10:55.000 -> 01:10:56.000] mae'n ymwneud â'u helpu,
[01:10:56.000 -> 01:10:58.000] yn cymdeithasu'r cymhwyster eu hunain,
[01:10:58.000 -> 01:11:00.000] ond gael y gynhyrchion cymharol
[01:11:00.000 -> 01:11:01.000] gyda'r rheini
[01:11:01.000 -> 01:11:02.000] a phobl sy ddim yn gweithio
[01:11:02.000 -> 01:11:03.000] ar gyfer y busnes.
[01:11:03.000 -> 01:11:04.000] Mae'n dda.
[01:11:04.000 -> 01:11:07.640] Ac roedd e hefyd yn un, a oedd, os ydych chi'n meddwl eich bod chi'n ddifrifol i ddod allan i'r bynion, byddwn ni'n cael eich swydd sy'n gweithio yn y canteens neu'n ysbrydolio ar y swyddfa. Nid yw hynny, ond mewn gwirionedd, yn ystod y cyfnod hwn,
[01:11:07.640 -> 01:11:10.640] mae'r cyfle i'r cyngor ddweud y byddai'r cyngor yn ystod y cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:10.640 -> 01:11:13.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa, ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:13.640 -> 01:11:15.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:15.640 -> 01:11:17.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:17.640 -> 01:11:19.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:19.640 -> 01:11:21.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:21.640 -> 01:11:23.640] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:23.640 -> 01:11:29.000] Ac mae'r cyngor yn y swyddfa.'n ysgolio yn y swyddfa.
[01:11:29.000 -> 01:11:32.000] Nid yw hyn yn dechrau i fod yn thema o'r ddod i mewn?
[01:11:32.000 -> 01:11:37.000] Fe wnaethom ei deall yn gyntaf gan Jonny Wilkinson, a dweud bod ysgolio yn bwysig iawn i fwyna'r Cwp Rhygbi.
[01:11:37.000 -> 01:11:41.000] Ond yna ddewis Hector Beren a dweud bod angen i chi byw fel candle,
[01:11:41.000 -> 01:11:45.080] felly mae eich fflame'n gweithredu'n gyst oherwydd y bydd bywyd yn agos neu'n ddewis.
[01:11:45.080 -> 01:11:46.240] Mae'n yr un peth,
[01:11:46.240 -> 01:11:48.280] meddwl bod Rick Lewis,
[01:11:48.280 -> 01:11:49.160] sy'n rhedeg y busnes hon,
[01:11:49.160 -> 01:11:50.680] yn unig yn fwy neu'n fwy bwysig
[01:11:50.680 -> 01:11:53.360] na'r person sydd yn ymgynghoriwr cyfan.
[01:11:53.360 -> 01:11:54.560] Gallent i gyd allu gael y bynion.
[01:11:54.560 -> 01:11:56.560] Gwyddon ni i gyd
[01:11:56.560 -> 01:11:57.760] yn yr un lefel,
[01:11:57.760 -> 01:12:00.280] o ran sut mae'r byd yn ei deimlo,
[01:12:00.280 -> 01:12:01.120] rydyn ni'n ymwneud â nhw.
[01:12:01.120 -> 01:12:01.960] Iawn, yn unig.
[01:12:01.960 -> 01:12:03.640] Ac eto,
[01:12:03.640 -> 01:12:04.840] os byddwch chi'n mynd i ddysgrifio hynny,
[01:12:04.840 -> 01:12:05.120] mae'n ymwneud â hynny o hyder, nid yn cael ychydig ar eich gynhyrchiad eich hun, we're sitting. Yeah, definitely. And again, so if you're going to describe that, that's
[01:12:05.120 -> 01:12:11.240] about humility, not getting high on your own supply, not believing the hype around you.
[01:12:11.240 -> 01:12:16.240] And again, all of our high performers is a consistent trait with them that they don't
[01:12:16.240 -> 01:12:20.480] buy into what other people think about them. They're really clear about the person they
[01:12:20.480 -> 01:12:28.780] are. Listen, if you want to sign up to the high performance circle and hear what Rick Lewis has to say, then you can do that right now. The good news
[01:12:28.780 -> 01:12:32.440] is that that's not the only new content that has just appeared on the High
[01:12:32.440 -> 01:12:36.820] Performance Circle. You will also hear a brilliant keynote speech from former
[01:12:36.820 -> 01:12:42.420] Roha Cath Bishop. She will ask you to re-imagine what winning means and she
[01:12:42.420 -> 01:12:45.880] she's entitled it winning when it's impossible
[01:12:45.880 -> 01:12:49.040] there's also a brilliant high-performance boost just a short 10
[01:12:49.040 -> 01:12:53.440] minute speech from Hamish de Breton-Gordon about mindset in a conflict
[01:12:53.440 -> 01:12:58.120] zone and also the brilliant polar explorer Ben Saunders talks to you about
[01:12:58.120 -> 01:13:02.040] the fact that self-belief is like a muscle along with the exclusive Rick
[01:13:02.040 -> 01:13:04.960] Lewis podcast along with loads of other content that's already on the
[01:13:04.960 -> 01:13:07.200] high-performance circle so if you want to get
[01:13:07.200 -> 01:13:12.200] more, just go to thehighperformancepodcast.com, enter your email address, get your
[01:13:12.200 -> 01:13:17.680] invite, sign up and you're in the club. Thanks very much to Caitlin for coming
[01:13:17.680 -> 01:13:21.040] on and sharing her story. Of course, thanks to Ben Francis, we all wish him
[01:13:21.040 -> 01:13:24.600] the very best of luck in his new role. Top man, Damien, loved it as ever.
[01:13:24.600 -> 01:13:27.600] Yeah, thanks Jake, it was brilliant, I've really enjoyed this week.
[01:13:27.600 -> 01:13:31.880] Thanks to Will, thanks to Hannah, thanks to Finn Ryan at Rethink Audio but as
[01:13:31.880 -> 01:13:36.240] always most of all thanks to you. Thanks for continuing to share, to listen, to
[01:13:36.240 -> 01:13:40.680] absorb this podcast. Please keep on spreading the word, pass it to your
[01:13:40.680 -> 01:13:44.400] colleagues, your friends, the people who follow you on social media. Just, just
[01:13:44.400 -> 01:13:48.720] every single day if you can just let one person know about the High Performance Podcast,
[01:13:48.720 -> 01:13:52.480] imagine the impact we can have. Have a brilliant day, have a brilliant week,
[01:13:52.480 -> 01:14:28.800] keep a smile on your face, keep your chin up, and we'll see you soon. And when you download the Fred Meyer app, you can enjoy over $500 in savings every week with digital
[01:14:28.800 -> 01:14:33.080] coupons. Plus you can earn fuel points to save up to $1 per gallon at the pump. So
[01:14:33.080 -> 01:14:37.480] it's easy to save big. Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone. Savings may vary by state,
[01:14:37.480 -> 01:14:41.360] fuel restrictions apply. We've locked in low prices to help you save big store
[01:14:41.360 -> 01:14:45.280] wide. Look for the locked in low prices tags and enjoy extra savings throughout
[01:14:44.640 -> 01:14:46.640] to help you save big storewide.
[01:14:46.640 -> 01:14:48.400] Look for the locked in low prices tags
[01:14:48.400 -> 01:14:50.760] and enjoy extra savings throughout the store.
[01:14:50.760 -> 01:14:53.100] Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone.