Changing the Face of Business with Ben Hunt-Davis MBE

We are entering a new world of business, with innovative technologies and the transforming expectations of employees. How does leadership adapt to these challenges and grow industries to new heights? In this interview with the co-founder of Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? Ben Hunt-Davis MBE, we explore his journey in entrepreneurship and how he incites change within his own company and others.

Firstly, give us some insight into “Will It Make the Boat Go Faster”? 

Our philosophy as a leadership and performance consultancy is based on the transformative journey of the GB Men’s Rowing Eight which culminated in Gold at the Sydney Olympic Games. In 1998 I was part of an underachieving GB Rowing Eight consistently often placing 7th or 8th. Our crew came together to set themselves a ‘Crazy Goal’ of winning an Olympic Gold Medal in just two years. Simply training harder was not an option, we needed a different approach. The whole team, not just those in the boat, developed a brand-new way of working and began challenging every decision we made with the question: “Will it make the boat go faster?”

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster provides leadership and executive teams with clarity and focus on their direction and ongoing support to achieve world-class performance. Since 2012, we have been trusted by 100s of companies in over 60 countries. We tailor our Olympic-winning strategies to fundamentally change the way teams work and achieve outstanding business results through our Keynote Speeches, ‘Crazy Goal,’ Leadership and Team programmes. We are experts at galvanising leaders and organisations behind their strategic overarching Crazy Goal and supporting them to achieve it.

Tell us about yourself, what has your journey been like to become the Founder at ‘Will It Make the Boat Go Faster?’   

In my rowing days, I competed for nine years in 3 Olympic games and six world championships. I have since spent the last 20 years specialising in leadership and team development. In 2012 I co-founded Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? and continue to enjoy watching our business grow. I wear various hats as co-founder, director, board member, performance coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker. I am enthusiastic about high performance, teamwork, and the parallels between sport and business. I collaborate with individuals, teams, and organisations to help them define their gold medal goals and support them in reaching the performance to achieve them.

What does your day-to-day look like as a business leader? 

I like to cycle in each morning from Barnes to our offices in Hammersmith and be there working in person with our team as much as I can. I tend to get cracking on emails early to get ahead, as usually I am back-to-back during the day with internal or client meetings.

Apart from that, I am on the road with clients for the rest of my time. Whether attending speaking engagements or the delivery of our performance programmes around the UK, Europe, and the USA. One thing I have certainly not left behind from the rowing days is the early starts!

What are the biggest challenges you have faced in your career? 

Covid was a particularly challenging time for us. Overnight we had approximately 75% of our work cancelled, and our pipeline of business dropped. We had to make tough decisions, furloughing some people, and making pay cuts across the board. However, I will forever be proud of how we responded as a team to bounce back. We pivoted brilliantly to transfer a lot of our work to virtual delivery. We have come out of it with a much more flexible approach that allows us to deliver our work virtually or in person – and we were able to backpay our team too!

And what have been your biggest triumphs? 

Growing to where we are now, with the team of people we have today. Despite the setbacks of the pandemic, we have come through it with a record year in 2022 and a record first quarter of 2023. We are growing our team, and it is an exciting time where we are expanding the breadth and depth of our client base. It matters to me that what we are doing makes a difference to the companies we work with, so I would say I am particularly proud of our +84 NPS score and average of 8.8/10 programme attendee feedback. I have always wanted to create a place where we not only smash our targets financially but where people enjoy coming to work every day, so I am most proud that we have achieved those scores with an employee engagement survey average of 84% too!

How do you motivate your team? 

Firstly, I think that showing kindness goes a long way. After that, providing clarity on the goals you are trying to achieve together is most important. We try to ensure that everyone in our team can see the role they play in our Crazy Goal. That means giving directions logically, in terms of key metrics and what it means for their function, team, and as individuals, but also creating the space and time to see the more emotional side – the “what’s in it for me?”

I try to combine that with celebrating the small wins along the way and showing genuine appreciation. A person that feels genuinely appreciated will always go the extra mile. In the same way, we tell our clients – take care of your people, and they will take care of your customers – the results and business will follow and take care of itself.

Following on from that, what kind of qualities should a CEO possess to nurture a highly motivated, successful team? 

It is crucial to instil a growth mindset in your culture. After every session as a rowing crew, we would be ruthless in reviewing our performance. If we did not scrutinise – we did not develop, improve, or learn. Ultimately, we did not add boat speed. We got into the habit of frequently assessing our performance by utilising three key questions that we still routinely use today:

• Where did we perform well?
• Where could we have been better?
• What will we do differently tomorrow?

Ensuring that you and your team can keep embedding learnings and constantly refine what you are doing is a vital part of improving together to reach your goals.

How do you deliver feedback and encourage employee development? 

If giving feedback, we try to frame it as objectively as possible around how a specific action did or did not add boat speed. In my experience, it is crucial to find the right time and place that works for the person receiving the feedback. Doing so can help guarantee that it is constructively communicated, and ensure the person is open to understanding ‘the why’ behind the commentary. The individual can then change their performance ingredients in terms of what they might do differently in their behaviour or actions.

Please explain the culture of ‘Will It Make the Boat Go Faster?’ How do you cultivate a positive business culture to impact a brighter future? 

Since we co-founded the company, my business partner Tom Barry and I have always been eager to create a culture where everyone feels comfortable telling it as they see it. Our mantra is to “Make a difference” (tangible positive impact for our clients), “Smash our targets” (financially) and “Enjoy our lives” (well-being, mental health, and general happiness!). We try to make sure everyone enjoys coming to work and feels supported in their role to achieve what they need to, professionally and personally!

Lastly, what does the future of ‘Will It Make the Boat Go Faster’ look like? 

Our Crazy Goal is, “To Be World Class at enabling our clients and each other to win their Gold Medals” which continues to be our guiding North star. We are looking to get better and better at what we do so that we are a world-class company where our exceptional team grow and develops and client-base loves collaborating with us.

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster, is a business consultancy to watch. Through exciting new ventures and hard work, their goal of achieving world-class service for their client will surely not be too far in the future.

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