The Leader's Kitbag

In this episode of The Leaders Kitbag, I’m busting one of the biggest leadership myths out there: the idea that we must choose between being a leader or a manager.

Here’s the truth - real leadership isn’t an ‘either/or’ game. It’s about mastering both disciplines and knowing when to step into each mode.

Whether you're leading a small team or steering the ship at the top of an organisation, this episode is packed with insights that will help you lead with more clarity, confidence, and impact.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

1. Why leadership and management are not opposites
2. The core difference between doing the right things and doing things right
3. What chaos looks like without good management, and what stagnation looks like without leadership
4. My personal definition of leadership, rooted in military principles but proven in the business world
5. How to be intentional in shifting between leader and manager mode, depending on your team's needs

Whether you're in the trenches or at the top, this episode will give you a fresh perspective on the balance required to lead effectively in today’s fast-paced world.

Ben’s Key Takeaway

Your role doesn’t ask you to be just a leader or just a manager.

It asks you to be both, sometimes in the same hour. The real skill lies in recognising what your team needs in the moment… and responding accordingly.

Want to take your leadership skills to the next level?

The waitlist is now open for the cohort of my ‘Leader in Me’ programme.

If you're ready to:

1. Build confidence and capability as a leader
2. Break free from firefighting and become more proactive
3. Learn how to inspire your team and deliver results…

Join the waitlist here for early access and updates on the next open programme.

Prefer bite-sized learning?

Check out the 10-4-10 Leadership Programme, my free online course that delivers powerful, practical leadership tools in just 10 minutes a week.

You’ll get:

1. Weekly lessons on topics like delegation, motivation and prioritisation
2. A short video, podcast, and book recommendation each week
3. Simple tactics you can use straight away

It’s practical, no-nonsense leadership training that fits into your busy schedule.

Learn more about the 10-4-10 programme here.

As always, look after yourself and those you’ve got the privilege and responsibility to lead.

Until next time…

#LeadOn

You may have the title, but do you have followers? 

In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I explore the often-overlooked side of leadership: followership. 

We focus on three powerful behaviours that effective followers demonstrate, and how we, as leaders, can enable and encourage them. 

From creating clarity to fostering intelligent disobedience, this episode is about empowering your people to challenge, contribute and take responsibility. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:  

• Why clarity around roles and goals starts with us 
• How to encourage real, two-way communication 
• What it takes to build a psychologically safe team that challenges upwards 

Get Leadership Tools Straight to Your Inbox 

If you found this episode useful and want more grounded, real-world ideas on leadership and team development, sign up for my newsletter right here. 

No fluff. Just honest, practical insights that will help you build better teams and become a more effective leader. 

Team development is not something you can half-arse. 

In this episode, I share my own lessons from both sides of the fence; leading teams and facilitating team-development sessions. 

I reflect on why I no longer deliver one-off off-sites, and how those well-intended but poorly followed-up sessions often do more harm than good. 

Through a full English breakfast analogy (you’ll see), I unpack why leaders need to be all in for team development to work. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• Why team development is a daily leadership habit, not an event 
• The ‘chicken and pig’ test for commitment 
• What to do before calling in a facilitator 

Get Leadership Tools Straight to Your Inbox 

If you’re serious about team development and want real, practical leadership insights that cut through the fluff, then subscribe to my newsletter here. 

I’ll send you tools, ideas, and reflections to help you show up better every day, not just when you’re at an offsite. 

Not every group of people reporting to the same person should be treated as a single team. 

In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I share a personal story that highlights what happens when we force people into team structures that don’t reflect how they actually work together. 

It’s a real-world example of what I talked about in the previous episode: if your people don’t share goals, aren’t interdependent, and don’t hold each other accountable, they’re not a team - and you need to lead them differently. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• Why cramming non-teams into team routines wastes time 
• How to structure meetings for different types of groups 
• A better way to connect people without forcing false collaboration 

Get Leadership Tools Straight to Your Inbox 

If you want more straight-talking, practical content on leadership, communication, and team development, delivered in a relaxed, real-world way, then join my community via the newsletter here. 

It’s free, useful, and designed for busy leaders who want to cut through the noise. 

In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I challenge the common assumption that every group of direct reports is automatically a ‘team’. 

Spoiler alert: they’re often not. 

Drawing on three key characteristics, shared goals, interdependence, and mutual accountability, I offer a simple framework to help you identify whether you’re truly leading a team or just a group of individuals working in proximity. 

Recognising the distinction is more than semantics; it has a real impact on how we lead, motivate, and structure our people. Get this right, and you’ll be leading with clarity and purpose. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• The 3 defining features of a true team 
• How to spot if you’re leading a group, not a team 
• Why mislabelling workgroups as “teams” drives the wrong leadership behaviours 

Get Leadership Tools Straight to Your Inbox 

If you enjoyed this episode and want more practical, no-nonsense insights on leadership and team development, subscribe to my newsletter right here. 

You’ll get tools, strategies, and reflections that will help you lead with clarity, build real teams, and get better results without burning out. 

If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated by a planning or productivity system — or wondered “why can’t I just stick to this?”- this episode of The Leaders Kitbag is for you. 

It may not be a discipline problem at all. Instead, it could be a mismatch between the tool you’re trying to use and how you actually perceive time. 

In this episode, I explore why so many productivity and planning tools are built with through-time people in mind, and why those with an in-time perspective often find them restrictive or draining. 

You’ll discover: 

• The difference between in-time and through-time approaches to planning 
• Why one-size-fits-all productivity advice often fails 
• A simple 3-3-3 formula for in-time leaders to stay focused while retaining flexibility 

This is about working with your natural strengths, not forcing yourself into someone else’s system. 

For the First Time Ever: Join My Open Leadership Programme 

For the first time ever, I’m opening up one of my most practical and impactful leadership programmes to the public. 

Normally, I only deliver this training inside organisations, but due to repeated requests from smaller businesses and individual leaders, I’m creating a brand-new open cohort. 

Here’s what’s included: 

• 4 x half-day interactive workshops 
• 1-hour Learning Transfer Session 
• Small group format (max 18 delegates) 
• Indicative cost: £540–£600 (VAT included), with payment plans for self-funders 

This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to access the same training I usually deliver privately to companies. 

I’ll only run it if I get 30+ expressions of interest. 

Register your interest here.

In this episode of The Leaders Kitbag, I explore why leaders respond so differently when the pressure is on. 

Some double down on structure and cling tightly to the plan, while others seem to thrive when things go off-script, almost as if they’re winging it. 

The difference often comes down to our time orientation preferences: 

• ‘Through-time’ leaders feel safest with structure and planning, but may struggle to flex when circumstances change. 
• ‘In-time’ leaders thrive in fluid, fast-moving situations, improvising and adapting as things unfold. 

Neither approach is better or worse; it’s about recognising our natural wiring, being aware of our blind spots, and learning how to flex when needed. 

In this episode, I also share a practical challenge for both types of leaders to help you step outside your comfort zone and build new strengths. 

For the First Time Ever: Join My Open Leadership Programme 

For the first time ever, I’m opening up one of my most practical and impactful leadership programmes to the public. 

Normally, I only deliver this training inside organisations, but due to repeated requests from smaller businesses and individual leaders, I’m creating a brand-new open cohort. 

Here’s what’s included: 

• 4 x half-day interactive workshops 
• 1-hour Learning Transfer Session 
• Small group format (max 18 delegates) 
• Indicative cost: £540–£600 (VAT included), with payment plans for self-funders 

This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to access the same training I usually deliver privately to companies. 

I’ll only run it if I get 30+ expressions of interest. 

Register your interest here.

In this episode of The Leaders Kitbag, I share a fascinating moment from a recent leadership programme I ran with 22 managers from across Europe. 

When I asked them to answer a simple question, “point to the past”, every single one of them pointed behind them. 

That might not surprise you… but it completely threw me. 

Why? Because I would instantly point to the left. 

This seemingly small exercise reveals something much bigger: our different orientations to time,  in time vs through time, and how these shape the way we plan, structure our days, and lead our teams. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

• The two distinct ways people perceive time 
• How your time orientation influences your behaviour as a leader 
• Why recognising these differences in your team is so powerful 

I’d love to know your perspective on this. 

Would you point behind you for the past, or to the left? 

Share your answer in the comments wherever you’re engaging with this content, or drop me a message on social media. 

I’m curious to learn more about the mix of orientations we all have. 

For the First Time Ever: Join My Open Leadership Programme 

For the first time ever, I’m opening up one of my most practical and impactful leadership programmes to the public. 

Normally, I only deliver this training inside organisations, but due to repeated requests from smaller businesses and individual leaders, I’m creating a brand-new open cohort. 

Here’s what’s included: 

• 4 x half-day interactive workshops 
• 1-hour Learning Transfer Session 
• Small group format (max 18 delegates) 
• Indicative cost: £540–£600 (VAT included), with payment plans for self-funders 

This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to access the same training I usually deliver privately to companies. 

I’ll only run it if I get 30+ expressions of interest. 

Register your interest here.  

In these ‘SHORTS’ episodes of my podcast, I select my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from episode 183, with Peter Cohan, author of Scaling Your Startup, lecturer at Babson College and advisor to hundreds of early-stage and high-growth companies.  

Only 0.4% of all founders continue running their companies three years post-IPO – in this clip, Peter unpacks how “cognitive hunger” sets them apart from the other 99.6%.  

Once you’ve listened to the ‘SHORT’, why not click the link below and tune in to the full episode?  

Enjoyed The Short?  

Listen to the full episode here.

In this short but powerful episode of The Leaders Kitbag, I’m sharing a concept that’s brand new to me – one that’s genuinely shifted how I think about time, productivity, and leadership. 

It originates from the world of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and explores the idea that people relate to time in fundamentally different ways – as either “in time” or “through time” thinkers. 

You’ll discover: 

• What these two styles look like in everyday life. 
• Why some people thrive on planning, and others feel suffocated by it. 
• How understanding this can radically shift how you lead your team. 

This fresh insight isn’t about putting people in boxes. 

It’s about awareness – knowing that we all perceive and process time differently, and how that difference can be a hidden source of friction… or a powerful leadership advantage. 

For the First Time Ever: Join My Open Leadership Programme 

For the first time ever, I’m opening up one of my most practical and impactful leadership programmes to the public. 

Normally, I only deliver this training inside organisations, but due to repeated requests from smaller businesses and individual leaders, I’m creating a brand-new open cohort. 

Here’s what’s included: 

• 4 x half-day interactive workshops 
• 1-hour Learning Transfer Session 
• Small group format (max 18 delegates) 
• Indicative cost: £540–£600 (VAT included), with payment plans for self-funders 

This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to access the same training I usually deliver privately to companies. 

I’ll only run it if I get 30+ expressions of interest. 

Register your interest here.