Delivering people development with real world results 🚀📈 | Mt. Blanc & Mt. Cotopaxi Summiteer 🏔️ | IRONMAN 70.3 finisher 🏊‍♂️🚴🏃🏻| IRONMAN in training

For 20 years, I helped leaders get better at leading.

I built a successful consultancy. Worked with high-growth scale-ups, as well as Amazon, Coca-Cola, and DHL. Delivered keynotes across three continents. Watched brilliant managers transform their teams.

I was good at it. Made a 7-figure business doing it.

But here's what kept me up at night: most of what I was teaching people didn't stick. They'd leave my workshops inspired, return to work overwhelmed, and by Tuesday the habits I'd spent days teaching them were gone.

The HR leaders who hired me knew it too. They'd spend millions on training that delivered maybe 10% ROI. But what else could they do? Traditional leadership development; workshops, courses, and quarterly check-ins was all that existed.

After hundreds of those conversations, I realized something: the entire model is wrong.

Leadership doesn't happen in classrooms. It happens in real moments:

📌 Difficult conversations
📌 Delegation decisions 
📌 Team conflicts

That's when managers need support. Not three months later in a conference room.

So in 2025, I did something terrifying. I walked away from it all to build what I wished had existed.

I'm now Founder & CEO of Atherio, the AI-powered platform that's replacing traditional leadership development with something that actually works. 

✅ Real-time support. 
✅ Embedded in your work. 
✅ Building habits daily, not quarterly.

We're backed by advisors from Kellogg and London Business School, working with a select group of pilot partners. And we're on a mission to transform 1 million+ employees into super-workers.

If you're tired of leadership development that doesn't work, let's talk. 

📧 ben@atheriohq.com
🌐 www.atheriohq.com

Still delivering keynotes on leadership, performance, and why the future of L&D looks nothing like the past.

Ben Stocken

Someone said to me that kids don't belong in the gym…
It stunts their growth! 🫠 


Then they saw how Ozzy carried himself and went about his workout and…

they looked a bit awkward. 😬 

Bless him, he was giving me technique advice and motivating me on the last few reps of most of my sets. 

I loved the pep talks and his advice was spot on! 👌🏻

Shoot me down…

but I think kids learning about their bodies and how to take care of them and enjoy what they can do needs more focus. 

Plus the mental health benefits are just off the charts. 📈 

I may be going too far, but should a GCSE in "how to make the most of the body and mind you've got" be a non negotiable in the volatile and ever changing world we get the huge privilige to live in?

Ex England Rugby | 20 years developing leaders. Now replacing what doesn’t work with Atherio | Founder & CEO, Atherio 🚀

This is a real email from Atherio.
It saved a critical employee from quitting.

1 email saved £120K!

Here's what happened...
Atherio detected a chronic after-hours pattern; 12% of this person's activity was happening outside working hours. 

Repeatedly. 
Despite previous alerts.
So it sent this to their manager.

Not HR. Not a quarterly review. 

Their direct manager. In real time.
The manager had the conversation. 
Adjusted the workload. 
That employee is still there today.

Before they started using Atherio they had no idea, but this employee was about to leave. They told their manager a week later about this.

No exit interview. 
No counteroffer. 
No "we had no idea they were struggling."

This is what closing the feedback loop actually looks like.

Not another leadership course. 
Not another engagement survey that arrives 6 months too late.

A nudge. At the right moment. 
To the right person. About the right problem.
One conversation. One employee saved.

How many did you lose last year that nobody saw coming?

Yesterday the Chairman of a business asked what the MARATHON DES SABLES taught me? The answer is…

CONTROL.

It’s dull isn’t it. 
It’s not what he was hoping for.

But it’s the secret to business as well.

The Sahara desert will chew you up and spit you out before midday if you let it.

You definitely can’t control the temperature, the lack of water and the vast distances the event demands of you.

But you must control everything else you can to stack the deck in your favour.

To give you a chance of finishing.

That’s where the 4am foot prep club started in our tent. 

4am every morning we woke in silence,

brewed a sand coffee (because Saharan sand gets everywhere),

and religiously laid out and then followed the same foot care process to the letter.

Every single day. Without fail.

We knew the one single point of failure that forced people to DNF wasn’t dehydration. It’s the types of blisters that make you cry just thinking about them.

If we controlled that, we were already on our way to a strong day out in the 52C heat!

Controlling the controllables isn’t glamorous.

Winning is though. 🔥

No alternative text description for this image

Most new managers think that becoming a manager is the “graduation.” Truth is, it’s the reverse.

When you go from being someone who “executes” to someone who’s managing a team, you go from trading on IQ to trading on EQ. 

You go from doing the actual work to listening to employees, catering to what they want, taking blame, and being the bigger person. 

That's where the skill of coaching rises to the surface to create real business value.

Remember, leaders work for their employees.

Climbing Everest in a Day - In Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 
Is just 5 weeks away.

1 mountain 
4 summits 
24 hours 

It’s going to be gritty! 

It’s over 9 months ago I decided to do this and post on here about it. 

Since then over 30 people reached out expressing interest in joining me.

We’re now down to a core team that will be able to show up on the day.

We we all complete it?
No

Will we all give our very best trying?
Unlikely

Is it worth all the effort trying hard things?
100%

Here’s to all the explorers out there.
Pushing your own personal limits.
I salute you. 🫡

I’m obsessed with an idea.
It’s something I see the most impactful people do daily…

and it’s a practice that I’ve adopted for 5 years now.

I aim to do it 5 times a week.
Every week.

The thank you card and gift voucher for Cotswold Outdoor Group in this pic made my week.

But not for the reason you may think!

You see, this thoughtful card and even more thoughtful gift card choice is actually a signal to me that, I connected the right two people at exactly the right time. 

And that makes my week. 

I love meeting people and working out how I can help them by introducing them to people who they might be able to help.

I’ve focused on doing it 5 times a week for 5 years now and do you know what?

It’s awesome to see the fruit from those intros do peoples businesses and lives.

So, if you have a chance to introduce two people who you think might have a good conversation do it today.

Do it without agenda.

🙏🏻

Culture is like a multipack of crisps:
You can have a different flavour in each, but if the crisps are different shapes, you're in for a world of pain!

Empire building
Splinter groups
Toxic behaviours

Look after your culture and you culture will look after your business.

At CHANEL new senior leaders aren't allowed to speak in meetings for the first 3 months. Here's why...

Being mission driven has got me in to trouble in the past, BUT...
It really is the only way to go because,

The process of exploring what your mission is helps you reveal who you really are and what is important to you. 

Only then can you create something meaningful (and scary) that will keep you focused on that north star when the going gets tough, or opportunties entice you in the wrong direction.

A quick one this week on The Human Loop Podcast to (re)intro the mission that drives me. AND why I think it's important for your business today!

Watch and listen in the links below 👇🏽

Want to get your business in front of over 17,000 business leaders?

Get in touch to learn more about sponsorship opportunities for The Human Loop.

The human role in business is changing forever.
Ezra Chapman doesn't do other peoples podcasts, so...

when he said yes to come on The Human Loop Podcast, I knew we were in for a treat. I have huge respect for what Ezra shares here.

In this raw, personal, and forward leaning episode Ezra talks about:
 
-His relationship with his Dad.
-The impact systems thinking has had on his career.
-Taking accountability for the closing of one of his business.
-And how he's looking at the future of work with SuperReach.

Not an episode to miss!

Thanks Ezra.  🙏 

Links to this episode below. 👇🏽

Gemma got promoted and that's when it all went wrong...
I watched her complete a £4,000 leadership programme.

She attended every session.
Scored 94% on the final assessment.
Got a glowing completion certificate.
Six months later, her team's turnover hit 40%.

Here's what nobody in L&D wants to admit:
We've built a £billion industry measuring the wrong thing.
We count seats filled.
Certificates issued.
Hours logged.

Not one metric for if the manager actually changed.
That's not a training problem.
That's a diagnostic failure.

The manager Knowing-Doing gap is costing UK businesses £84bn a year in lost productivity, and most HR Directors are still investing in the cure before running the test.

Let me make this real for you...

-It's costing your business over £120K every time you lose an employee you didn't want to because their manager didn't see it coming.

-It's costing your business £120K for every employee that's coasting and staying under the radar.

-It's costing your business £120K every time Gemma steps in to save the day rather than successfully delegating to her team.

What does your organisation actually measure after a leadership programme ends?

Can you measure your leaders/managers effectiveness daily?

Your L&D budget is solving the wrong problem.
I know that hurts, but here's why:

Most organisations design training to move managers from Level 2 to Level 3.

Conscious incompetence → Conscious competence.

"I know I micromanage. Now I'm learning not to."
That's the journey your programmes are built for.

Here's the problem:
70%+ of your managers are still at Level 1.
Unconscious incompetence.

❌ They don't know they're struggling. 
❌ They think the team's fine. 
❌ While three people are quietly updating their CVs.

You can't train someone out of a problem they don't know they have.
And you have no way of knowing who they are.

Because the only feedback mechanisms you have is the annual review that tells you what's already happened. Not how they're behaving day to day.

And that engagement survey platform that 40% fill in and nobody really believes is anonymous.

So your training budget lands on the 30% who've already identified the gap.

The 70% who need it most?
They sit through the same programme. Nod along. 
Walk out thinking it confirmed what they already knew.

This isn't a training problem.
It's a diagnostic problem.

You're investing in the cure before you've run the test.

I got in trouble with someone I rate (a lot) yesterday and I'm taking their advice.

I'm going to share more about how Atherio is changing the game and here's why...

A master coach booked in a call with me. She's an industry legend. 
She wanted to learn more about Atherio.

She said atherio looked like it could add huge value to her clients and augment how she helps some of the biggest global brand names out there move towards a healthier and more productive coaching culture.

But there was a problem...
After we talked for an hour, she lent in to the call and told me off for being too secretive with just how powerful Atherio is. I'm being too secretive.

Medicine taken. Thanks Jane. 🙏 

So here you go:

Most managers don’t have a knowledge problem.
They have a behaviour problem.

They know they should coach.
They know they should ask better questions.
They know they shouldn’t just tell.

But then the day starts…
And it’s back to directives.

Here’s the reality:
If your team only moves when you tell them what to do…

You’re not leading.
You’re scaling dependency.

One metric exposes this instantly:
Your Questions : Directives ratio

More questions → more ownership, growth, scale
More directives → more bottlenecks, reliance, drag

Most managers think they’re balanced.
They’re not.

We see it every day:
“Coaching-led leaders”
…running at 70% directives.

That’s the know–do gap in action.
Atherio makes it impossible to hide.

It shows how you actually communicate, every single day.

No opinions.
No workshops.
Just behaviour.

Because leadership doesn’t change when you learn something.
It changes when you see yourself clearly enough to do something about it.

Want to see what your ratio actually looks like?

P.S. Interested in the science behind this check out Google's Project Aristotle, Edgar Schein’s research at MIT and Harvard Business Reviews research on this. It's 🔥

300+ Managers/Leaders have downloaded this in the last 2 weeks.
I've only posted about it once! 

This has resulted in 5 DMs from leaders telling me it's helped them level up their business processes and personal playbooks. 

Hiring and (re)Onboarding are massive multipliers "IF" you get them right.

Get them wrong and you're in for a world of pain:

❌ Miss-aligned expectations
❌ Poor team productivity
❌ Dissengagement 
❌ Low wellbeing
❌ People leave

You as the manager have to start all over again!

I see so much time wasted getting this wrong.

So, I've put 20 years of my experience developing over 2000 leaders into one FREE resource to stop this happening to you.

Grab it in the comments now. 👇🏽

CEO at FJR Group- Passionate about building high performing teams

Forge Talent has been founded on the core principle that we are focused on relationships not transactions.

We’re not here to disrupt the traditional recruitment model but with a relationship-first approach we drive real results by adding value.

As a specialist Finance and Accounting talent partner, we connect high-growth, private equity-backed businesses, major PLCs, and ambitious SMEs across the North West with the best talent in the market.

Our expertise spans three dedicated brands:

Transactional & Part-Qualified Finance
Traditional & Commercial Finance
Leadership Finance

Everything we do is underpinned by our values:

We’re driven by Relationships
A true talent partnership 
We Show Respect
Act Responsibly 
Always Honest 

If you want a recruitment partner who will back you, challenge you, and put you first, get in touch today.

Max Learmonth

Fortune favours the brave. 📣

That’s what Phil Sheridan said to me in a boardroom in 2016, right before he gave me the biggest shot of my career at that point. 

Since then, every bold move I’ve run past Phil. (Along with a few others) 

We hadn’t seen each other in person since 2018 which is crazy. 

Yesterday, we changed that.

This time we were talking about what’s next!

Rolling the dice, making a move that is going to challenge the status quo again & make people uncomfortable.

What’s cooking?

You’ll find out soon.

Let’s just say when you’re a challenger brand with the right people in your corner, the big plays get a whole lot easier. 🔥

Fortune favours the brave. 👊🏼

Founder - Forge Talent, Building Finance Teams across the North West 🚀

Immediately available Financial Controller needed!! 📣

PE Backed business, North Manchester, £120,000-£130,000.

Lead all finance operations and reporting.
-Own monthly management accounts and board reporting.
-Drive budgeting, forecasting and performance analysis.
-Partner with operational leaders to provide commercial insight.
-Maintain robust financial controls and governance.

Interviews Wednesday.

(Must be ACA/ACCA/CIMA Qualified & based in the North West).

Drop me a message if interested. 👊🏼

New Starter 🙌🏼

Today we welcome Luke Salczynski to the Forge Talent team!!

Luke brings over 10 years experiences in the industry, delivering specialist consultancy led recruitment solutions across multiple sectors.

Throughout his career, Luke has worked within global recruitment firms and boutique consultancies, successfully building and leading teams, managing senior level appointments, driving new business and consistently delivering.

Luke will be partnering myself & Amber Long across Senior Finance so if you are a Head of Finance, Controller, Director or CFO looking for your next opportunity or want a no nonsense approach to recruitment please get in touch direct. 👊🏼

Commercial Financial Controller – PE Backed, High Growth, North Manchester, £110,000–£130,000. 📣📣📣

We’re partnering with a PE-backed, high growth business in North Manchester to appoint a commercially minded Financial Controller.

Key Responsibilities:

-Lead all BAU finance operations and reporting.
-Own monthly management accounts and board reporting.
-Drive budgeting, forecasting and performance analysis.
-Partner with operational leaders to provide commercial insight.
-Maintain robust financial controls and governance.
-Oversee and develop a strong finance team.
-Collaborate closely with the CFO and M&A team during integration phases.

Want to know more then get in touch ASAP because interviews will happen next week. 👊🏼

Interim Chief of Staff for an exit readiness programme. 📣

Manchester, High Growth, PE, 6 months, outside IR35, £500-£600 per day. 

-Leading the end-to-end preparation of Board, Executive and Stakeholder reporting packs.
-Translating financial and operational performance into clear executive-level narratives.
-Ensuring consistency, relevance and accuracy across governance forums.
-Coordinating inputs from the Executive Leadership Team and functional heads.
-Managing reporting timelines and enforcing contribution deadlines.
-Maintaining reporting frameworks, templates and performance dashboards.
-Integrating financial, commercial and operational metrics into cohesive outputs.

Want to know more, drop me a message and send me your CV. 👊🏼

Finance Procurement – Permanent Team Build in Manchester 🔥 

Another transformation project that Forge Talent are partnering on with a scaling business.

We’re supporting the build out of a brand new Finance Procurement function and this one is exclusively with us.......AGAIN. 

We don’t take on team builds if multiple agencies are involved.

We are hiring:

Head of Procurement – £80,000 - £90,000
2x Senior Procurement Managers – £60,000
2x Procurement Analysts – £40,000

Interviews will be taking place next week.

Want to know more?

Drop me or Mike Dias a message 👊

Recruitment Partnerships. 📣

-Not new.
-Not sexy.
-Widely misunderstood.

A partnership is not:

–Someone spamming CVs at you.
–Someone nodding along to everything you say.
–Someone slashing fees to win business.

A real recruitment partnership is different.

-It’s someone who knows the market inside out.
-Who sees the problem before you do and brings the solution.
-Who doesn’t hide behind a job spec because they instinctively know what good looks like.
-Who has a track record in delivering. 

That’s a partnership.

When you’re scaling? You need a partner.

In times of transformation? You need a partner.

When it all goes sideways? You really need a partner.

Because recruitment isn’t a transaction.

It’s a partnership.

Tired of the same old bullshit from the dinosaurs in the industry. 

Start building partnerships. 👊🏼

Old volume driven PSL’s are outdated & damage your employer brand!! 📣

You will start to see them disappear.

There is next to no benefit to being on that PSL.

-5+ agencies on it.
-Portal led.
-Rock bottom fees.
-6 month rebate periods. 
-Little hiring manager contact.
-Zero process management.
-3+ interview stages & testing. 
-Internal team dislikes agencies & vice versa.
-S£&T communication.
-Time to hire is 12+weeks. (On average)

All that happens is you get average recruiters giving you S£&T service.

What’s the incentive???

Times are changing people.

(PSLs that are a strategic partnership……. very very different). 👊🏼

Who doesn’t love multiple transformation programmes across the North West... 📢 

Well Forge Talent has just been engaged on another one. 🚀 

This time it’s centred around Financial Reporting & Business Intelligence improvements for a major Manchester based organisation.

We’re looking for a Financial Reporting & Business Intelligence Lead.

You’ll be responsible for:

-Leading the end-to-end preparation of Board, Executive and Stakeholder reporting packs.
-Translating financial and operational performance into clear executive-level narratives.
-Ensuring consistency, relevance and accuracy across governance forums.
-Coordinating inputs from the Executive Leadership Team and functional heads.
-Managing reporting timelines and enforcing contribution deadlines.
-Challenging and validating submitted data.
-Maintaining reporting frameworks, templates and performance dashboards.
-Integrating financial, commercial and operational metrics into cohesive outputs.
-Streamlining reporting processes through automation and BI tooling.

Day rate DOE & Must be Manchester based. 

Interested? Drop me a message. 👊

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Ben Stocken

Max Learmonth

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The Battle

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Max Learmonth

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Engagements

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