Ben Fennell - World Class: How to Lead, Learn and Grow like a Champion

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First published by Ebury Edge in 2021

Copyright Will Greenwood and Ben Fennell 2021

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

Cover Design Two Associates

ISBN: 978-0-753-55879-9

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This book is dedicated to every single person out there who is trying to get better

It was the wedding of the year a royal wedding, no less and I was at the evening reception in the grounds of Windsor Castle, a simple yet beautiful celebration of the marriage of Harry and Meghan. OK, so I fluffed my opening line to George Clooney when I was standing next to him at the urinal you dont get a second chance at that, trust me but when two lads from opposite sides of the Pennines hit the dance floor, it was as if nothing else mattered.

Greenwood and Tindall were at it again Old Big Nose and Old Bent Nose were busting some moves like no one was watching. We often joked that the lad from Wakefield, Mike Tindall, was at one point sixteenth in line to the throne. Hes much further back in the peloton now that Will and Kate have three children, but I was still impressed. More impressed than our audience on the dance floor seemed to be, anyway.

It wasnt our first dance-off. The most memorable one had been in Cargo Bar in Sydney, in the early hours of 23 November 2003, just after wed won the Rugby World Cup: the same two buffoons and many of the same moves, just a different location and guest list. Although we did have cricketing royalty with us in Cargo that night: I spent a couple of hours talking to Brett Lee and Damien Martyn about cricket, in what was one of the most memorable sporting conversations Ive ever had.

It felt good to be going at it again, bringing our unique interpretation of modern dance to a crowded dance floor. Tindall dances better than me. He can properly move; I just think I can. And thats just one way in which Mike and I are different, both physically and mentally.

When I say he couldnt pass and I couldnt tackle, Im only half exaggerating. Mike was strong and I wasnt. I could pass with variety and flow; he couldnt. I could unlock a defence; he could blast through it. I could see a space very early; he could turn a small gap into a big one.

Tindall is relaxed to the point of being horizontal, while I often feared my own shadow. I knew every single play for the forwards and the backs; he only knew the ones that involved him. I knew where the ball would be in five phases time; he didnt know where it was unless he had it in his hands. But none of this mattered because my weaknesses were his strengths, and vice versa. Over time, we learned that our complementary differences as individuals were our greatest strengths as a partnership. We could each do things that the other couldnt.

We amplified each others strengths and covered for each others weaknesses. I rarely let him pass; he rarely made me tackle. I was a space-hunter, looking for and identifying opportunities to attack, multiple phases in advance; Mike was a space-filler, knocking lumps out of people with or without the ball. I was a piano player; he was a piano shifter. I was an architect; he was a wrecking ball. We were both individually flawed, but together we conquered the world.

As we stood in the tunnel in Sydney, seconds before the biggest game of our lives, our mindsets were very different. I was feeling the pressure, soaked in self-doubt, and the silence was deafening. I looked to my left to see Tindall stride across the tunnel and slap Stirling Mortlock on the backside: Yeah, baby, he said. This is why we play. It was as if he was about to run out for a game of touch rugby with some mates.

Training was a constant reminder of our differences. I liked to nail down every scenario, to plan for the worst and to role play what-if scenarios, with and without the ball. Mike never worried about any of that, not least because he knew that I was worrying for both of us. He never cut corners, but he worked differently to me, with less structure and routine. We wanted the same things, but we prepared for games very differently. I wanted freedom within a framework, while he wanted to kick the framework down the hallway.

Brutal honesty about our capabilities was the foundation upon which our partnership was built. We had no shame in articulating our strengths and weaknesses. It didnt mean we didnt put effort into our work-ons the things we could improve but we both knew that we couldnt be world class at everything.

With this level of honesty, our trust and confidence grew both in ourselves and in each other. Over time, our differences became a multiplier for our growing partnership. What we couldnt do individually didnt matter, because we hunted as a pair. Always different, but always together.

This book is an exploration of world-class performance and, quite fittingly, it is the product of another partnership. While it has been written in my voice, dont be fooled: it is the product of another partnership of different skills and complementary perspectives. While I played international rugby for eight years and was part of the World Cup-winning England team in 2003, my writing partner Ben Fennell has 16 years CEO experience at Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), one of the worlds top advertising agencies. Ben ran BBHs business in Asia Pacific and the UK, leading a team that delivered exponential revenue and profit growth. During his time at BBH, he helped some of the worlds biggest businesses and brands to grow, including Unilever, Diageo, British Airways, Virgin Media and Tesco. The growth that Ben and his team helped deliver was powered by exceptionally high levels of staff pride and colleague engagement, and on his watch, BBH spent ten consecutive years in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Ben set up The Growth House in 2018 with a singular purpose: to help leaders, teams and businesses grow. His company now works with many of the UKs biggest businesses, helping them to build winning teams and establish high-performance behaviours.

The simple ambition to be better has been the driving force throughout our two very different lives, and its been central to our 30-year-long friendship. We met at Durham University in 1991, were best man at one anothers weddings, and have challenged, coached and encouraged each other ever since.

We didnt want to simply write a sports book or a business book we wanted to write a book about sport