Ben M. Bartlett is a master strategist, coach and speaker who helps business leaders, teams and individuals to excel at work and in life.

Based in his home country of New Zealand, Ben shares his expertise globally.  And he does so with a portfolio of consulting, coaching and education services specialising in strategic performance.

Strategic performance is the ability to plan and execute strategy at the highest level, and to achieve the most important goals. That is, it is an advanced discipline for setting and achieving goals in the key areas
of one’s life.

As a discipline, strategic performance integrates principles and practices of strategy, leadership, values and human behaviour. As well, it draws upon related fields of study including neuroscience, physiology, organisation/team development and ethics.

Strategic performance is commonly associated with high-profile domains such as business, elite-level sport and military warfare. However, at the highest level its methods are applied to improve personal performance in the key life areas, namely personal relationships, family, health and fitness, education and meaningful work. These are the most important areas for work-life happiness and success.

Strategic performance is the complete approach to performance improvement and success. It is when you have all your shit together.  All your ducks in a row.

Here are three keys to Ben’s work.

1.Master Strategist

In terms of roles, Ben is first and foremost a master strategist.

The Collins dictionary defines a strategist as “Someone who is skilled in planning the best way to gain an advantage or to achieve success.”  And, in the Merriam-Webster dictionary we read that a strategist is, “a person skilled in strategy: a person who is skilled in making plans for achieving a goal: someone who is good at forming strategies.”

Several levels above a strategist, a master strategist possesses advanced strategy skills and works as an in-house Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), board strategist, external consultant/CSO, or as the CEO/MD. Core skills of the master strategist are:

• Analyzing situations and troubleshooting problems using strategy models and tools such as SmartSWOT and performance scorecards.
• Establishing and codifying a vision and values system.
• Identifying and creating high-potential strategic positions, solutions and strategies.
• Applying probability-payoff and risk-reward analysis to evaluate strategies. Developing solutions and strategies with the best probability-payoff and risk-reward profiles.
• Designing and developing intangible assets including productised IP, performance management systems, communications system and strategic brands.
• Writing strategic communication assets such as mission statements, business cases, brand stories, strategic plans, leadership speeches and presentations.
• Coaching business leaders and teams to improve strategic performance, including relationships, team performance and overall human capital value.
• Advising business leaders and boards on best-practice investment strategies to improve ROI on intangible assets/intellectual property and human capital.

In his role as a master strategist Ben combines significant commercial experience with a strong theoretical background that includes a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), specialising in strategic thinking.

Central to Ben’s approach to strategy is his Planning With Pictures system and his use of strategy models.

Strategy models are the tools needed to perform strategic management and include strategy templates, process models, business models and complete strategy systems.

In terms of importance, strategy models are to a strategist, what a hammer and nail is to a builder.  That is, they are essential.

Ben attended his first strategic planning course in 1994, where he learnt strategy modelling techniques used by organisations such as NASA. And, since that time he has been dedicated to strategy model research, design and development.

Underpinning planning with pictures and strategy models is design thinking for strategy, a strategic thinking discipline that prioritises the use of creativity and intuition in the strategic management process.

Due to its focus on creativity and intuition, design thinking for strategy is fundamentally the opposite to traditional planning approaches taught at business schools and used by mainstream consultants.  Nevertheless, design thinking for strategy is practiced at leading companies including Google, Apple and PepsiCo.  And it is now taught at major universities including Stanford and Harvard.

2.  The Strategic Performance Framework

The Strategic Performance Framework is Ben’s proprietary portfolio of models, tools and services designed to help teams and individuals to excel at strategic performance.

The heart of the portfolio is human capital development, which is applied to programs including:

• Leadership Skill Set Development
• Champion Team Development
• Strategic Wealth

3. Blended Coaching For Superior Learning and Development

When it comes to developing skills and improving performance, there is one approach that stands out as being the fastest and most effective.  It’s called Blended Coaching.

Blended Coaching is used extensively in military training and elite-level sport, and it forms the basis of apprenticeship training programs that are used in trades such as building and plumbing.

Ben’s work applies the blended coaching model.

Three Decades in the Trenches

For three decades Ben has been in the trenches helping business leaders and teams to optimise human capital and to excel at strategy. He has worked with senior executives at large organisations such as Marley, Red Cross, AIG and Honda…managing directors, boards and team members of multi-million dollar a year privately owned companies, government department leaders, and the owners of small businesses.

Ben’s work has been recognised and featured at industry conferences in both New Zealand and Australia, and has been the subject of legal action taken against others who have stolen his – and his clients’ – intellectual property.  He has helped firms in a range of sectors including investment advisory, accounting, fast moving consumer goods, building and construction, food manufacturing, insurance and wellness.

And it’s all a far way from where he began.

Ben grew up poor, the son of a solo mother and a largely absent father who had a love for alcohol, drugs and wild parties. And so, his early life was affected greatly by a dysfunctional environment.

Academically Ben was an average student and actually dropped out of high school, before returning again.

Ben’s improvement process began in earnest when he returned to high school and was introduced to the teachings of the late Paul J. Meyer.  Not well-known to those born after the 1980s, Paul J. Meyer is the world’s largest-selling personal development author (US $3 billion dollars in sales), and a world authority on goal setting, planning and performance.

Ben listened to Paul J. Meyer’s cassette tapes and studied his courses, and this sparked his interest in the science of strategy and performance.  Furthermore,  this was the genesis of the change in his life’s trajectory.

Ben has been married for more than 33 years, and has three sons and a daughter in law. His family has an international mix of ethnicities including Maori, English, Filipino, Indonesian and Spanish.

As a church and community leader Ben has headed small and large teams spanning a diverse range of ethnic, socio-economic, family, religious and occupational backgrounds. And he has served more than 30 years as a youth sports/fitness coach (rugby, cricket, touch rugby), outdoor education instructor and life skills mentor.

Ben is a health and fitness advocate and masters athlete. Leaner and fitter than most men half his age, Ben’s wellness strategy includes adhering to a plant-based diet and intermittent fasting. He also runs 5-6 times a week, has previously run marathons and shorter distance events, works out with weights, and plays the sport of touch rugby to national and international level.