Tell us about yourself and how you became a coach for high performers.
I spent over a decade working across brand-side and consulting roles, eventually running EMEA for a fast-growing consultancy. For years the work felt intentional; working with companies like Google and Meta. Building teams across markets. Watching the business grow.
Then I started asking a different question. ‘Not, am I successful?’, but ‘is this actually me?’.
I had the city apartment overlooking the Thames, the role and the recognition. Nothing was going wrong. I was still performing, still hitting targets, still growing the business, but something fundamental had changed. The version of success I was living started to feel like it belonged to someone else, as if it had been built from a collection of shoulds rather than real choice.
The turning point wasn’t some dramatic epiphany, but the signs were physical: rashes, stomach issues, tension. The things I cared about were pushed to the edges as work consumed more and more. My body was registering a misalignment long before my mind was ready to admit it.
That led to a moment in Portugal with my partner, when I finally admitted what I’d been trying to avoid. My life looked successful to everyone else, but it wasn’t mine and it was time to do something about it and to take back control.
I walked away from what I’d achieved thus far, not to escape ambition, but to rebuild with intention. I removed what wasn’t working, kept what mattered, and designed a life around what was actually important to me.
That decision became the work I now do with founders, executives, and senior leaders around the world. Helping them design what success actually means for them, not just what they believe it should be.
How has your background experience impacted your success?
Before consulting, my path was unconventional. Working on a cattle station in the Australian outback, teaching English in South Korea to students whose language I could barely speak.
Those experiences built capabilities that taught me a great deal, the ability to read what people aren’t saying, to understand what’s driving someone when they can’t or won’t articulate it, to connect across massive gaps in background, culture, and perspective.
That became my advantage in consulting. I could walk into a room with a founder in Seattle, a board in Amsterdam, or a team in London and understand what was actually happening beneath the business conversation. Trust formed quickly, with the real issues surfacing early.
This is why my coaching practice works. Senior leaders can benefit from someone who has been in their shoes but also has an objective view. They need someone who can see what they can’t see about themselves. Who asks questions that cut through the performance. Who understands the weight of responsibility because they have carried it too.
The unconventional path wasn’t a detour, it was the foundation for everything that came after.
Who do you work with?
I work one-to-one with founders, executives, and high achievers who’ve built strong careers and now want a life that matches.
These are people who’ve carried real responsibility for years. Teams, revenue, decisions that ripple. They’ve proven they can perform at the highest level.
They’re ready to design what comes next with the same focus they brought to building their careers. Work that energises, relationships that matter, time that’s theirs – a version of success that feels as good as it looks.
They don’t come for motivation or another system, they come because they’re ready to be intentional about what comes next. To build the 10/10 life they’re capable of, not just the career.
I have clients across the Middle East and internationally, all of them are ready to do the work, all of them are ready for change.
What is the biggest challenge facing high performers right now?
Many high performers are still operating from the same patterns that made them successful, even when those patterns no longer serve the life they’re trying to build.
They’ve proven they can perform, take responsibility, and deliver results. The question now isn’t whether they can succeed, it’s whether they’re willing to be deliberate about what success actually looks like at this stage, rather than continuing on autopilot.
The real friction isn’t performance it’s the cost of wanting something different. The risk of stepping outside the default path, the discomfort of redesigning rather than endlessly optimising what’s already there.
The way through isn’t more effort or optimisation it’s deciding what no longer deserves your time, energy, or attention, and building the discipline to let that go.
Most people wait until something forces the decision. The ones who build lives that actually work decide earlier, while they still have room to manoeuvre.
How is your approach unique?
I don’t use templates or standard frameworks. Everyone comes with different pressures, histories, and decisions, so everything is tailored to the person and what’s actually in front of them.
Success Rewritten™ is built on a different philosophy than most coaching.
We usually begin by taking things away rather than adding more. Capability and discipline aren’t the issue. If effort alone were the answer, this wouldn’t be the conversation.
What tends to get in the way are patterns that once drove success, but now create friction. Ways of thinking and operating that made sense earlier in a career, but quietly start to limit what’s possible.
From there it becomes clear how decisions are being made, where energy is going and what is being carried forward out of habit rather than choice. That makes it possible to decide what still belongs and what doesn’t.
Only then do we design what comes next. Not by optimising an existing setup that no longer fits, but by making deliberate choices about structure, priorities, and direction.
Sessions are one-to-one, direct, and unhurried. The focus is on getting to the root of what’s actually happening, not staying at the surface.
This isn’t about another system or set of tactics, it’s about seeing what’s currently invisible and making clear, deliberate decisions about what comes next.
What is your leadership philosophy?
Most leadership development teaches tactics. How to delegate. How to give feedback. How to manage teams.
But tactics don’t work when the person using them is misaligned. When they’re operating from outdated patterns or running on autopilot. When they don’t actually know what they’re building or why.
My philosophy is simple, leaders perform better when they’re not fighting themselves.
It starts with understanding what’s driving your decisions, what you’re optimising for, what success actually looks like at this stage, rather than what it’s supposed to look like.
When that alignment happens, everything else follows. Decisions become clearer, direction sharper, performance stronger. Not because you learned a new framework, but because you stopped working against yourself.
It’s the competitive advantage most people ignore.
What are your top strategies for optimising success?
First, get honest about what success actually looks like for you. Not what you think it should look like. Not what worked for someone else, but what actually matters to you at this stage of your life.
If you build toward a definition of success that isn’t yours, you’ll reach it and feel nothing. Or worse, feel trapped by it.
Second, remove before you add. Most high performers don’t need more tactics or systems, they need to identify what’s draining energy, creating friction, or no longer serving them, decisively put it down.
Third, pay attention to what your body is telling you. Persistent tension, exhaustion, or recurring health issues aren’t inconveniences, they are information about whether the way you’re living is sustainable.
The people who build lives that truly work don’t start by optimising, they start by questioning the foundations.
What has been your most notable achievement as a coach?
My most notable achievement is proving that high performers can redesign their lives without undermining or destroying them.
I work with founders, executives, and senior leaders who look successful by every measure but are quietly questioning the cost. People assume the wins are the flashy ones: revenue growth, promotions, big career moves.
Those happen, but what actually matters is what comes after someone stops fighting themselves and starts deliberately building.
Their teams perform better because the leader isn’t running on empty. Their businesses grow without constant sacrifice. Relationships that were falling apart start to rebuild. Partners feel seen again. Children get a parent who’s actually there.
The transformation isn’t contained; change one person at that level and everyone around them changes too.
My achievement is creating the space where senior professionals can make that shift while they still have the energy to choose it. Not when crisis forces it, but when they’re ready to design what comes next.
The ripple effect isn’t a side benefit, it’s the whole point.
Can you give us an example of a high performer or business leader you have coached and the results you have achieved?
Two examples show the pattern clearly.
One client was running a business that had plateaued. She’d built something successful but felt like she was pushing a boulder uphill every day. Growth was slow, decisions felt heavy, and the business was running her rather than the other way around.
One of the major areas we worked on was removing the belief that business has to be hard. Through our sessions, she started seeing the more obvious, easier decisions she’d been overlooking. The business became more joyful to run, stopped dominating her schedule, and she had space to dive into bold new ideas.
Within months, her revenue tripled, as a direct result of how she saw business and being intentional about where her time went. But just as significant, she became more deliberate about life outside of work, finding time for connection with friends and family. The business stopped being a grind and became something she actually enjoyed building.
Another was COO of an established business while launching several international projects. The pressure never eased. Even when things were going well, he couldn’t switch off. He knew he couldn’t keep leading and living this way without something eventually breaking.
We didn’t focus on adding more systems or his leadership style. We focused on understanding what was actually driving his decisions. As those became clear, he was able to lead in a way that suited him rather than a version of leadership he felt obliged to perform.
The result wasn’t just improved performance. He stayed at the top of his game while building a way of working and living that was sustainable. His team grew, the company surged forward, his health improved. He got his life back without sacrificing results.
The pattern is consistent. When someone gets clear on what they want and removes what’s in the way, results follow.
What is your vision for the next decade?
I want to continue to challenge the idea that success has to look a certain way. That ambition always requires sacrifice, and high performance means operating at your limit until something breaks.
Success Rewritten isn’t about abandoning ambition. It’s about building something that’s genuinely yours. And I want to prove that’s possible at scale, for more people, in more places.
So over the next decade, I want to reach more people with that message. I’m expanding into YouTube in the new year, taking on more speaking engagements, and excited to work with clients in more cities around the world. Longer term, I’m planning to publish a book and run retreats to bring like-minded leaders together in a unique space.
Where can readers connect with you?
You can learn more about my work on my website or connect with me on LinkedIn.
If you’re at a point where you want to rewrite your version of success and build your 10/10 life, you can reach out via email to arrange a complimentary two-hour initial consultation.
Website – www.ben-robins.com
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/ben-robins-coaching
Email – ben@ben-robins.com
