Stealth Startup

Founder

West Peak - BCorp

The Summit Leaders Club™ is the world’s fastest-growing community of Leaders from across industries. It's where the Leaders of today are developing the skills needed for tomorrow.

Summit Leaders Club™ - Founding Member

We create the leaders of today with the skills for tomorrow. 

West Peak was born out of our love of solving business growth problems through people development. For us, the best element of partnering with customers is always the legacy and results we leave with you. Our mission is to deliver solutions that provide rapid enhancements in your performance at work, and personal flourishing that continues long after training.​

We deliver best in class face-to-face and virtual leadership, personal, and team development training solutions. Our methods are rooted in science and presented ready for real-world application. We create a safe yet challenging learning environment that's optimised for rapid, fun, and embedded learning. Whether we're delivering for you via Zoom, in the classroom, at a mountain refuge, or on a yacht, we're convinced we all learn best when we're having serious fun.

Founder & CEO

Harvard Business Review

As an advisory council member of the research community, I provide insight to shape the content HBR develops and help enrich through my perspective the understanding of these ideas from HBR across the wider world of management and leadership.

Advisor

Helm (formerly The Supper Club)

"Helm is a membership community for established founders to achieve personal and business growth, that creates positive impact and delivers more than it takes."

Member

Dartmouth Partners

"Recruiting Excellence from Classroom to Boardroom"

Dartmouth Partners work with leading firms and outstanding individuals who understand that the value of human talent makes the difference to any business. 

Our business focuses on finding the best talent on campus and advising them as their career advances. As they progress, our network matures and in turn so does our supply capability on the experienced side of the business.

We recruit individuals with an outstanding academic or professional background into firms who recognise that a competitive edge is gained by finding and hiring the best human capital available.

Sectors covered include: Investment Banking, Private Equity, Asset Management, Consulting, and Corporates.

www.joindartmouth.com

Head of Talent & Performance

reinvest recruit

- ATTRACT -
Strategic retained recruitment assignments to identify, engage and secure the best talent for your business.

- DEVELOP -
Training for the Sales, Operations and Management teams.

- RETAIN -
Consultancy to identify pathways to business growth supporting the development and retention of your team.

Chief Reinvestor

ATI (Global Technical Recruitment Services)

ATI is a global specialist recruitment consultancy priding ourselves on placing exceptional candidates into technical & professional roles across energy and industry sectors, over the last 15 years. 

Our sector-experienced candidates complement our clients’ environments and hit the ground running – providing the knowledge and skill to deliver their projects successfully.

Our focus sectors include:
•	Oil, Gas and Petrochemical
•	Nuclear Energy and Renewables
•	Cement & Mining
•	Civil works and Infrastructure
•	Construction

We are currently actively recruiting across the UK, EU, Africa and the ME on specific projects for a number of global companies.

Successfully exited the business.

Senior Director

Hydrogen Group

Hydrogen Group is a global specialist recruitment business placing mid to senior level individuals in over 70 countries. Key practice specialisms include: IT, Project Management, Pharmaceutical/Life Sciences, Legal, Oil and Gas, Power, Mining and Financial Services Inc. Banking. We have also recently won the Global Recruiter Industry Award for 'Best In-house Training'.

Learning & Development Consultant/Coach

England Rugby

A training and development role on behalf of the RFU and the IRB that is continuing to focus on ensuring that the workforce has the correct support and development opportunities to excel.

•Delivering Award and Non-Award courses on behalf of the RFU and the IRB
•Ensuring the quality of delivery in Coach Educator staff
•Assessing and mentoring Coach Educators to ensure RFU workforce is fit for purpose

National Trainer

The remit of this role was to manage the growth and sustainability of Rugby Union across the region whilst operating at a national level to impact current and future programmes. 

•Developed and grew Rugby Union across London & SE
•Managed and deployed a regional team of rugby development professionals 
•Serviced and troubleshot the needs of member clubs and rugby organisations
•Developed and delivered training to workforce as part of on going development

Professional Coach / Rugby Development Officer

Badenoch & Clark

Recruiter and part of the successful Project/Programme Management team. Established and managed relationships with large corporate accounts and specific assignments with SME's. A focus on securing the right talent for the right organisations.

Recruiter

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

⏩ You know how to lead people and teams, right? But you struggle as your business grows and you need other people who may have been excellent individual contributors to now lead growing teams at scale. 

The problem is they don't have the skills or approach to succeed and it's costing you time (firefighting) and profitability. Well, that’s what I help with...👇

I help C-suite leaders create more growth and profit by rapidly up-skilling their managers. 

Need proof? The featured links on this profile and my website are packed with testimonials sharing the experiences others have had.

The Triple-A way I help C-suite leaders like you get these results:

👉🏽Analyse your needs to focus on achieving objectives that matter
👉🏽Accelerate learning through fully customised experiences
👉🏽Apply results directly to lift your culture and bottom line

When it comes to investing in upskilling your managers, I know you want to get the return on investment as fast as possible to fuel the growth and profitability of your business. You also don't have time for your managers to be in endless workshops or want to waste money on e-learning solutions that nobody uses. You need rapidly upskilled managers who create leverage by unlocking more performance and well-being in your employees.

To do that, you need an engaging and powerful solution that creates a quick impact. But also someone who understands how to embed results for the long term. So, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁? I'll show you.

✅ I’m proud to have helped businesses from start-ups to 9 figure brands create better performing managers. I've also taught hundreds of C-suite leaders all over the world how to get more out of their teams through my coaching, courses and keynotes. 

✅ You deserve for your business to achieve the growth and profit goals you've visualised. Contact me to find out about the Summit Leadership Programme™ and Summit Leaders Club™.

Send a message and we can discuss how to fix the all important incompetent manager issue for you.
__

www.thewestpeak.com
Email: benstocken@thewestpeak.com
Or message me on LinkedIn

__

Need me to speak?
I've lectured and provided impactful keynotes on "Unlocking Performance" for businesses including Amazon, DHL, Coke, British Triathlon, British Canoeing and Comparethemarket.

Ben Stocken

This clip gives me goosebumps! In 1983, Steve Jobs stood on stage and described a computer you could carry like a book and learn in 20 minutes.
At the time, it was technically impossible. 

So he had 3 options: 

1. Do nothing 
2. Build a piece of crap like his competitors were doing 
3. Design the computer he actually wanted to put in a book, even though it wouldn't fit for years.

He chose option 3. 

First, it fit in a breadbox and cost $10,000 (the Lisa). 
Then a shoebox for $2,500 (the early Mac). 
Finally, a book you could carry, the MacBook millions of students use today.

40 years from vision to reality. 

And it's exactly how I think about building Atherio. 

99% of traditional leadership development is Option 2: putting "a crap" solution out there because everyone else is doing off the shelf workshops and e-learning, even though we know they don't change behaviour.

Option 1 is to do nothing, accept that 82% of managers lack leadership capability and hope someone else solves it.

Option 3 is what we're doing: designing the leadership development system we actually need; real-time AI coaching embedded in workflow that closes the knowing-doing gap, even though it's technically hard and takes years to build right.

Jobs wasn't solving for the next quarter. He was solving for the next generation. 

That's the difference between building something incremental and building something that redefines what's possible.

Most founders optimise for speed to market. Jobs optimised for vision of where the market was going.

I'd rather spend 3 years building the right thing than 3 months building something mediocre just to ship.

This is the mindset we need more of. Not faster MVPs. Not more customer surveys asking people what they want when they don't know what's possible yet.

That's what made Jobs different. And it's what I think about every single day building Atherio.

Do you optimise for speed or for vision?

#Leadership #Product #BillGates #BuildingInPublic #Atherio #AILeadership

Ex England Rugby | Spent 20 years in leadership development. Now replacing what doesn’t work | Founder & CEO, Atherio 🚀

I’m 41, on my second startup, and this year I finally put myself first.
Before I start, I almost didn't post this because...

we're pretty crap at celebrating wins in the UK and my internal voice expects many to scoff at this post and dismiss it as a brag. But if we don't share we can't help, so here goes...

1st picture: January this year? I wasn’t in a great place.
Bloated. Self-conscious. Honestly I'd distracted myself by overeating after a tough end to 2024. Energy low. Confidence lower.

Fast forward 10 months…
2nd picture: The difference is night and day.

Here’s what changed:

I made myself the priority.

No excuses. No shortcuts. No waiting for “the right time.”

Instead:

✅ 0400 starts to put in the hours for Atherio before my family wakes up.
✅ Blocking time for fitness during my day (non-negotiable).
✅ Clean eating (most of the time).
✅ Big focus on sleep quality.
✅ Almost zero alcohol.

All while leading West Peak - BCorp and building Atherio.

It’s been a grind-and I’ve loved every bloody minute of it.

This isn’t a brag. It’s a reminder.

You don’t have to accept the status quo.

I’m a 41 year-old man, a husband, a dad to two incredible kids, and a founder on my second startup.

And it's taken too long for me to realise this simple truth:

If I don’t look after me, who will look after them?

You can’t show up for your family, your team, or your mission if you’re running on empty.

Next year I’m levelling up again and committing to working with Garry Banford from Duratus to ensure I progress again.

Hope this helps a few people out there today to put their own oxygen mask on first. Maybe for the first time.

🙏

2025 Transformation

Yesterday was a lesson in how boring Rugby’s values really are…

But also, why everyone needs to understand just how powerful they are!

If you follow me you’ll know by now that my eldest is a bit of a ledge and mad about rugby. It’s not uncommon for him to throw a Marcus Smith goose step in a match and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pollock lip licking doesn’t catch on.

Yesterday we were treated to some tickets to the Exeter Chiefs vs. Bristol Bears game.

Austin was super keen to get down to the pitch side and see if we could get a signature from one of the players (heroes), so off we go down to the warm up area for the Chiefs. 

Now I know from my time in Rugby that this is not the time for us to get a signature, but we try out luck! 🍀

Up steps Charlie Chapman (Exeter Chiefs, Scum Half) and does something incredible…

Austin catches his eye and ask him to sign his new Chiefs shirt (you can imagine the hopeful eye’s can’t you).

Charlie jogs over from his warm up. Austin hands him the only pen we have which is a biro 😩 and guess what? It doesn’t work. 

Sh*t I’m thinking this is a bit of an anti climax for my little dude. 

Charlie, cool as a cucumber looks up and says hang on a minute, I’ll be back. 

He turns and runs 50m to the halfway line, into the tunnel and comes back a few mins later with a sharpie. Signs the shirt, chats to Austin, poses for a picture, says he hopes austin has a great day and then is back 100% focused on preparing for the game. 😎

He comes on in the 2nd half, makes a huge impact and Exeter win. 

But that’s not the point…

Rugby teaches what world needs most right now:

Teamwork
Respect
Enjoyment
Discipline 
Sportsmanship

Charlie demonstrated that to his core in one small act yesterday and do you know what, it stayed with Austin. 

Role-modelling is a superpower!

Let’s all be more like Charlie.

No alternative text description for this image

I dragged heavy Mitre boots as a kid. But my son laces up tech-driven boots built to win…

Back then, those chunky Mitre hi-tops were the gold standard. Elite players swore by them. I dragged my feet across muddy pitches, dreaming of rugby greatness.

Fast forward to last night, I’m fitting lightweight studs into my son’s aero, position-specific boots. They’re engineered for speed, precision, and performance.

Everyone loves NEW BOOT DAY, right?

But as I held those boots, a thought hit me…

In sports, the pursuit of an edge is relentless. Every detail is scrutinised. Every innovation embraced. All because winning demands it.

Yet in business?

We’re still dragging our feet.

❌82% of managers haven’t been trained to lead another human. 

For the lucky few, it’s often outdated workshops that barely scratch the surface (unless they are fortunate enough to work with West Peak - BCorp🫡) 

Decades of stagnation.

That’s why I’m building Atherio.

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

- Difficult conversations
- Delegation decisions
- Team conflicts

Atherio delivers intelligent, context-relevant leadership development-embedded in the flow of work, every day.

✅ Real-time support
✅ Habit-building, not one-off training
✅ A fraction of the cost, all of the ROI

The old boots won’t cut it anymore. It’s time to tool up managers to win the game-every day.

DM me to learn more about how today.

P.S. not an AD but adidas boots are 🔥

#Leadership #FounderJourney #AI #Managers

The day I quit England Rugby, I thought I'd failed…

Here's the honest bit: I wasn't patient enough (or probably good enough) to move to the next level. So I moved into corporate leadership development thinking I'd help companies avoid mistakes in people development.

What I found? 

Companies making the same mistakes across every industry…

Managers promoted with zero support. Smart people suddenly terrible at leading. Teams burning out because nobody taught their boss how to actually delegate.

And the "solution"? £366 billion spent globally on leadership training. With 10% ROI. That's a tax on incompetence.

So I built West Peak - BCorp. Proved better worked. Made good money. Helped good people. But I hit the same wall: consulting can help hundreds when I believed there’s a way to help millions. 

Then 250km into the Sahara whilst completing the MDS, it clicked:

Knowing what to do isn't the problem. Doing it under pressure is. 

Your manager knows delegation matters. Until they're stressed, then they just do it themselves. Old pattern kicks in.

You need to remove friction in the moment that it matters. That’s where ultimate value is. 

J.P. Morgan embedded AI into workflow. Got 44% productivity gains. Most companies get nothing because they relied on just training to change behavior.

And I'm not solving this with consulting or courses. AI finally makes it possible to coach behavior at scale.

That's Atherio. Not another workshop. Real-time nudges embedded when managers face real decisions.

✅Before they do it (instead of delegate).
✅Before they avoid conversations (instead of having them).
✅Before they burn out their people (instead of developing them).

So yeah, quitting rugby seemed like failure at the time.

Turned out it was just the beginning. 🚀

#Leadership #EnterpriseValue #Atherio

80%+ of employees would quit because of a bad manager. And replacing that departing talent costs 50-200% of their annual salary...​

The mistake is simple: We confuse excellence in a role with readiness for leadership.

Being exceptional at sales doesn't make you a great sales manager.
Being brilliant at engineering doesn't make you a great engineering leader.
Being the best performer on the team doesn't mean you can develop others.

Those are different skillsets entirely.

Yet 82% of organizations promote people based on past performance, not leadership capability.​ So what happens?

The brilliant individual contributor becomes a drowning manager who:

❌ Can't delegate (they're used to doing it all)
❌ Can't coach (they never learned how)
❌ Can't make tough decisions (they avoid conflict)
❌ Can't inspire teams (they're focused on tasks, not people)

And because they're now under water, they don't invest in their team. They micromanage. They create chaos.

Your best people see that and leave.

82% of first-time managers receive ZERO formal training when promoted. We put people in the hardest job in the company - managing human beings - with zero support system.​ Then we're shocked when they fail and their teams leave.

And when they fail, they don't fail alone. They take their teams with them.​

The companies that don't lose their best people when promoting do one thing differently:

They invest in real-time management coaching before and after the promotion. Continuous behavioral support at the moment the manager needs it.

And that's how elite teams develop leaders at scale, without losing their top performers in the process.

Managers who receive regular coaching stay 68% longer and their teams experience significantly higher retention.​

Let's do the math on one bad promotion:

You promote someone without development support.
Their manager rating drops within 6 months.
Your 3 best performers: the ones who made that team effective all leave within a year.

Cost of replacing those 3 people at 100% of annual salary? ~$450K+ just in recruitment, training, and ramp-up time.​

Plus: Lost institutional knowledge, team morale hit, customer relationships disrupted, innovation stalled.

So, if you're serious about keeping your best people when promoting someone to management:

1. Assess for leadership capability BEFORE promoting
2. Provide immediate, real-time coaching AFTER promoting
3. Measure what matters
4. Create accountability

This is exactly why Atherio exists. That's the gap we're closing: Real-time behavioural coaching embedded in the workflow.

No losing your best people while hoping your newly promoted manager figures it out. When you promote someone, they need real-time support at the moment of performance. That's the only way to actually change behavior and keep your teams intact.

The alternative is watching your best people leave.
#teambuilding #leadershiptraining #management #retention

Private equity just had its biggest quarter in history - six deals exceeded $10 billion, including the largest LBO ever recorded.

But here's the problem no one's talking about:

No matter how big the check, incompetent managers are destroying $95M to $435M in enterprise value per portfolio company (RHR International).

Leadership capability just became the most important valuation lever in PE. Let me show you what I mean:

53% of PE returns now come from leadership capability. Not from financial engineering. Not from bolt-on acquisitions. From whether leaders execute under pressure.

And the harsh truth: 82% of managers in portfolio companies lack the leadership talent to deliver the value creation plan (Gallup).

What This Costs:

Scenario 1: Competent CEO
→ Revenue targets hit consistently
→ EBITDA margins expand 3-5% annually
→ Exit at 8-10x EBITDA = £400M-£500M

Scenario 2: Incompetent manager
→ Best VP quits (£2M-£5M replacement cost per role)
→ CEO defaults to firefighting, strategic initiatives stall
→ Revenue misses by 7%, EBITDA margin drops 4%
→ Exit at 6-7x EBITDA = £300M-£350M

Value destroyed: £100M-£150M

That's the difference between a fund-returner and explaining a write-off to your LPs.

When a CEO exits unplanned, it delays your investment timeline by 18 months on average (Leadership Dynamics). In PE terms, that's an IRR death sentence.

Sophisticated Firms treat leadership like infrastructure:

1. Pre-deal: Behavioural assessments of CEO + C-suite before the deal closes. Not just "can they run a P&L" but "can they make decisions under pressure and retain top talent during transformation?"

2. Post-deal: Real-time AI-powered coaching embedded in daily execution. Not off the shelf workshops managers forget by Monday. Behavioural nudges before difficult conversations, during delegation breakdowns, when accountability slips.

3. Continuous monitoring: Live dashboards tracking manager effectiveness and flight risk. You wouldn't run a portfolio company without real-time financial dashboards, why develop leaders with annual surveys that arrive 6 months too late?

This is why we're building Atherio.

PE timelines don't always allow 6-12 month leadership programs. You need managers executing flawlessly starting Monday, not Q3 next year.

Real-time AI coaching delivers behavioural nudges exactly when needed, before the tough VP conversation, when the CEO reverts to doing instead of leading, when team performance drifts.

Leadership assessment is moving from "nice-to-have" to mandatory due diligence. Leadership quality is now a valuation multiple.

If you're evaluating deals: Can this management team execute at the speed and scale we need, or are we hoping they figure it out?

If you're building for PE exit: Would a sophisticated PE firm see your leadership team as a premium asset or a liability to fix post-close?

The market is pricing leadership capability into every deal now.

#PrivateEquity #Leadership #ValueCreation #EnterpreValue

Replacing one A-player costs £100K-£300K (half to 4x their annual salary)! A 100-person company loses £2M+ annually to turnover costs.​

But the real cost isn't the replacement. It's the collapse that follows. When your best people leave, the entire system stutters. Here's what most companies do:

They hire an L&D consultant. Run a "retention" workshop. Measure completion rates. Then wonder why nothing changes.

The problem: these are behavioral problems, not knowledge problems.

Your manager doesn't lack understanding that they should celebrate excellence. They lack behavioral support in the moment when it matters.

Your CEO lacks real-time accountability for it. This is exactly why we're building Atherio.

Real-time nudges for managers:

→ Before they overlook their best person's contribution
→ When they're tempted to let an underperformer slide
→ When burnout signals hit (behavioral patterns, withdrawal)
→ During career conversations where clarity matters

Not quarterly workshops or annual training. Real-time behavioral coaching that catches problems before A-players become ex-players. 

And that's exactly what we're making possible with Atherio!

Companies don't lose A-players to competitors. They lose them to bad management.

And bad management is fixed with better behavior in real moments.

Which of these 10 is costing you the most right now? And more importantly, how are you actually intervening, not just measuring?


#Leadership #Retention #EnterpriseValue #Management

I've been thinking about something all week…

One of my friends who's a global HR Director told me they spent £480K on leadership coaching last year for 80 managers. Feedback scores were great. Managers loved the coaches. But when they looked at actual behavior change 6 months later, almost nothing stuck.

That conversation has been rattling around because it's exactly what the research shows. The global coaching market hit $7.3 billion in 2025 (PwC). Coaching delivers £5-£7 ROI for every £1 spent (ICF 2025). So coaching works…as long as you don’t stop investing in it!

But traditional coaching can't scale without breaking the bank and it's too slow for how companies move.

One coach can work with 20-30 people maximum per year. Quarterly sessions mean managers wait weeks. Traditional e-learning has 15% completion rates (LinkedIn Learning). Coaching 500 managers costs £3-£7.5 million annually. 

Most companies can't justify that, so:

❌ managers get a two-day workshop, 
❌ forget 90% of the lecture they’ve had by Monday, 
❌ and hope they figure it out (unless they get to work with West Peak - BCorp, which many can't).

And that's exactly where AI changes the game - not as hype, but as a practical solution.

✅ 84% of managers report higher confidence after AI coaching (Tenor AI Oct 2025). 
✅ Gen AI adopters see £3.71 return for every £1 spent. 
✅ MIT research shows AI role-play works from day one because managers practice before high-stakes moments.

Managers don't need more knowledge. They know what good delegation looks like. The problem is in the moment when they're stressed, three things are on fire, they revert to old patterns. They micromanage. They avoid the conversation.

AI can be there in that exact moment. Not three weeks later. Right before the 1:1 with the underperforming VP. During the delegation conversation when they're tempted to just do it themselves.

Now let me be honest about what AI can't do. Complex ethical dilemmas requiring human judgment. Deep emotional processing. Strategic career pivots need human wisdom. Building trust in sensitive situations requires a real person.

That's why I'm building Atherio with a hybrid model, AI handles 90% of coaching moments, human coaches focus on the genuinely complex 10%. Not replacing coaches. Giving them leverage.

I keep coming back to that HR Director conversation. 

Traditional coaching transformed me. I'm not dismissing it. But it's economically impossible at scale and too slow.

AI coaching isn't perfect. But for 90% of leadership moments: delegation, feedback, accountability; it delivers faster, more consistently, at a fraction of the cost.

📊 That's not hype. That's the actual data. 

Follow me as I build the solution we all need that nobody else did, at Atherio!

#Leadership #AICoaching #LeadershipDevelopment

Forge Talent

Founder & CEO 

Recharging the batteries 🪫🔋

Recharging before the next exciting chapter 🪫🔋🚀👀

Recharging the batteries

FJR Group

As Chief Executive Officer my role includes:

Leading the development of the company’s short and long-term strategy, ensuring their alignment with short-term and long-term objectives
Responsibility for FJR Group UK P&L
Delivery of Budgets 
Grow all sales leadership
Grow all sales teams across UK offices, Manchester, London & Edinburgh
Oversee the strategic direction of the business 
Responsible for day-to-day sales & operational decision making 
Work with CFO/COO on day-to-day financial decision making to safeguard the business & employees
Identifies risks and ensures appropriate strategies are in place
Maintaining awareness of the competitive market landscape, expansion opportunities, industry developments
Review financial and non-financial reports to devise solutions or improvement
Monitoring how each part of the company operates and how they work together to achieve overall business goals 
Creating and implementing strategies, together with the senior management team, to determine the direction the company will take

Chief Executive Officer

Responsibility for all recruitment activity along with everything that generates revenue & gross margin at FJR Group. Developing and leading our growth strategy, owning and refining short and medium term business performance.

As Chief Revenue Officer my role includes:

Shaping our strategic vision for revenue growth.
Responsibility for FJR Group UK P&L.
Grow all sales leadership & teams across UK offices, Manchester, London & Edinburgh.
Actively manage sales revenue and opportunity pipeline.
Hire, train and retain across each location.

We cover four demanding markets throughout the UK with our dedicated brands; FJR Finance, FJR Technology, FJR Human Resources, and FJR Executive; supporting both candidates and clients across interim, contract and permanent opportunities at the professional and executive level.

Chief Revenue Officer- UK

Founded in 2011, The FJR Group was set up with a single philosophy and desire in mind – to provide our candidates and clients with the high level of expertise associated with larger recruitment agencies, while also delivering the levels of service, commitment and enthusiasm that only an independent, management-owned consultancy can offer.

This is reflected in our ambitious mission statement, “To always exceed the service expectations of our candidates and clients”.

Our goal is not to be considered number one for revenue, profit or headcount; But for our reputation, culture and the quality of our team. We want to be recognised as experts in our fields, as a trusted recruitment partner and ultimately as being an awesome place to work.

We cover four demanding markets through our dedicated brands; FJR Finance, FJR Technology, FJR Human Resources, and FJR Executive; supporting both candidates and clients across interim, contract and permanent opportunities at the professional and executive level.

I can be contacted on 0161 667 2277 or max.learmonth@fjrgroup.com

Managing Partner- North & Scotland 

Robert Half

Robert Half is the world’s first and largest specialized recruiting firm providing placement services for Accounting and Finance professionals in 360 global locations.

Within our North West operations we recruit across the following brands: 

Robert Half Finance & Accounting – specialise in the recruitment of permanent and temporary positions from transactional to senior management level across all industries and market sectors

Robert Half Management Resources - specialise in the placement of senior interim assignments and include Interim FD/FC positions, Change Management, Project Management and specialised areas such as Risk & Compliance

OfficeTeam - permanent & temporary recruitment of office support professionals including HR, Legal, Procurement, Sales & Marketing & general administration positions.

Robert Half Technology- a leading provider of technology professionals on a project and full-time basis.
Focus areas;
Development, Technical Support, Database Management, Systems Integration, Security, Networking, Project Management, big data, cybersecurity, help desk, coding, webdev, devops, women in tech, network administration, .NET, Java, HTML.

Associate Director- North West

Max has responsibility for all operations in the Manchester. This involves working with local leadership in driving revenue growth and profitability in all lines of business, development of business strategy, people leadership, staff development and client relationship management. Responsible for the identification and attraction of potential Recruitment Consultants and Managers into Robert Half.

Within our North West operations we recruit across the following brands: 

Robert Half Finance & Accounting – specialise in the recruitment of permanent and temporary positions from transactional to senior management level across all industries and market sectors

Robert Half Management Resources - specialise in the placement of senior interim assignments and include Interim FD/FC positions, Change Management, Project Management and specialised areas such as Risk & Compliance

OfficeTeam - permanent & temporary recruitment of office support professionals including HR, Legal, Procurement, Sales & Marketing & general administration positions.

Associate Director- Manchester

Senior Manager- Temporary, Interim & Contract Services, specialising in the placement of Finance & Accounting professionals across Scotland. 

Recently filled positions;
System Implementations- Oracle, Hyperion, Net Suite & Zero across SME's & listed organizations.
Finance Manager- Charity 
Head of Finance-  Financial services
Group Financial Controller- Marketing Business
Project Accountant- Pharmaceuticals
Corporate Accountant- Investment Managers

Senior Manager- Edinburgh

Division Manager- Temporary, Interim & Contract team specialising in the placement of Finance and Accounting professionals.

The team specialise in all placements of transactional finance staff ranging from Purchase & Sales Ledger Clerks, Credit Control, Payroll, Bookkeeper, Accounts Assistants, Assistant Accounts and Qualified by Experience Professionals. 

I specialise in the placement of Qualified Accountants, Finance Managers, Financial Controllers, Financial Directors and Heads of Finance.

Recently filled assignments;
Financial controller- Manufacturing organisation.
Project Accountant- Logistics business.
Fund Accountant- Financial Services
Financial Accountant- Investment Managers.
Finance Business Partner- Construction
Newly Qualified- Renewable Energy
Finance Director- Charity Organisation

Division Manager

Founded in 1948 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Robert Half International (RHI) is the world's first and largest specialised recruitment consultancy with over 400 locations worldwide.

I work as a consultant within Robert Half Finance & Accounting's temporary division. Supporting my clients by providing the full range of temporary finance resources from ledger clerks, assistant accountants, part qualified through to fully qualified accountants and financial management professionals. I cover a wide geographical area across East Central Scotland

Robert Half® Finance & Accounting for temporary & full-time
Robert Half® Financial Services Group 
Robert Half® Technology, for Information Technology & Systems professionals
Robert Half® Management Resources for Interim Management and Project Proffesionals 
OfficeTeam®, for highly skilled temporary administrative support personnel

Recruitment Consultant

Scotland Club XV International 

Represented Scotland Club XV International in a series against Ireland and France

Rugby Union 

Rotherham Titans RUFC

Train full time as a professional athlete; in a variety of different excerise programmes to reach the top level of physical fitness. A combination of weight, speed, rugby training and nutrition was needed to be ready for competition. This accompoanied with dedication, high work ethic, focus and drive is what led me to have a career in professional sport.

Professional Rugby Player

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. 

With over 25 years recruitment experience we've seen the industry evolve. We are focused on pushing that change further with our relationship led approach. 

We are a specialist Finance and Accounting Talent Partner that have deep rooted relationships across large PLCs & the SME space in and around the North West.

We operate across 4 verticals:

Transactional Finance 
Part Qualified 
Qualified & Management Finance 
Executive Appointments 

At Forge Talent our 5 core values are:

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

If you want to work with a recruitment business that will put you first then please get in touch today!

https://forge-talent.co.uk


Max Learmonth

14 things I wish someone had smacked me with when I started in recruitment. 📣

1-Mindset is everything. 
2-Recruitment is a sales job. If that’s news to you, you’re already F&£ked.
3-You can’t control every scenario but you can manage every outcome. 
4-You’re entitled to nothing.
5-Relationships are the whole game.
6-Your personal brand matters. If you’re forgettable, you’re replaceable.
7-It’s not a 9–5 & success doesn’t follow office hours.
8-Never stop doing business development. The moment you relax, you’re about to have a shocker.
9-Don’t shirk communication even when things get awkward.
10-Grind & then grind more.
11-Your competition is waiting for you to drop the ball.
12-Bad service sticks.
13-You’ll want to quit, more than once.
14-You’re not getting a Bentley in year one.

But if you embrace the chaos it can be so so rewarding. 👊🏼

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

For the purpose of the story, let’s call them Nicholas Cage. 📣

For the third time this week, a candidate I placed sat across from me at lunch and said. 

“Yeah, the pitch was: So what do you think of Max’s LinkedIn? Bit much, isn’t it? He uses nasty hurty words. You should work with us we’re much more professional and have a bigger reach.”

Adorable.

This is the stuff you should actually be doing:

-Identify the actual problem.
-Be the solution.
-Make real impact.
-Add actual value.
-Deliver something… anything.

But no, your chosen strategy is to whinge about my LinkedIn posts.

So buckle up & boys & girls. 

Because that tiny foothold you’ve still got in the North West?

We’ll be taking that now. 👊🏼

Culture Killer……..”We’re a family.” 📣

Give it a rest, it’s bollocks!

You are not a family.
You are a business with targets, pressure, wins, losses and all the S£&T that comes with trying to achieve something.

-Families forgive most things.
-Families let things slide.
-Families tolerate Uncle Dave pissing himself at Christmas every single year.

-Businesses don’t have that luxury.
-Businesses need clarity.
-Businesses need standards.
-Businesses make decisions, hard ones, fast -ones, sometimes brutal ones.
-Because that’s what keeps the lights on.

Calling your company a “family” is nonsense.

-It hides poor performance.
-It masks weak leadership.
-It creates confusion instead of culture.

You want a culture worth talking about?

-Be honest.
-Be direct.
-Set expectations.
-Hold people to them.
-Celebrate high performance.
-Own your mistakes.
-Act like grown-ups.

Teams win, grow & deliver.

Families do birthdays and roast dinners.

Start building a culture that actually works. 👊🏼

The old guard is slowly disappearing! 📣📣📣

Why?

A new era of Finance Directors and CFOs are coming through & they’re choosing new age recruiters who actually understand their world, not the lumbering corporates. 

In my opinion the game has changed for the big UK recruitment brands.

-Profit warnings.
-Headcount cut to the bone.
-Directors shoved back on the phones.
-Bonus schemes ripped up overnight.
-Being told to “try a new market” because the old one’s dead.

You’re wrong Max………..

It’s happening because the old model doesn’t work anymore.

-Generalist vs Specialist
-Spam vs Proper Consulting
-Red Tape vs Agility
-Clunky Legacy Tech vs Cutting-Edge Tools
-Fees at-all costs vs Relationships That Actually Last
-Command & Control vs Real Leadership

Meanwhile, SMEs and Boutiques are out there delivering, partnering, and flat-out taking over.

Contemplating what else is out there.

Do yourself a favour & have a look. 👊🏼

Where does don’t be a D£&K come from? 📣

Something Adam Holt on the Recruitment Rehab asked me recently.

I’ve been there done that and used to wear the T-Shirt daily. (Well 3 Piece 😂).

Like a badge of honour.

All I cared about:

-What my P&L looked like.
-KPIs being hit. 
-Hire & Fire mentality.
-Someone didn’t work out ‘they were soft’.
-How I was perceived with the Exec/SLT.
-Being flash.
-My bank balance.

It was to hell with everything else.

You either wanted to be a top performer and earn or you were gone.

Can’t put it all on the environment.

It was my behaviour, I was fuelled by ego, money & F£&K I was arrogant. 

Thankfully as you get older you realise it’s absolutely nonsense.

If you are in a leadership role today, park all of that. 

-Be a good human.
-Take people on a journey. 
-Make incremental improvements daily. 
-Don’t be afraid to be challenged. 
-Ask for help.
-Surround yourself with a group that make you better. 
-Look after people in good times and bad.

I guarantee your business starts to sing! 👊🏼

Ever been called too ambitious? 📣

Usually by individuals who are absolutely shit scared of what you might become.

-Your pace exposes their excuses.
-Your hunger threatens their comfort.
-Your vision makes their limits look self-inflicted.
-Your energy and appetite make them look painfully average.

Ambition isn’t the problem.
Ambition is the mirror they don’t want to look into.

Being ambitious means you’re challenging the norm and the norm hates being challenged.

-Don’t dial it back.
-Be relentless in pursuit.
-Be unreasonably committed to your goals.
-Be the person who forces everyone else to rethink what’s possible.
-Push yourself harder than yesterday.
-Push everyone around you to level up or get out of the way.
-Treat resistance as proof you’re on the right track.

Ambition isn’t a flaw it’s leverage. 👊🏼

Momentum is so powerful. 📣

The market has been challenging but stop the woe is me bulls£&t. 

If you were relentlessly executing the below you wouldn’t be moaning! 

-Nail the basics. 
-Run a slick efficient process.
-Partner properly.
-Communicate constantly. 
-Do what you said you’d do. 
-Add value without being asked.
-Deliver.
-Never stop using the phone.
-Meet people in person.

Then rinse & repeat.

That’s how you build unstoppable momentum. 👊🏼

I push myself right to the edge of breaking point constantly. 📣

Not for a badge of honour. 

Because I’m at my best when I’m extremely uncomfortable!

-Financially? I’ve bought property that I couldn’t afford.
-Fitness? I train when the warning signs are on.
-Sleep? Five hours feels generous & I’m still trying to reduce. 
-Professionally? I set deadlines for myself that make no sense to anyone but me.

Why?

-I don’t need or want balance.
-I’m probably addicted to making life harder than it needs to be.

When you force yourself into a place that uncomfortable, back yourself into a corner with no excuses and no safety net.

You only have one option.

You deliver for everyone around you. 

Because the alternative scares the S£&T out of me.

(Everyone is wired different before you chime in calling me the anti christ, I’m promoting burnout & a psychopath). 

It’s my massive flaw but also can be a superpower. 👊🏼

Will Foden you know the drill.

What exactly are you paying your recruiter for? 📣

Another vanilla shortlist?
One relevant candidate?

Wake up.

You should be getting:

-Someone who actually understands the role.
-Real credibility in your market.
-A recruiter who can spot talent a mile off.
-Actual market intelligence not guesswork.
-Salary guidance.
-A shortlist that impresses you.
-Faster hiring.
-A cleaner, tighter process.
-Bulletproof offer management.

Hiring is a minefield.

And average recruiters?

They drain your time, energy, and patience.

Set higher standards and make damn sure your recruiter hits them. 👊🏼

Leadership sets the tone. Full stop. 📣

I’ve worked with leaders who inspire trust, drive a clear vision, and genuinely back their people.

I’ve also worked with the egocentric pricks.

Great leaders:

-Know where they’re going and bring people with them.
-Don’t belittle.
-Coach, challenge, support.
-Have the hard conversations.
-Park the ego and put the team first.
-Actually give a damn.

Not perfect but consistent.

The egocentric prick:

-Makes everything about themselves.
-Leads through fear.
-Is “never wrong.”
-Obsessed with control.
-Builds a team of yes people.
-Allows toxic behaviour to thrive.

If you’re job hunting, don’t just look at the role, look at the leader.

A great manager lifts everything.

A bad one drains the life out of you. 👊🏼

taplio

The Battle

Ben Stocken

Max Learmonth

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The Battle

Ben Stocken

Max Learmonth

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ben Stocken's LinkedIn Performance

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