Ben Ryan on Peak Performance: What Sport Can Teach Us About Leadership and Success

Ben Ryan needs little introduction — the inspirational coach who led Fiji Rugby Sevens to their first-ever Olympic gold at Rio 2016 and continues to shape winning cultures as Performance Director at Brentford FC.

His journey from school-rugby coach to international champion has made him one of the most influential Peak Performance speakers today.

With a track record of transforming under-resourced teams into title-winning squads, Ben brings wisdom forged under pressure in elite sport to every speaking engagement. His keynote talks immerse audiences in lessons of alignment, adaptive leadership and winning culture — delivered through compelling stories and practical insights.

In this exclusive with The Motivational Speakers Agency, Ben shares how he built high-performing teams from the ground up, why psychological safety is key to success, and how the same principles drive results at an Olympic level and on the football pitch. His story is as relevant to businesses as it is to players — and rugby fans will be glued to every word.

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Q: From your perspective, what are the most valuable skills learned in sport that can successfully transfer into the business world?

Ben Ryan: It’s really interesting looking at sport and where it can transfer. Some of the work we do with business, obviously there’s some stuff that just does not transfer, but communication – how you approach, how you behave, how you communicate with people – is vitally important in sport, as it is in business.

How you induct, on-board, off-board, how you exit players or staff again has massive parallels with business. Creating guardrails – and by that I mean agreed principles on how people are going to behave and what goals we’re all aiming for – is crucial. We do that in sport on a daily basis and it has massive resonance with what you do in business, to allow people to be themselves and create psychological safety but within guardrails that provide alignment.

Another thing that’s vitally important is appraisals and reviews. In sport we’ll do an after-action review, a hot review, a preview, and often that’s player-led as well as coach-led. They need to be regular and hit the right notes, and that’s the same in business. Quarterlies and yearly reviews are really in the rear-view mirror; you’ve got to be thinking about consistent reviews – informal, formal, structured – and these are things you have to do in sport on a regular basis to help people be their best versions and give them appropriate feedback to support both their gaps and aspirations.

Q: When building a high-performance team, what do you see as the essential factors that allow both individuals and the collective to thrive?

Ben Ryan: I would say there are a lot of smaller things, but the big headline topics in creating a high performance team are around understanding and making the most of the individual and the team.

Individuals will all have their own aspirations, goals, egos, and destinations they want to achieve in their careers, and you have to marry that in a high performance organisation with them understanding and connecting to being part of a bigger team. Being part of an organisation where alignment is crucial – where the “we” goes in front of the “me”.

If you want a high performing environment – a consistent high performing environment – then you need alignment. Everybody needs the understanding that they know their roles and responsibilities, they know their direction of travel, it’s monitored regularly, and they feel they have autonomy. They feel part of the process, not a cog in the works. They need safety in having conversations with people above, below, and to the side of them.

One of the other key things is juggling the desires and ambitions of the individual versus working together as a team to create alignment and put the “we” in front of the “me”. I use lots of practical tools, both in my keynote speaking and day-to-day work, that allow you to make sure that happens and you get the best out of both worlds.

Q: In your experience across rugby and football, how does diversity and inclusion contribute to stronger team performance?

Ben Ryan: Diversity and inclusion is huge. To give you an example – with Fiji, there was one culture. With England, we had various demographics coming into the team, the same from the staff. And with Brentford, we have over 20 nationalities in the training ground.

With diversity, the strength comes from different ways of thinking, different approaches to problems, and finding solutions in different ways. It means having a broader breadth of knowledge in the organisation and the team.

What it also stops, or certainly reduces, is groupthink and subconscious bias – two things that pop up all the time in professional and elite sport and in the workplace. When you have a diverse and inclusive group, you have far more chance of reducing or eliminating that, and allowing the right answers, the right solutions, and the right way to run your business or team.

Q: Your time with Fiji Sevens is now legendary. How did you turn a struggling side into Olympic champions and one of the most dominant teams in rugby history?

Ben Ryan: My time at Fiji was so beneficial to me to understand how to create a high performing, consistent, world-class team. When I joined, the team were bankrupt, nobody was being paid, I was working under a military regime, and it was at its lowest point in history. Three years later, we were winning double titles and Olympic gold medals.

All of that came from putting the processes in place and creating an environment where the first thing I ever do going in anywhere is listen and understand the culture. I was the only person that had come in from outside the Fijian culture, so I had to understand. Not just the culture you’re coming into, but also the timing. I was not just going into a third world country – I was going in at a time where finances were not there, a dictatorship was running the country, and they were intrinsically linked to the rugby team.

I needed to gather information, then make the appropriate decisions, judge the pace and risk of those decisions, and then be consistent. We had agreed principles, guardrails, and I made sure to involve and connect those around me into conversations. I also looked for what I call trampolines – parts of the organisation, culture, or team that you can jump on to accelerate performance. With Fiji, we found some trampolines very early on which accelerated performance, got buy-in, and connected what we were doing to outcomes.

By the end, I didn’t need to be there as a leader – I could make myself redundant. I always have that outlook on every job I’ve ever had: that if I’m not there, the team can still thrive. All my processes and everything around the organisation lead to that moment, micro-dosing autonomy to staff, players, and athletes so they create an environment that no longer needs the leader.

Q: Leadership styles can vary depending on culture and circumstance. In your view, what does good leadership truly look like?

Ben Ryan: Personally, you need to know what type of leadership is required. You might be in an organisation where there are underlying or “below the line” behaviours that need driving forward. “Above the line” behaviours are those that are spot on, perfect, and aspirational to keep.

The key is to communicate what you’re trying to do. If you’re coming into an underperforming organisation and need to drive it yourself, then you need to communicate that to the workforce, put a timeline around it, and explain when autonomy will be given back.

Collaboration is vital. Gone are the days where a leader sits at the top and everyone follows. You need to have a leaderful team, create collaboration, and build consistency. There are lots of practical tools that I talk about and have used in the Premier League, the NBA, with international rugby players, and they always work. My fundamentals are what I rely on, and they are always part of what I share in organisations and keynote speeches.

This exclusive interview with Ben Ryan was conducted by Chris Tompkins of The Motivational Speakers Agency.

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