Ben M. Bartlett is a master strategist, troubleshooter, consultant and coach who helps CEOs, business owners, teams and other business leaders to solve their most pressing problems and 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? In simple terms, strategic performance is the applied science of strategy and performance. And it is a systems-based discipline for setting and achieving goals.
Foundationally, strategic performance is built upon the following definition of success:
Success is the process of planning and skillfully executing a good strategy in the achievement of a goal.
As an applied science, strategic performance applies scientific methods and models to strategy and performance, but in a practical manner. It integrates principles and practices of strategy, leadership and human capital, while also drawing upon related fields including behavioural science, physiology, organisation/team development and values.
Strategic performance is mostly associated with high profile domains, namely business, elite-level sport and military warfare. However, its methods can be equally applied to improve personal performance in key life areas such as personal relationships, finances, family, mindset, physical fitness, education and career.
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.”
As a master strategist, Ben’s role includes:
- Analyzing situations and troubleshooting problems using both traditional and proprietary strategy models such as SmartSWOT and performance scorecards. Applying probability and risk/reward analysis to evaluate strategies. Identifying strategies with the best risk/reward profiles.
- Conducting human capital audits to assess team values, culture, human behaviour and performance.
- Designing strategy models such as business models, visual strategic plans and strategy systems.
- Researching and developing intangible assets including productised IP, strategic brands and integrated marketing systems.
- Advising business owners and boards on best-practice investment strategies to improve ROI on intangible assets/intellectual property and human capital assets.
- Formulating strategies to improve values, culture, relationships, team performance, personal performance and overall human capital value.
- Coaching business leaders and teams to improve strategic performance
- Teaching the art and science of strategic performance
- Researching and writing investment reports, position papers, business cases, brand stories and traditional strategic plans.
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 method 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.
2. The Strategic System
The Strategic System is Ben’s portfolio of proprietary principles, strategy models, tools and services.
Centred on strategic performance principles, the portfolio is designed to help teams and individuals excel in all areas and domains of performance.
3. Wrinkles, War Stories and Journey
For more than three decades Ben has been in the trenches helping businesses, teams and individuals to optimize human capital and to excel at strategyand performance. And he has plenty of wrinkles and war stories to show for it.
In the late 80s and 1990s Ben honed his skills in marketing and advertising, working as a strategist, account director and writer.
Ben’s early work portfolio includes projects for major companies including Air New Zealand, Honda, SC Johnson, and the Red Cross. Along the way he also built specific expertise in the financial services sector, completing engagements for firms such as AIA, Armstrong Jones/ING, ANZ Bank, Tower Insurance and National Australia Bank. As well, Ben worked closely with many of the pioneers of the New Zealand financial planning industry, and helped to develop that industry in New Zealand.
In the early 2000s Ben moved more broadly into strategy, focusing on business, team and personal strategy. And it was at this time that he began writing about his principles of strategy and how they can be applied to improve business, team and personal performance.
Ben has worked with senior executives at large organisations, managing directors, boards and team members of multi-million dollar a year privately owned companies, government department leaders, and the owners of small businesses. And performance improvements he has helped his clients achieve include:
- Turning around under-performing businesses and business units.
- Transforming dysfunctional teams into high-performance teams.
- Revitalizing business, team and product brands.
- Coaching CEOs, managers and business leaders to be better leaders, strategic thinkers and decision-makers. And to get all their shit together.
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, banking, fast moving consumer goods, building and construction, food manufacturing, insurance and wellness.
On a personal level Ben has been married for more than 35 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, outdoor education instructor and life skills mentor.
In his youth coaching and life skills mentoring work, Ben has coached championship-winning sports teams, helped youth to build valuable life skills such as goal setting, strategic planning, team work, personal leadership and fitness, and guided youth to develop and follow clear academic and career pathways.
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.
And it’s all a far way from where Ben began.
Ben grew up poor, the son of a wonderful mother but 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’s approach to strategy and life performance is summarised in The 7 Ladders of Leadership.
In Ben’s view life is a journey, and the success of one’s journey is represented by their performance in the 7 Ladders. Many people perform well in 3-4 ladders. But very few people – the top 1% – excel in all 7 ladders. This is what strategic performance is all about.
The foundation to excelling at the 7 Ladders? The High Performance Formula, which is High-level human capital + Good strategy + Strong Prep x Skillful strategy execution = Strategic Performance.