Why Every CEO Needs a Personal “Why” with Ben Renshaw

How can leaders connect their personal purpose with their company's mission?

In today’s episode, Bill talks with leadership coach Ben Renshaw about the importance of discovering your personal why. They also discuss how aligning personal and company purposes can lead to more meaningful leadership and a positive work environment.

Ben Renshaw is a former classical violinist turned leadership coach who’s all about helping people find what truly lights them up. He’s worked with top global brands and execs, all while keeping his focus on one big question: what’s your why?

Topics explored in this episode: 

(1:11) Discovering Your Why

- Ben shares his journey from classical music to personal development.

- Co-founded The Happiness Project in the skeptical UK of the 1990s.

(7:45) Building Real Connection

- Ben reflects on how different cultures respond to emotional authenticity.

- How a company’s purpose can cascade into personal leadership development.

(14:21) Transforming Leaders from the Inside Out

- A reluctant CFO discovers his purpose and transforms into a CEO.

- Tools like personal dashboards help measure purpose in action.

(23:44) Scaling Purpose 

- Purpose isn't just personal—it can energize entire organizations.

- Meaningful work improves performance and employee engagement.

(35:51) Designing Purposeful Cultures

- The ripple effect of purpose touches supply chains, governance, and government policy.

- Purposeful companies create traditions and symbols that inspire the next generation.

Thanks to Ben Renshaw for being on the show! 

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-renshaw/ 

Learn more about Ben: https://www.benrenshaw.com 

Get Ben’s book, How to be a CEO: https://amzn.to/42xlLxJ 

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. 

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop 

Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach 

Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. 

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This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co/ 

Mentioned in this episode:

PhD Research on CEOs

Quick favor: I'm in the middle of my doctoral research, and I need CEOs Here's the question: is there a point where working more hours actually indicates a worse leader? Nobody has measured it. I'm measuring it. If you're a CEO or president with at least ten people in the business and three direct reports, it takes just a few minutes. And Your team answers a few anonymous questions. What you get back is a report comparing how you rate yourself to how your team rates you. That gap is usually the interesting part. ScalingCoach.com/study