Ben Lyttleton
Ben Lyttleton reveals what football’s greatest minds can teach us about leadership, teamwork and performing under pressure.
Why you should book Ben Lyttleton for your next event
- Learn how elite football coaches build trust, empathy and high-performing teams in fast-changing environments.
- Discover practical lessons on resilience, communication and handling pressure from the world’s biggest football stages.
- Gain fresh perspectives on leadership and culture from bestselling author and football club co-owner Ben Lyttleton.
Non-binding request for Ben Lyttleton
Author, football club owner and expert on leadership through sport
Ben Lyttleton is an author, speaker and football club owner who uncovers what the world’s most popular sport can teach us about leadership, teamwork and elite performance. Through interviews with some of football’s most respected coaches and exclusive access to top clubs including Liverpool and Chelsea, Ben brings audiences inside the mindset of winning teams. His talks combine compelling stories from elite sport with practical insights on resilience, communication, adaptability and talent development – relevant far beyond football.
Book Ben Lyttleton for your event
Ben Lyttleton is one of the most insightful voices exploring the connection between elite sport, leadership and human performance. As an author, consultant and football club owner, he brings audiences behind the scenes of the modern game to reveal how world-class teams create cultures that thrive under pressure, develop talent and build resilience.
Drawing on years of interviews and direct collaboration with football coaches, players and sporting organisations, Ben translates lessons from elite sport into practical ideas for businesses, leaders and teams. His keynote talks are engaging, intelligent and highly relatable – even for audiences with little or no interest in football.
Ben’s work focuses on the human side of performance: trust, empathy, communication, cohesion and adaptability. Using stories from football’s biggest stages, he demonstrates how successful teams consistently balance high standards with strong relationships and a shared sense of purpose.
Leadership lessons from elite football
In his acclaimed book Edge: Leadership Secrets of Football’s Top Thinkers, Ben interviewed some of football’s leading coaches, including Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, to understand how modern leaders create environments where people can perform at their best.
Through extensive conversations with coaches and insiders at clubs such as Liverpool and Chelsea, Ben explored topics including:
- Building trust and empathy within teams
- Helping individuals fulfil their potential
- Creating strong team cultures
- Leading through uncertainty and change
- Developing resilience and adaptability
- Finding competitive advantages through purpose and identity
These experiences have given Ben unique insight into how elite teams evolve, recover from setbacks and maintain performance under constant pressure. His talks help organisations understand how these same principles can improve collaboration, leadership and culture in any workplace.
Performing under pressure
Ben’s first book, Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty, examined one of the most pressurised moments in sport: the penalty kick.
Through research into psychology, anxiety and decision-making, Ben explored how individuals can manage pressure and deliver when expectations are highest. The book became highly respected within football, leading Ben to advise Premier League clubs and national teams on penalty strategy.
For audiences, these lessons become powerful insights into performance under pressure in business and life. Ben explains how preparation, emotional control, communication and mindset influence decision-making in critical moments. His talks show how individuals and teams can improve confidence, handle uncertainty and stay focused when the stakes are highest.
From author to football club owner
Ben’s understanding of leadership and culture extends beyond research and writing. He is also a co-owner and board member of Akademisk Boldklub (AB), a historic Danish football club with deep roots in education and community.
As part of the ownership group, Ben plays an active role in shaping the club’s vision, culture and long-term development. Inspired by examples of community-driven football ownership, the project focuses on creating a club with a strong purpose, an ambitious sporting identity and meaningful local engagement.
The journey has already delivered memorable moments, including a dramatic Danish Cup victory over a top-division side on penalties to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in more than two decades.
This real-world experience gives Ben a unique perspective on leadership, transformation and team-building. He understands both the theory and the reality of creating high-performance environments where people feel motivated, connected and committed to a common goal.
Football as a tool for learning and connection
Alongside his work in leadership and performance, Ben is also passionate about education and communication. He is the co-author of the bestselling children’s series Football School, which uses football to inspire curiosity and encourage children to engage with learning and reading.
The series has sold more than 500,000 copies in the UK and has been widely praised for connecting education with the excitement and accessibility of sport. Ben also works with organisations including the Premier League and FIFA to use football as a platform for learning and development.
This passion for education is reflected in his speaking style. Ben makes complex ideas easy to understand, combining storytelling, humour and practical takeaways to create talks that are both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Why audiences connect with Ben Lyttleton
Ben Lyttleton delivers keynote talks that go beyond sport. His stories from football create fresh ways of thinking about leadership, teamwork and human performance that resonate across industries and organisations.
Audiences leave with practical insights into:
- Leading with empathy and clarity
- Building resilient and adaptable teams
- Managing pressure and uncertainty
- Developing talent and confidence
- Strengthening communication and trust
- Creating purpose-driven cultures
With exclusive access to some of football’s most respected minds and his own experience inside club ownership, Ben offers a rare combination of strategic insight, compelling storytelling and practical relevance.
Whether speaking to corporate leaders, management teams, educators or sports organisations, Ben Lyttleton delivers engaging presentations that inspire audiences to think differently about performance, culture and leadership.
Keynotes
Keynote by Ben Lyttleton:
Leadership
What makes a great leader? Why do we find leaders fascinating? What can we learn from those leaders and how can we apply those lessons? Ben has interviewed and studied some of the most successful coaches and managers in football, including World Cup and Champions’ League winners in order to understand their approaches, ideas and methods.
Key lessons: finding new ways to measure motivation and success; how leaders get the best from their people; drawing together lessons in communication, resilience and decision-making; building cohesion, motivation and diversity.
Key lessons: finding new ways to measure motivation and success; how leaders get the best from their people; drawing together lessons in communication, resilience and decision-making; building cohesion, motivation and diversity.
Keynote by Ben Lyttleton:
Talent Management
How do leaders get the maximum out of their teams? What role does communication play in building and maintaining a high-performing team? Ben has spent time with football’s most successful coaches discussing the secrets behind their winning management styles.
Key lessons: the language used around talent and the importance of listening; how successful coaches have redefined communication and management; the Champions’ League-winning coach who developed his own scales of motivation and measures of success.
Key lessons: the language used around talent and the importance of listening; how successful coaches have redefined communication and management; the Champions’ League-winning coach who developed his own scales of motivation and measures of success.
Keynote by Ben Lyttleton:
Pressure and Risk
How do we make decisions, execute tasks and manage risk under pressure? Ben explores possibly one of the highest-pressure situations an individual can experience in team sport – the penalty shoot-out. Using a combination of sport and behavioural science, he explains the psychology of performing under pressure – and how we can all improve our performance when the heat is on. This incorporates how we evaluate and manage risk, and the importance of resilience when the stakes are at their highest.
Key lessons: how we cope with anxiety; challenging our reliance on individual superstars; the influence of body language and how just one extra breath can make all the difference; the challenge of evaluating and managing risk.
Key lessons: how we cope with anxiety; challenging our reliance on individual superstars; the influence of body language and how just one extra breath can make all the difference; the challenge of evaluating and managing risk.
Keynote by Ben Lyttleton:
Resilience
What is resilience and how can we build it? How can we best prepare for the tough times ahead? Ben has gone behind the scenes of football’s most successful clubs and spoken to sports scientists and coaches to find out how players are trained to develop resilience.
Key lessons: understanding our reactions to adversity; Chelsea’s Me? Always? Everything? method (or Intent/Frequency/Impact – am I the focus? Does this always happen? Does it affect everything?); the difference between Confidence 1 (the likelihood of something happening) and Confidence 2 (your reaction to it happening); the resilience of success; the difference between authentic or hubristic pride.
Key lessons: understanding our reactions to adversity; Chelsea’s Me? Always? Everything? method (or Intent/Frequency/Impact – am I the focus? Does this always happen? Does it affect everything?); the difference between Confidence 1 (the likelihood of something happening) and Confidence 2 (your reaction to it happening); the resilience of success; the difference between authentic or hubristic pride.
Keynote by Ben Lyttleton:
Teamwork
How can we build teams that get the best results? What unifies a team? What sets the most consistently high-performing teams apart? Ben has investigated the people and ideas behind some of the most successful and innovative clubs in football.
Key lessons: the connection between cohesion and performance in a team; why talented performers in one team may not excel elsewhere; the secrets of Radar Couples and collective functioning; how a team of over-achievers turned a global disadvantage into their competitive edge; the power of culture, comfort zones and why one football team performed Swan Lake to fans.
Key lessons: the connection between cohesion and performance in a team; why talented performers in one team may not excel elsewhere; the secrets of Radar Couples and collective functioning; how a team of over-achievers turned a global disadvantage into their competitive edge; the power of culture, comfort zones and why one football team performed Swan Lake to fans.
Welcome to Football School | with Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton
Watch Ben Lyttleton in action
