Ben Lyttleton

Author and football club owner Ben Lyttleton understands what we can learn about the most important aspects of work and life from the world’s most popular sport.

In his book Edge: Leadership Secrets of Football’s Top Thinkers, he interviewed some of football’s top coaches, including Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, to learn how they foster talent and build empathy within a team, help talents fulfill their potential, and find power in developing a social purpose. Through extensive interviews with the biggest names in the game, and exclusive access to insiders at Liverpool and Chelsea, Ben has developed a comprehensive picture of leadership, teamwork and talent improvement. Benhas worked with football and NBA teams and their coaches to help them develop elite performance and discover their own competitive edge.

His first book Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty examined how individuals understand and manage anxiety to perform at their best under pressure. Ben has advised Premier League and national teams on their penalty strategy.

Ben has distilled all his experiences, learnings and network from football and recently joined a consortium where he is a co-owner and board member at Akademisk Boldklub (known as AB), a professional football team in Denmark with a rich history in education (hence the name). Ben, like Ryan Reynolds of Welcome to Wrexham fame, is at the heart of the process to create a successful club with a clear purpose, a winning team, and an engaged community. The team is currently in the third division but is on the up: they recently beat a top-division side in the Danish Cup - on penalties, of course - to reach the Cup quarter-finals for the first time in over 20 years.

With his personal connection to some of the biggest names in football, Ben illustrates the surprising and insightful aspects of leadership and teamwork in football - focusing on cohesion, adaptability, resilience and communication - whilst making it relevant and enlightening even to those that aren’t fans of the beautiful game.

He is also the co-author of the best-selling children’s book series Football School, which uses football to open up the school curriculum and inspires children to develop a love of reading. The books have sold over 500,000 copies in the UK, and Ben works with the Premier League and FIFA in using football as a tool for education.