How do you lead well when the world feels increasingly unpredictable? In this bonus episode, journalist and author Sally Percy joins Paul Bulpitt to explore how leaders can stay grounded through uncertainty, and why nuance, empathy, and authenticity matter now more than ever.

From fairytale pricing to AI anxiety, corporate resilience to career reality checks, this is a wide-ranging conversation with one of the UK’s leading commentators on leadership and modern business.

Sally Percy is a business journalist, Forbes contributor, and author of The Disruptors and 21st Century Business Icons. She specialises in leadership, strategy, and the big forces shaping the future of business. Her work explores what today’s leaders need to thrive, not just in growth cycles, but through crisis, complexity and change.

💼 How to lead through turbulent times: uncertainty, AI disruption, resilience and preparing for worst-case scenarios

🧭 Nuance in leadership: why leaders need to stay curious, open-minded, and emotionally intelligent - especially when the world is polarised

📈 Purpose & performance: why successful businesses exist to solve real problems - and how staying close to your values builds loyalty

💬 How to retain your soul while growing a company: challenges of scaling culture and staying people-first as businesses grow

🌍 The ripple effects of global instability: leadership in the context of war, underinvestment, and political fragmentation

👩‍💼 C-suite reality check: the pressure, scrutiny, and stamina required to lead at scale - and why some executives are more vulnerable than they seem

📚 From Elon Musk to Goldilocks pricing: leadership lessons from icons, disruptors, and fairy tales

🔗 Sally on LinkedIn

📝 Sally's Blog on Forbes

📘 The Disruptors – Buy the book

📗 21st Century Business Icons – Buy the book

💬We’d Love Your Feedback

Share your thoughts and help shape what’s next for the podcast:

👉 wowco.uk/beautiful-business-podcast-listener-survey

In this special wrap-up episode, hosts Chloe Bannister and Paul Bulpitt share six golden rules for building a beautiful business in 2026.

Alongside their own reflections, Chloe and Paul revisit standout moments from past guests, including Olympic athletes, agency founders and leadership coaches, bringing each golden rule to life through stories, habits and bold decisions.



Whether you’re closing the year full of momentum or just making it to the finish line, these rules offer a framework to reset, refocus, and reimagine the way you work. As Amelia Wrighton put it, “If you can be there in the boring, you can be there in the beautiful.”

This Episode Covers

✨ Focus on What You Can Control

Chloe and Paul revisit Ben Hunt-Davis’s Olympic mindset and the game-changing question: Will it make the boat go faster?

🚀 Get Excited About the Year Ahead

Drawing on advice from Kate Waterfall-Hill, the hosts explore how reflection tools like the “evidence wall” can energise you for the year ahead, even during the in-between days.

🤝 Bring Your Team on the Journey

They reflect on Peter Docker’s story of team alignment in high-stakes environments, and Lord Mark Price’s reminder that happiness drives performance.

💥 Make a Bold Move

Jo Hunter’s decision to step away from her role as CEO inspires a discussion on creative courage and what it means to make space for what’s next.

🔁 Check Your Habits

From brain-state management to realistic micro-changes, Chloe and Paul reflect on Dr. Jon Finn’s advice on building the kind of habits that future-proof your leadership.

💸 Know Your Numbers

A conversation about lighthouses, dashboards and why financial visibility helps your whole team steer in the same direction.

Links

🌟 WoW's Golden Rules - https://www.thewowcompany.com/the-golden-rules-for-2026

🎧 Ben Hunt-Davis - https://youtu.be/fvGiN3RVFAQ

🎧 Kate Waterfall-Hill – https://youtu.be/3N4Y3DUXr7s

🎧 Peter Docker – https://youtu.be/KIqsybSbe4Q

🎧 Jo Hunter – https://youtu.be/kziD5Gi4Cvk

🎧 Dr Jon Finn – https://youtu.be/Kctj3Y-iVQE

🎧 Lord Mark Price – https://youtu.be/QoYLY2el9Xg

💬We’d Love Your Feedback

Share your thoughts and help shape what’s next for the podcast:

👉 wowco.uk/beautiful-business-podcast-listener-survey

What if a single question could transform how your team works? Olympic gold medallist Ben Hunt-Davis shares how the philosophy behind “Will it Make the Boat Go Faster?” can help leaders and teams align, focus, and perform at their best, in sport, business, and beyond.

About the Guest

Ben Hunt-Davis MBE is an Olympic gold medal-winning rower from Sydney 2000 and co-author of the bestselling book Will it Make the Boat Go Faster?. Following his sporting career, Ben co-founded a leadership performance consultancy that helps organisations build clarity, alignment, and high-performing cultures. In this conversation, he shares lessons from his rowing turnaround story, how to foster a people-first performance mindset, and why being kind and high-challenge are not mutually exclusive.

This Episode Covers

• The turning point: how a painful 7th-place finish led to radical change and team transformation
• Performance vs. results: why you should focus on what’s within your control
• Alignment over assumption: building shared goals and buy-in across teams
• Culture that counts: a high-performance environment means high challenge and high support
• Kindness ≠ softness: how tough conversations and feedback build trust and progress
• From sport to business: translating elite habits into sustainable leadership practices
• Lessons in accountability: learning to own outcomes and support others in change
• The danger of boiling it down: why “Will it Make the Boat Go Faster?” isn’t about working faster — it’s about working smarter
• Planning for the next season: why now is the time to reset goals and rally your team

Links

Website: https://willitmaketheboatgofaster.com/

Programmes: https://willitmaketheboatgofaster.com/programmes/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/will-it-make-the-boat-go-faster-ltd/

Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhuntdavis/