In this episode, titled The Breakdown, Andrea is joined by Ben Kench - a former nightclub owner, high performance sales coach, speaker, author of Selling for Dummies, and memoir Son of a Preacher Man; and founder of the Evolve leadership, business mastermind and self development programme. He joins her for a candid conversation about success, collapse, self-worth, masculinity, and bringing more humanity into business.

Ben reflects on growing up as a son of a Jehovah’s Witness, building a high-pressure sales career in the 1990s, the excesses of his years in Tenerife running a nightclub, and the breakdown in 2008 that became a turning point for his life & career. Together, he and Andrea explore why many people chase achievement for validation, how fear drives resistance, and why love can be a practical compass for leadership and change.

In this episode:-

• Ben’s unconventional route from sales into transformational coaching
• Childhood, confidence, and the “cloak” of high performance
• Tenerife, hedonism, risk, and the moment Ben chose to leave it all behind
• Business collapse, burnout, and rebuilding from a breaking point
• Self-worth, inner-child work, and the value we place on ourselves
• Why growth-at-all-costs business models lose their humanity
• Heart-centred leadership and changing old systems from within
• Masculinity, vulnerability, resistance, and fear
• Why human connection matters more than technology alone
• Ben’s Evolve programme and his vision for more loving work
• Timestamps

• 00:32 — The story of how Andrea met Ben at a networking event
• 02:09 — Ben’s introduction: sales, coaching, and transformation
• 02:49 — Childhood, family dynamics, and discovering sales
• 04:56 — From business coaching to deeper people-focused work
• 08:15 — Confidence, vulnerability, and the stories we tell ourselves
• 11:01 — Tenerife, high-pressure sales, money, and escapism
• 13:19 — Returning to the UK and building a coaching business
• 14:25 — The 2010 collapse and the beginning of a major shift
• 17:14 — Nervous breakdown, loss, and asking what needed to change
• 20:17 — Learning to love the younger self
• 23:01 — Self-worth, work, and the systems that keep people small
• 25:25 — Social impact, commerce, and redefining value
• 30:22 — The Tenerife nightclub years and organised crime
• 33:12 — The moment Ben realised he needed to leave that life
• 35:33 — Why lived experience matters in coaching
• 39:34 — Masculinity, love, and challenging old leadership norms
• 43:14 — Love as a guiding principle for people and organisations
• 45:29 — Going into resistant environments to create change
• 47:16 — Why resistance is rooted in fear
• 50:43 — Business, social impact, and serving customers more deeply
• 55:06 — Ben’s next edge: choosing human connection over tech dependency
• 58:17 — Ben’s memoir, his work, and the invitation to connect
• 59:54 — The Evolve programme: personal growth, business, and technology
• 60:56 — Where to find Ben

Connect with Ben

• Website: benkench.com