Will Greenwood MBE

Will Greenwood has spent his life in the pursuit of better. Celebrating difference at every turn, forging togetherness wherever he goes, and always trying to grow.

Will graduated with an economics degree from Durham University and began his working life on London’s City trading floor for HSBC. When rugby turned professional in 1996, he went all in.  Will went on to become the second highest try scorer in English rugby history and helped lead England to victory at the Rugby World Cup in 2003. He is widely regarded as one of England’s greatest ever rugby players, as well as one of the sport’s most engaging, intelligent and entertaining characters.

In 2005, in the culmination of an outstanding career, he went on his final British and Irish Lions Tour, joining a small band of players who have toured 3 times with the Lions.

Throughout his 11 years playing professional rugby, Will was a dedicated professional combining a fantastic work ethic with a desire to continuously learn and improve his game. Despite injury setbacks and occasional moments of self-doubt and personal tragedy his focus, determination and perseverance led him to the top of the national and international game.

Off pitch his focus was no different. Will’s reputation as bright and articulate with a positive personality meant he was snapped up by Sky as a regular match day presenter, where he continues to work 25 years after his first appearance. During this time Will drove the hugely popular ‘School of Hard Knocks’. The series gave at risk youngsters in inner city areas the chance to train, grow and get their life back on track through sport. Alongside this he has penned an opinion column for the Telegraph for 17 years now.

Will has written 3 books including his most recent Amazon best seller “World Class”, interviewing over 100 elite performers from the world of business and sport to find a formula for success.

Will has been working for data and software company Afiniti since 2014 and took up the position as Chief Customer Officer in 2020. Afiniti is the pioneer of CX AI, delivering measurably better business outcomes for some of the largest enterprises in the world.

Will and his wife Caro are Patrons of Borne. Borne is on a mission to end premature birth – everywhere and forever. Borne funds research to advance our knowledge of pregnancy and childbirth and improve the lives of mothers and babies. Will has climbed mountains, trekked to Poles, and crossed continents to give Freddie Greenwood’s short life a strong legacy.

SPEAKING TOPICS

• LEADERSHIP, VISION AND ENVIRONMENT
• BEHAVIOURS AND CULTURE
• INCLUSION AND BELONGING
• TEAMSHIP AND TRUST
• EMPOWERMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
• WELLBEING, ENERGY AND SELF CARE
• RESILIENCE AND SETBACKS
• FROM GOOD TO GREAT: MARGINAL GAINS

“His relaxed and fun style mixed with a clear intellect and strong drive to succeed made for a very thought-provoking and motivational experience.”  Bentley

“It’s very rare to work with an inspirational speaker who not only has such a wide breadth of topics and expertise but someone who is able to tailor their messaging to exactly the brief the client needs.” EMEA Omnicom Media Group

“Another blinding performance, superb. They loved you!! I've never experienced such positive feedback about a guest speaker before, from the entire audience, truly memorable.”  Aviva

“Will was fantastic and in 20 years the first time a guest speaker has ever received a standing ovation!”  Appco

“Will spoke at our annual Business Conference and was inspirational. His anecdotes were funny and motivational as well as relevant to our business. Wills' ability to take key elements of Rugby, for example Leadership, Responsibility, Teamwork and Trust and help us to draw the comparisons to the business world, provided a memorable and motivational end to our conference that will continue to be referred to by the participants in the coming months. His relaxed and fun style mixed with a clear intellect and strong drive to succeed made for a very thought-provoking and motivational experience.”  Bentley

“Will was fantastic, everyone loved his speech and the charity auction went down a treat.” HSBC

“We all thoroughly enjoyed your talk and the feedback we have received has been excellent. We are still getting letters of thanks and praise so thank you so much for making the event such a success. We will certainly recommend you to others and hope to be able to book you again in the future.“  George Davies Solicitors LLP

“Surpassed all expectations. Great relevance to business with emphasis on team ethos and high performance delivered in an innovative enthusiastic and humorous style, which appealed to everyone.” Fortis (UK) Ltd

“It went brilliantly, I was so pleased… wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Will to anyone…”  ABFA Awards

“Just a quick note to say that your presentation went down fantastically well with all the team yesterday and you captivated the audience throughout. I really appreciated you carrying on into ‘injury time’ too … the questions would have kept coming, and your key messages and anecdotes would, no doubt, have continued in the same vein but, alas, time was against us ! It was inspirational and I know you converted all the rugby neutrals with your blend of stories and experiences. Thanks again for helping make the day so successful and I’m sure we’ll catch up again in the future.”  ALD

“We had a really great event on Friday at Twickenham, with Will definitely being a major highlight!  We kept his attendance top secret, so there was a lot of anticipation around who the guest speaker was and everyone was clearly thrilled when his name was announced. He delivered a fantastic speech which was pitched perfectly and kept everyone captivated for 45 minutes, with a mixture of big laughs and emotion (I had a tear in my eye during the SOHK and  Otis world cup videos!) – we’ve had great feedback from everyone, I would say he went down extremely well!”  Accenture

“I just wanted to ask you to pass on our thanks to Will, from all the team here at Castrol.  He did a phenomenal job and our guests have not stopped saying how impressed they were with him.  We had a fantastic line up but honestly,  I don’t believe we would have got anywhere as near the quality of entertainment we did without Will’s input.  He made some great suggestions re the format of the evening and pitched the level perfectly. The interview he did was electrifying and he had us in stitches.” Castrol

“Will Greenwood was absolutely brilliant & really captivated the audience.”  Microsoft

“I just wanted to say a very big thank you to Will for last Wednesday. He was so engaging and everyone has been singing his praises. Both rugby and non-rugby fans alike thoroughly enjoyed his talk – he has such a captivating way about him and is so passionate, which shines through. Please thank him again from me – I hope to work with him again.” HSBC

“A fantastic event yesterday in London at our Aviva Broker Community Fund Finale. It was a touching afternoon and Will’s stories and experience from his own community projects tied in perfectly with the heart-warming messages and special feeling of the day. – Our guests gave us lots of great feedback on Will too. Despite a few minor changes to the agenda last minute, Will’s true professionalism and flexibility made this seamless and he was a joy to work with.”  Aviva