Paul Bennett

Paul Bennett is a Founding Partner at Willow Ethos. He is known for combining a people first mindset with strong commercial awareness, working closely with senior leaders to help them turn what they are seeing in their organisation into something clearer, more grounded, and more actionable. The goal is to use data-led insight with leadership development to create better business outcomes in the future.

Paul’s work centres on organisational culture. He is interested in how this culture manifests in everyday behaviour; how does it manifest, does it shift under pressure, and perhaps most importantly, can leaders shape it in ways that feel practical to employees? He brings structure to complex, human situations and is as comfortable working with data as he is with people. Analytical without being detached, his focus is always on insight that leads to better decisions and lasting change, to bring about sustainable growth in organisational performance.

Before co-founding Willow Ethos in 2024, Paul spent over 20 years at Lloyds Banking Group in a range of senior roles across HR, marketing, and insight. Most recently, as People and Culture Lead, he developed and maintained the organisation’s approach to measuring, understanding, and acting on culture insight at scale. Earlier roles in analytics, insights, and business intelligence included leading large-scale culture and engagement survey programmes and supporting leaders to translate complex data into meaningful business intelligence. This previous experience in how culture impacts both an individual person and large teams would become crucial as a founder of Willow Ethos.

At Willow Ethos, Paul has created a culture-driven consultancy, where he combines all of his previous knowledge to find ways for his clients to make their company better. The work is grounded in behavioural science and evidence, but always focused on real world application. His aim is to help organisations build a clear sense of their present culture and use that understanding to make informed, sustainable changes rather than short term fixes.

Alongside his consultancy work, Paul is an executive coach, supporting senior leaders through periods of change, growth, and uncertainty. His coaching style is calm, thoughtful, and reflective. He creates space for leaders to slow down, think clearly, and make decisions that feel both realistic and well considered.

Paul’s background includes a Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching from the Academy of Executive Coaching and a degree in Law from the University of Exeter. He also holds professional certifications including as a Return on Investment Practitioner and Enterprise Business Mentor. These foundations, combined with extensive experience in data analysis, culture change, organisational development, and business transformation, shape his practical, insight led approach.

At the heart of Paul’s work is a belief that clarity changes outcomes. When leaders truly understand what is happening in their organisation, they make better decisions, create stronger cultures, and support people to do their best work over time.