Ben Lancken is a Hotelier and Learning & Organisational Development specialist based in Berlin. Ben is responsible for championing initiatives to improve engagement among hotel teams in order to create remarkable guest experiences and deliver superior financial performance.
As a Hotelier, Ben has worked in almost every hotel operations role, across 8 different properties and 4 different brands. In 2012 Ben won TFE Hotels' Hotel Manager of the year and was a finalist at the NSW Tourism Awards and the Worldwide Hospitality Awards.
Ben works in the Learning & Operational Excellence space, working at the intersection of the customer and team member experience recognising that great customer experiences can only be staged by a highly engaged team who are united by a shared purpose that transcends the transactional levels at which most leaders and organisations play.
Ben is a student of motivation psychology and is driven by the belief that we can create a world where everyone gets out of bed each day feeling inspired to go to work and returns home feeling truly fulfilled. With the average person spending more waking hours at work than any other activity, there is no surprise that work has become the touchstone of life’s meaning, Ben is on a mission to create a world where everyone’s work is imbued with real purpose and meaning.
Ben holds a BA. Commerce from the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and a Certification in Strategic Management from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in New York, USA.
Ben is also a trained Radio Presenter & Producer, and has on-air community radio experience ranging from current affairs to sport and special interest programs. Ben has also anchored a number of outside broadcasts and live radio events and has interviewed a range of high profile guests including Olympic Gold Medallists, CEOs Media Personalities and Politicians.
One of Ben’s passions is presentations and public speaking and he works with people looking to improve their speaking and presentations. Ben focuses on sharpening speaking skills and presentation design.
Outside of work, Ben’s passion is Rugby Union. Ben has been involved in Rugby as a player, coach, referee and club president. Although a much better rugby administrator than player, Ben has played rugby all over Australia and has been involved in multiple international tours. Inspired by sport’s history of being an agent for social change, Ben founded the Melbourne Chargers RUFC in 2009 as Victoria’s first and only truly inclusive GLBTI rugby club with the primary aim of creating prejudice free rugby environment for members of the GLBTI community. Along the way to achieving this goal, the Melbourne Chargers have broken down barriers and challenged stereotypes, not just on the rugby field as the 2016 Bingham Cup Champions but also in the wider sporting community and beyond.