Will Butler Adams

Chief Executive Officer at Brompton Bicycle Ltd

Bio:

If you are intrigued by the art of leadership, especially how to lead an organisation through a period of profound change successfully, then you will love this podcast. 

Part one: Listen here.

Part two: Listen here. 

If you are fascinated by the sheer art and skill required to manufacture anything that is high in quality and is designed and built to last, then you will love this podcast.

If you find yourself conflicted between a societal push to consume more goods (requiring more 'stuff' to be manufactured) and the desire held by an increasing number of companies who are 'value led' and want to do the right thing, not only for the bottom line but also for the environment, then you will love this podcast. 

And finally, if you own a Brompton bike, or have ever considered owning this iconic means of transportation, then you will love this podcast. 

In this conversation, Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bicycles Ltd., takes us on his journey from school, through a near-death experience in the Amazon and how this changed his outlook on life, to a chance meeting on a bus within which he was encouraged to come and take a look at how we make 'the Brommie'. 

The rest is history, as Will has led the company from handcrafting around 5,000 bikes per year to its current manufacturing capacity of over 90,000 and sales worldwide. This is a fascinating tale of picking up the design of an engineering genius (Andrew Ritchie MBE- founder and inventor of the Brompton) and plotting growth and development that has made the Brompton a British manufacturing success story. 

We recorded too much good material to lose in the edit but equally too much to cram into one podcast. So welcome to part one of this interview; part two will follow towards the end of this week. 

So grab a coffee, pull up a comfy chair, put us in your ears as you travel to work, work out in the gym or walk the dog, and enjoy Designed for Life - in conversation with Will Butler Adams OBE. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education. 
 
We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support.

Read the book we refer to in this podcast, 'The Brompton, Engineering for Change' By Will Butler- Adams and Dan Davies.