Bristol Bears CEO Tom Tainton on What It Takes to Win in Business Beyond the Pitch

The Bristol Bears are one of the more compelling business stories in English professional rugby right now, and not only because of what happens on match day.

In the latest episode of Inside the Workroom, as part of Employment Hero’s recently announced partnership with the club, UK Managing Director, Kevin Fitzgerald, sits down with Bristol Bears CEO Tom Tainton to explore what it really takes to lead a high-performance business when results are public, scrutiny never eases, and emotion is baked into every decision.

The conversation comes alongside the emergence of new Employment Hero research, which has found that two in three business leaders across the UK would recommend their city or region as the best place to start a business.

In the South West, that’s particularly true: 61% back their region as the best environment for founding an enterprise, 68% say they can meet their hiring needs locally, and 84% of South West businesses chose a local supplier over a cheaper alternative, making it the leading region in the UK for backing local.

Bristol Bears, as Tom tells it, is part of that fabric. A one-city institution, the club’s value’s are inseparable from Bristol’s identity: tech-savvy, young, diverse, and community-first.

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