Ben Palmer

Dr. Ben Palmer, BappSci (Hons) PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Genos International

Ben has a background in psychology, having finished a PhD at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, where he developed the first Australian model and measure of emotional intelligence. He has an extensive publication list in the area, having contributed numerous chapters to books, and guest edited special issues of journals on the topic. His research also attracted considerate attention locally witnessed by awards such as the Richard Pratt Scholarship, an Australian Postgraduate Award, and a PhD Thesis-Excellence award.

Together with Swinburne University’s commercialization arm, Ben founded Genos International in 2002 to bring his model and measure of emotional intelligence to the market. The first major customer of Genos was ANZ Bank where Ben and the Genos team worked together with McKinsey & Company on trasnforming the culture of the organisation to be more customer centric. The Genos model and measure of emotional intelligence was among the mediums used for the transformation that resulted in the bank doubling its share price in 18 months, as well as winning Bank of the Year 8 times in a row.

Genos, and the model and measure of emotional intelligence that forms its core business, is now a national and Australian export success story. Genos has operations in Australia and Europe, with distribution partners servicing clients in the USA, India, China, South Africa, South East Asia, and New Zealand. In his experience at Genos, Ben raised venture capital, negotiated joint ventures and demonstrated success in driving revenue and growth profit via entry into international markets and business model improvement. Companies from Walmart in the United States, to Accor Hotel based in Paris, to Qantas in Australia, have used the Genos model and measure of emotional intelligence to improve leadership, resilience, customer service, sales, and teamwork.