Will Ahmed on Peak Performance, Authentic Marketing, and the Future of Health Tech
What happens when you combine cutting-edge health technology with authentic marketing and leadership insights? At INBOUND 2024 Will Ahmed founder of wearable tech company WHOOP, sat down with HubSpot co-founder and chairperson Brian Halligan to unpacked what peak performance means and how it extends far beyond the fitness tracker on your wrist.
DATA-DRIVEN PERFORMANCE: WHY METRICS MATTER
"You can only manage what you measure," Ahmed emphasized early in the session. "If you're not measuring your sleep you have no idea what's happening for a third to a quarter of your life."
And this doesn't just apply to health metrics—it's a fundamental truth for any business leader. Just like WHOOP users uncover insights from tracking their body's data, top-performing organizations rely on measuring and understanding their key performance indicators.
It all starts with measurement. Whether it's sleep cycles or sales cycles, understanding your baseline is the first step toward leveling up.
RETHINKING STRESS AND GROWTH
In perhaps the session's most counterintuitive insight, Ahmed turned the idea of stress reduction on its head: "Pop culture right now is big on saying less stress, less stress, less stress... The key is figuring out how you get your body to a place where it can take on more stress."
This shift offers a powerful reframe for both personal and organizational growth. Instead of avoiding stress, the goal should be building resilience and recovery capacity to handle greater challenges.
"When you have higher recoveries, it's taking it on, taking on more stress, more strain, working out, trying to crush your body but then to recover from it," Ahmed explained from an exercise perspective.
He demonstrated this in real-time with the audience, leading a simple breathing exercise that showed how we can actively influence our stress response. These practical tools highlight an important truth: it's not about enduring more stress, but rather building better systems for handling challenges.
THE CHAMPION'S MINDSET
When discussing what sets apart elite performers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Phelps, Ahmed revealed, "They have an insane drive to be better... It's a growth mindset on a level that's like a sickness."
But it's not just about the moments in the spotlight. "There's a spotlight on when they compete, but you don't see the six hours before that and the 12 hours after that," Ahmed shared, emphasizing the behind-the-scenes work and dedication that drives success.
Excellence isn't about moments of brilliance—it's about putting in the consistent work when no one's watching.
AUTHENTIC MARKETING IS A NOISY WORLD
For marketers struggling to cut through the digital noise, Ahmed offered a straightforward approach:
Marketing, first and foremost is telling authentic stories. It's never been easier to distribute content. It's never been harder for content to resonate.
WHOOP's marketing success is rooted in this commitment to authenticity. "Being clear about what you stand for and what you don't stand for" has been crucial to their brand building. As Ahmed put it, "We're not pretending to be for everybody. We want people who are aspirational, who are motivated in some way in their life."
When everyone's talking, authenticity is how you make people listen.
THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY
Looking ahead, Ahmed offered a glimpse of where health tech is heading. "If you think about a pyramid... in the health and performance space, the ground floor is kind of tracking stuff. The higher you go up the pyramid it's all about outcomes and alerts."
This evolution from passive tracking to active prediction and prevention has implications far beyond personal health—it's a model for how tech can transform across industries, moving from data collection to real-time actionable insights.
The future of technology isn't just tracking what's happened; it's predicting—and preventing—what could.
TAKEAWAYS
Ahmed's insights reveal an important truth: peak performance—whether personal or organizational—comes down to a few key principles:
- Measure what matters
- Build capacity for stress rather than avoiding it
- Be real and authentic
- Look beyond the spotlight moments to the daily work
- Use technology to not only track, but predict and prevent
As business leaders navigate an increasingly complex landscape, these principles offer a framework for building both personal resilience and organizational success. The key isn't avoiding stress or challenges, but building the capacity to take them on while staying true to your core mission.
Watch Will Ahmed's full session here for deeper insights into performance, leadership, and the future of health tech.
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