Former Royal Navy serviceman Martin Johnson started in a shared office in 2015 and now has a growing team with bigger future plans
Coreena Ford
05:00, 16 Sep 2025
T2 founder and CEO Martin Johnson, left, with sports performance director Sir Dave Brailsford. Through Sir Dave, T2 has worked with the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team and Manchester United.
T2 founder and CEO Martin Johnson, left, with sports performance director Sir Dave Brailsford. Through Sir Dave, T2 has worked with the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team and Manchester United.(Image: T2)
A Hull business which started life as a one-man operation is toasting its tenth anniversary after growing to become a multimillion-pound business. Former Royal Navy serviceman Martin Johnson first launched T2 back in 2015, working by himself from a shared office to create a leadership and performance consultancy that could develop the people of today, the leaders of tomorrow and the organisations of the future.
Ten years on and the company works with world-class customers including Manchester United, the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team and Specsavers in its own 6,000sqft leadership development centre in Hull city centre. The company has seen significant growth in recent times, including year-on-year growth of over 150% in 2021-22 when the business capitalised on everyone moving their operations to online during the pandemic.
It has also made huge leaps forward on the back of high-profile partnerships with elite sports organisations. T2, which now has 15 staff as well as a number of associates on its books, recently acquired its headquarters building on the waterfront in Hull and plans to invest around £1.2m into the property, to create a state-of-the-art leadership development centre, boosting benefits for clients and staff.
Founder and CEO Martin Johnson, who served five and a half years in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Edinburgh and HMS Nottingham said: “Ten years ago, I walked away from my corporate job at global business consultancy Gartner with nothing but an idea and a belief that leadership development needed to be more human-centred. Our continued growth across such diverse sectors – from elite sports to global corporations – demonstrates the universal applicability of our approach.
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"We don’t just teach leadership theory. We help people understand who they are as human beings first, then build their authentic leadership style from there.”
The business has worked with an impressive roster of clients including Specsavers, Reckitt, Smith+Nephew, Siemens Gamesa and TransUnion. It also works with public sector organisations including working with multiple fire services across the UK, such as Humberside.
It made its breakthrough into elite sports through a partnership with Sir Dave Brailsford, the performance director behind multiple Olympic cycling gold medals as well as Tour de France victories. Sir Dave contracted the company to work with the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team and later with Manchester United, following INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a significant stake in the club and taking control of football operations. Sir Dave, director of sport for INEOS, said: “Martin has a very structured mind and when he imparts knowledge, he does it in a very clear and concise way, which is what attracted me to T2 in the first place.”
CEO Martin Johnson who founded T2 10 years ago.
CEO Martin Johnson who founded T2 10 years ago.(Image: T2)
The company’s main tool used by businesses is T2 Hub, a smart online learning platform which has grown to serve over 11,000 active users and combines hundreds of learning pathways, productivity tools, videos and “Hubcast” content. The firm also runs a flagship T2 Leadership Retreat each year which has attracted top class speakers including Professor Steve Peters, author of The Chimp Paradox and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Next year’s line-up features world-renowned chef Raymond Blanc and endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh.
Mr Johnson added: “What sets T2 apart is our unique fusion of organisational performance principles with deep performance psychology. We’re not just another consultancy delivering generic leadership training.
"We’re specialists in human transformation who understand that excellent performance starts with understanding yourself as a human being first, then building from that foundation. Our methodology bridges the gap between the science of high performance and the art of leading people.”
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