UN graduate swims English Channel for charity

Guy Batchelor, a Master’s graduate from Northampton Business School, has recently completed a mammoth 22.5 mile swim across the English Channel for charity.

Guy graduated from the MBA programme with a distinction in 2014. The same year, he founded Minerva Elite Performance Ltd, a company which provides bespoke learning and development for business using a combination of psychology, management training tools, academic research and practical team exercises and experiences. Minerva Elite seek to improve the performance of their clients in leadership, communication and teamwork skills with the ultimate result of improving client profitability.

Prior to studying at the University of Northampton, Guy had a distinguished 26-year career in the British Army serving all over the world and is accustomed to operating in high-pressure environments and extreme locations. His prior life experiences stood him in good stead for the English Channel swim, a 15 hour endeavour in water of between 16-18 degrees! Guy undertook the challenge on Tuesday 11 August to raise money for The Clock Tower Fund and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Dr Mils Hills, Associate Professor in Risk, Resilience and Corporate Security and one of Guy’s tutors, commented: “One of the great things about working with our military and other mature students is that we learn so much about their work and lives. Guy’s professional career in the British Army has seen him develop some unique approaches to understanding and being able to develop others’ ability to perform under pressure. His excellent MBA dissertation addresses how a consultancy proposition could harness his real-world experience and expertise to underpin a competitive business plan. In many ways, Guy’s Channel swim sums up how any business or other organisation needs to prepare for challenges – whether they arise from unexpected risks, changes in the marketplace or crises. Building the capacity to triumph over adversity requires drawing on proven and practised capability and adaptability. Rehearsing for realty, testing the ability to perform under conditions of prolonged stress and effort, coping with surprise, mitigating, managing and avoiding risks, being able to completely trust your support team – all of these apply to the planning and execution of an ultra-long swim (completed by less people than have reached the summit of Everest!) as much as to businesses developing their ability to withstand crisis and competition.”

​To find out more about the University of Northampton’s MBA programme, visit the course page.