FORMER senior police officer Jon Betts is using his own dramatic health experience to challenge the way organisations think about leadership performance.
The retired Warrington-based police superintendent, who spent 30 years in policing, has launched a new business aimed at helping leaders improve not only their skills – but their capacity to perform under pressure.
Jon Betts, who spent much of his career in senior leadership roles and was at one stage responsible for more than 1,200 people, has founded Virtusium Performance Health.
His approach has been shaped by an experience which dramatically changed his own understanding of performance.
In January 2025, Jon underwent major heart surgery to repair his mitral valve.
Having spent years leading large teams in demanding and often high-pressure environments, his circumstances suddenly changed dramatically.
Instead of leading more than 1,200 people, he found himself dependent on two nurses to help him take just three steps from his hospital bed to a chair.
It gave him time to reflect on the demands routinely placed on leaders – and whether enough attention is given to the physical and mental capacity required to meet those demands.
Jon said: “We spend years developing leaders’ capability. We send them on courses, give them more experience and help them develop new skills.
“But we spend remarkably little time thinking about the capacity they need to consistently access that capability.”
He believes organisations routinely consider issues such as capacity, resources, risk and resilience when managing their operations, but leaders can sometimes fail to apply the same thinking to themselves.
His own recovery, combined with his leadership experience and qualifications as a health coach, led to the creation of Virtusium.
The Warrington-based business works with individual leaders and leadership teams through executive coaching, workshops and diagnostic programmes.
The aim is to identify where capacity is being lost and what practical changes can make the biggest difference.
Jon believes leadership development and health should not be viewed as completely separate issues.
He argues that sleep, recovery, nutrition and the ability to manage sustained demands can directly influence how leaders think, make decisions, manage emotions and ultimately lead their teams.
But he stresses that his approach is not simply about telling busy executives to exercise more or follow generic wellbeing advice.
Instead, he wants to help leaders build the physical and mental capacity required to perform consistently over the longer term.
One example involved a senior leader who approached him wanting to lose weight while maintaining muscle.
Jon worked with him on nutrition and developed a 30-minute exercise programme designed around his busy working life.
The client achieved his original goals – but it was an unexpected consequence which made the biggest impression on Jon.
The leader told him that his relationship with his son had changed.
He had not previously realised how tired, angry and irritable he had become.
After making changes to his lifestyle, he found himself going into his son’s room simply to talk.
For Jon, that experience demonstrates that leadership performance is not just about what happens in the workplace.
He wants to build Virtusium into a business which challenges the traditional separation between leadership development and personal health.
His central message is summed up in a simple distinction:
“Capability gets you the role. Capacity determines how much of that capability you can access when it matters.”
Jon’s ambition is to help organisations recognise that building and protecting that capacity is fundamental to sustained leadership performance.
More information about Jon’s Warrington-based business, Virtusium Performance Health, can be found at www.virtusiumperformancehealth.co.uk
Jon Betts can also be contacted through LinkedIn.
Jon was able to get support for his new venture via the Warrington Chamber Plus Accelerator programme.
