Coaching Insights

Confidence, Reluctance and Personality: Why You Don’t Need to Become Someone Else to Do Business Development Well
Many capable professionals tell me the same thing, often quietly:
“I know BD matters… it just doesn’t feel like me.”

2025 felt like a pause year for property and the built environment.
2026 looks like a restart.

If there’s one thing the market taught us last year, it’s this:
waiting for “certainty” is no longer a strategy.

2025 felt like a pause year for property and the built environment.
2026 looks like a restart.

If there’s one thing the market taught us last year, it’s this:
waiting for “certainty” is no longer a strategy.

What professional services firms can learn from research beyond their own sector
I’m often found singing the praises of the Managing Partners’ Forum.
Yes, the audience leans heavily towards law and accountancy firms—but for years I’ve been making the case that their thinking is highly relevant to the built environment, and increasingly so as our sector faces many of the same structural challenges.

Why sustainable growth starts with people, not pipelines
What I’ve learned over many years working as a coach and mentor alongside multidisciplinary practices is this:
business development only becomes sustainable when it is developed, not imposed.

Why business development is not a role, an event, or a personality trait – but a leadership capability

When people hear the words business development or networking, reactions are often instant and visceral.
For some, it conjures images of awkward events, forced conversations, or self-promotion that feels uncomfortable and inauthentic. For others, it feels like something that belongs to “the extroverts”, “the partners”, or “the sales team”.

And yet, when you strip it back, business development is something far simpler – and far more powerful.