Consultancy Growth Podcast

Steve Boam is CEO of Develop Consulting, a consultancy specialising in operational improvement, transformation and capability development across sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, rail and construction. Steve began his career as an engineer at Toyota, spending two years in Japan working inside Toyota City before founding KM&T, an international consultancy that grew across the UK, Aus...

David Watt is a Partner at Kershaw Partners, a consultancy that has spent the last decade working with event businesses across the UK on growth, systemisation and exit. David's career in the events industry spans almost thirty years. He co-founded his first event business in 1996, before going into commercial roles at the European Tour and the Ryder Cup, and Spotless Group. He later founded P...

Mark Grice is CEO and Co-Founder of Total Negotiation Group, a global negotiation consultancy operating across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Mark co-founded the firm 17 years ago with Mark Cranstoun after the two met working at Guinness. Today the business has trained more than 9,500 delegates across 72 countries, with clients who have stayed for over a decade. In January...

Belden Menkus is the Founder of Menkus & Associates and host of The Purposeful Strategist podcast. Belden started his career at McKinsey, where he worked with clients across the UK, Europe, the US and Japan, before going on to lead consulting and venture businesses in London. He founded Menkus & Associates over twenty years ago and has spent more than thirty years working at board and ExCo...

Richard Jones is a leadership coach at OLIA. Before founding OLIA, Richard spent nearly eight years as a partner and board member at Moorhouse, where he established and led the firm's health practice and was part of the leadership team that took Moorhouse through a management buyout in 2014. He is a senior accredited practitioner coach, a chartered management consultant, and has trained in ps...

Luke Badiali is Co-founder of BeDeveloped, where he partners with boutique consulting firms and PE/VC-backed businesses looking to scale their business development capability. Over the past five years Luke and his business partner George Berrington have supported more than 1,000 consulting leaders. In this conversation, Craig and Luke explore why the gap between knowing business development matter...

Depesh Pankhania is Co-Founder and COO of Evotra, a specialist implementation consultancy serving the wealth and investment management sector. Depesh co-founded the business in 2020 alongside Sally Merritt after spending 15 years observing a persistent gap in the market: firms investing heavily in technology transformation and then losing all the implementation knowledge the moment the project tea...

Danny Philamond is Partner at Magnus Consulting, a B Corp certified growth consultancy recognised by the Financial Times as one of the UK's leading management consultancies. Danny is also a Forbes Council Member and specialist in go-to-market strategy and complex enterprise account growth. In this conversation, Craig and Danny explore why increasing activity is almost never the right response...

Leo Chancellor is Co-Founder of aro, a boutique consultancy serving the wealth and asset management sector. Leo spent the best 3 years at KPMG and then the best part of a decade at Penn Partnership. Joining Pen when it was around 20 people and riding that growth journey all the way to 80 before the firm was acquired by a larger global consultancy. That acquisition was the catalyst. Finding himself...

Andrew Laird is Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Mutual Ventures, a specialist public service reform consultancy working with central government departments and local areas to make public services work better for the people who need them most. Andrew co-founded the business in 2011 and has spent the last 15 years building it into one of the most respected independent voices in public service refo...

Sam Gulliver is Managing Director of Consult LDN, a commercially focused property consultancy specialising in technical due diligence, asset management and development consultancy across London and the UK. With over 15 years in the property world, Sam has worked across small partnerships and large national firms before building the kind of business he always wanted to work in. In this conversation...

Pekka Metsaranta is CEO and founder of Sisua, a program management consultancy named after the Finnish concept of inner strength, resilience and determination. Before consultancy, Pekka served as a second lieutenant in the Finnish Defence Forces and the leadership principles he learned there, humility and leading from the front, are baked into everything he has built since. In this conversation, C...

Craig is joined by Liam O’Neill and Sam Lewis, senior leaders at bpmd, a consultancy that works with large, complex organisations to build lasting process, transformation, and change capability. Over the last decade, bpmd has grown from three people working out of a spare room with a single client into a specialist consultancy trusted to support enterprise-scale transformation programmes. Their wo...

In this episode Craig speaks with Darryl Petticrew, Director at Lancia Consult, a firm known for stepping into transformation programmes at the exact moment others step out. When projects stall, when plans unravel, when teams lose confidence, Lancia is the first call. This conversation explores why. Darryl spent more than fifteen years in major consulting firms before joining Lancia, drawn by its...

In this episode Craig meets with Sarah Lyons and Hannah Bradshaw, co founders of Blue Sky, a consultancy that is fast becoming a top coaching partner for the UK's legal sector. Their client retention is exceptional. Their niche is clear. Their purpose is unmistakable. And their story is a powerful example of how passion and purpose can shape a consultancy that clients remain with for years. S...

In this episode of The Consultancy Growth Podcast, Craig Herd speaks with Mark Green, founder and CEO of Change Rebellion. After a near-fatal battle with COVID that left him in a coma for months, Mark came back with a new philosophy: empathy over ego, and change that’s human first. We dig into why clients now value implementation over clever slides , how authenticity and humour can be powerful dif...

In this episode Craig is joined by Richard Longstreet, founder of Tarka Talent, to explore what really drives successful hiring in boutique consultancies. Too often, firms bring in senior hires with impressive CVs only to find they don’t deliver the growth expected. Richard explains why success in a Big Four doesn’t always translate into a boutique environment, the critical distinction between dev...

In this episode, Craig sits down with executive coach Deena Priest to unpack the three pillars of sustainable Consultancy leadership: Purpose, Peace, Profit.  Along the way, they explore how to spot the early signs of unfulfillment, tackle the fear of selling, and break free from the micromanagement trap. Deena shares why emotional regulation is a non‑negotiable skill for leaders, and how to build...

In this conversation, Mary Ewen shares her journey of founding MJV Consulting, the challenges and successes she has faced over the past decade, and the importance of family dynamics in running a consultancy. She discusses the significance of employee engagement, the necessity of having tough conversations, and the proactive strategies needed in HR to foster a healthy work environment. Mary emphasi...

In this episode, Leigh Adams breaks down how real business development happens through curiosity, consistency, and conversation. He shares how a pub chat led to a £2M deal, why being genuinely interested in people beats any sales script, and how most consultants underestimate the long-term power of relationship-first thinking. We talk about rejection, timing, trust, and what it really takes to bui...

In this conversation, Tim Kershaw reflects on 25 years of leading Libra Europe Consulting — including how the firm has retained clients for over two decades. Tim shares hard-won lessons on building long-term relationships, emphasising adaptability, team dynamics, and deeply understanding client needs. We explore recruitment strategies grounded in empathy and humility, the importance of knowing exa...

In this conversation, James O'Sullivan discusses the importance of mental simulations and scenario planning in both sports and business. He shares insights on how these techniques have shaped his approach to decision-making and leadership in consultancy. The discussion covers the challenges of navigating client expectations, fostering team skills, and balancing innovation with risk. O'Su...

For 20 years, John has helped consultancies win the kinds of high-stakes pitches where there’s only one winner and everything’s on the line—revenue, reputation, and momentum. In this episode, John breaks down the real mechanics behind successful consultancy pitches, sharing his 7 Ps framework and what the best teams do differently. We talk WhatsApp dealmaking, shifting client expectations, and why...

Nick and Craig delve into the intricacies of sales and marketing within consultancies. They emphasise the importance of listening to clients, understanding their problems, and creating value through effective content strategies. Successful consultancies are characterised by their commitment to marketing as a journey, the involvement of leadership, and a structured approach to content. The discussi...

Too many consultancies rely on senior heroics to grow. Richard Goold did the opposite. In this episode, he shares how Moorhouse scaled from £5M to £34M by building a strong, empowered middle layer—one that could win work, lead teams, and grow the business without waiting for permission. We explore what happens when you shift from control to capability, why developing internal successors beats rely...