Delivering growth

Over 100 firmwide leaders attended the second annual Professional Services Growth Conference in London on 27 March 2026, which addressed two issues:

·        External investment: It has become incumbent on leaders to review if their firm would benefit from external investment given the rapid shift from unusual to commonplace. The criteria set by investors are tough: show your people are ready for change, a clear business strategy, how and when the proceeds will be deployed, and your professional managers are equipped with robust systems and formal authority. Otherwise, external investors may decide to strengthen a competitor!

·        Business development: Professional services thrive on confidence — from the boardroom to the client meeting. Yet blind spots and knowledge gaps undermine frontline confidence every day: vague strategy, unclear differentiation, low visibility of own expertise, shallow market intelligence, reluctance to use AI tools or interact with colleagues, and poor understanding of the psychology of clients. Reliable evidence and clarity are essential to fill those knowledge gaps, build trust and drive the growth of the business.

The key take-away from the conference was that external investment may provide firms with the means with which to pursue their growth ambitions, but it’s business development – in all its wonderful manifestations underpinned by data, discipline, skills, internal communication and culture – that is the supercharged engine to deliver that growth after any “merger fest”.

Local managing partners and marketing and BD leaders are invited to explore the relevance of these important insights to the Central European market in a roundtable with Richard Chaplin, the creator of the Growth Conference.