Consultancy Growth Podcast

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 when growth stalls, the uncomfortable finding that only 9% of commercial leaders are confident in hitting their targets, why go-to-market strategy has to be treated as a living operating system rather than a document on a shelf, and how decision discipline, once it loosens, is one of the hardest things to rebuild.

This is a practical, data-informed conversation with a growth consultant who has worked across PE-backed firms and large enterprises, and has a very clear view of where the real leverage is when commercial growth starts to stall.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Danny Philamond, Partner at Magnus Consulting

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 back inside a large organisation after years in a growing boutique, Leo and a small group of colleagues launched aro in April 2025.

In this conversation, Craig and Leo explore why the boutique end of the wealth and asset management market is opening up, how aro's revenue-share model allows the firm to put senior experienced people in front of clients at roughly half the cost of the big four, what 90 meetings in the first two months taught them about building momentum from a standing start, and why financial discipline in year one matters far more than most founding teams anticipate.

This is a candid, experience-led conversation with a consultancy leader who has seen what a 20 to 80 person growth journey looks like from the inside, and is now building one of his own.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at ConsultancyGrowth.com
Guest: Leo Chancellor, Co-Founder at aro.

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 reform.

In this conversation, Craig and Andrew explore how Mutual Ventures has grown from a niche startup responding to a government agenda into a firm with a bold three-year growth strategy, why appointing two non-executive directors was one of the best decisions they ever made, and how thought leadership became part of the DNA of the firm rather than a bolt-on marketing exercise.

This is a practical, experience-led conversation with a consultancy leader who has navigated government instability, built a culture of radical transparency and learned what it really takes to grow a specialist firm without losing what makes it special.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Andrew Laird, Chief Executive at Mutual Ventures

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, Craig and Sam explore what it really means to advise clients on the commercial outcome rather than just the technical problem, how starting small with new clients consistently leads to much bigger relationships, and why listening more than you talk might be the most underrated skill in consultancy.

This is a practical, experience-led conversation with a property consultancy leader who has built a business around trust, attentiveness and understanding what clients are actually trying to achieve.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Sam Gulliver, Managing Director at Consult LDN

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, Craig and Pekka explore how those military principles translate into a consultancy culture, what it really takes to grow from a founding idea to one of the UK's top independent project consultancies, and why radical transparency might be the most powerful tool in a leader's kit.

This is a practical, experience-led conversation with a consultancy leader who has operated inside complex programmes, built a team from scratch and learned what it really takes to grow a firm people actually want to work for.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Pekka Metsaranta, CEO and Founder at Sisua

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 work spans global organisations, complex operating models, and long-running change initiatives where process, data, and execution genuinely matter. They are particularly well known for helping organisations turn platforms like SAP Signavio into something that delivers real business value, rather than shelfware.

In this episode, we cover:

• The journey from early-stage survival to leading complex, enterprise-level transformation work
• How bpmd moved away from generalist, task-based delivery into a clearly defined specialism
• Why producing high-quality outputs is not the same as creating meaningful business outcomes
• The leadership discipline required to narrow focus before the pipeline fully supports it
• How challenging client requests can strengthen trust rather than damage relationships
• Why working with clients who already value the work changes the entire sales dynamic
• The impact of specialisation on team quality, motivation, and retention
• How helping clients build their own capability leads to more strategic, higher-value engagements
• What the rise of AI and automation means for consultancies operating in change and transformation

This is a practical, experience-led conversation with consultancy leaders who have operated inside complex organisations, navigated long sales cycles, and learned where real value is actually created.

Host:  Craig Herd, Managing Director at Consultancy Growth
Guest:  Liam O'Neill, Managing Director at bpmd
Guest: Sam Lewis, Director at bpmd

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 entrepreneurial culture and its obsession with real impact. 

We explore the realities of transformation work in 2025. Darryl explains why co creation beats traditional delivery, why capability transfer is now a core differentiator and why the firms that win today are those willing to take ownership while working on the client’s side of the desk.

Consultancy leaders will also hear a candid breakdown of the hidden fragility in growing consultancies and how to fix it. Darryl shares the warning signs inside firms that look successful on the surface but are operationally vulnerable. Over dependence on rainmakers. Decision making slowed by hierarchy. A small cluster of clients carrying the revenue. Teams stretched across delivery with no capacity for growth. These weaknesses tend to appear just as revenues rise.

Craig and Darryl explore how resilience is built. How trust creates speed. How the boutique advantage becomes real. And what it actually looks like to lead when your client has run out of answers.

In this episode you will learn

• Why boutique consultancies win transformation work the big firms lose
• How to build trust quickly in high pressure environments
• What programme recovery teaches about leadership, ownership and clarity
• The hidden fragility in growing consultancies and how to fix it
• How co creation and capability transfer create long term client loyalty
• Why clients drop big four firms for smaller teams that can deliver fast
• How to position your consultancy as the first call when a project turns red

For consultancy leaders facing a tougher market, this is a clear playbook for building a firm that clients trust with their hardest problems. Human. Fast. Under pressure. And impossible to replace.

Host Craig Herd
Guest Darryl Petticrew

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.

Sarah and Hannah both trained and practised as employment lawyers. When they became new mothers they expected to return to the firm and continue their career trajectory. Instead they came face to face with a structural issue that affects thousands of women across the legal profession. The perception gap. While they were at home with their children their post qualification experience continued to increase on paper. When they returned they were measured against peers with a full year of additional experience. It was a disadvantage created by the system itself.

Rather than accept that as normal they decided to solve it. Blue Sky was born from personal frustration and a clear sense of purpose. Today their consultancy supports women through maternity leave, return to work and the long journey toward partnership in some of the most demanding firms in the world. The results are measurable and the loyalty they gain from clients reflects the depth of impact they create.

In this episode you will hear:

• How passion and purpose became Blue Sky’s commercial advantage. 
• Why great client retention is not luck but a direct outcome.
• How a narrow niche helped them win the trust of major law firms.
• The link between personal identity, leadership and client success.
• What senior consultancy leaders can learn from Blue Sky’s approach.

This is a conversation about building a consultancy that solves a real problem, attracts committed clients and retains them through trust, consistency and purpose. It is a blueprint for founders and leaders who care about long term value, meaningful work and commercial strength.

Host: Craig Herd
Guest: Sarah Lyons
Guest: Hannah Bradshaw

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 differentiators in a crowded market, and what it takes to build a consultancy that wins clients by standing out, not chasing RFPs.

Mark also shares his view on the role of AI in change management, the upside and downside of bold positioning, and why he believes consultancies should leave clients better equipped than they found them. If you’ve ever wondered whether playing it safe is holding your firm back, this conversation will make you rethink how you grow.

Chapters
0:00    Introduction to Change Rebellion
01:17     From Coma to Consultancy: A Life-Changing Reset
05:30   Why Authenticity and Humour Stand Out in Consulting
10:00   Family First: Defining Success on Your Own Terms
14:55    The Upsides and Downsides of Being Bold
19:55    Why Implementation Now Beats Intelligence
22:13    AI’s Role in the Future of Change Management
28:11     Empathy Over Ego: Consulting Without the Ego Trap
30:52   How to Ensure Clients Are Better Off After You Leave
35:13    The Future Vision for Change Rebellion

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 developing existing accounts and winning new logos, and how cultural fit can determine whether a hire creates lasting value.

They also discuss the infrastructure required to support growth, why equity should be tied to performance, and how consultancies can create a culture where business development is a shared responsibility rather than resting solely on the founder. If you’re thinking about making senior commercial hires, this episode offers a clear framework to avoid costly missteps.

00:00    Introduction and Context
02:59     The Role of Senior Hires in Boutiques
 07:53     Account Development vs New Business
 10:23     How to Vet Candidates for Commercial Roles
 14:04     Why Infrastructure Matters for Growth
 16:30     Marketing’s Role in Enabling Success
 20:28     Systems and Processes That Scale
 25:15      Escaping Founder Dependency
 30:10     Building a Sustainable Hiring Strategy
 34:14      Balancing Equity in Hiring
 38:37     The Importance of Cultural Fit
 43:01     Curiosity as a Growth Mindset

Host Craig Herd
Guest Richard Longstreet