A letter from Joe Thomsett
On judgement, leverage, and the arena.
Why this exists, who it’s for — and who it isn’t.
I’m Joe Thomsett.
I’m a Chartered Accountant.
I spent six years in executive search building boards and management teams.
I’ve been the MD of a successful turnaround.
And I’ve invested in and taken to exit a pre-revenue start-up.
I’ve bought and sold companies on people’s behalf.
I’m an author of a book about living a life you’ve designed, rather than living according to someone else’s.
My career has been in solution-led people organisations. I’ve negotiated for the pitch and I’ve counselled for the person.
A great business, great career, and great life is about the integration of intuition and analysis, finding the signal in the noise, and amplifying it.
And now is the best possible time to act on it.
Winter is Coming
Why?
Because the world is changing faster than ever.
And unless you change with it, you’ll lose any semblance of agency and autonomy you have.
As an individual, it’s harder to save capital than ever, and so your decisions and your efforts need intention.
You have to select what’s important — environment, autonomy, flexibility, reward — focus your skillset, and compound the wins. This means choosing the right company to partner with.
And that company must be relationship-driven, and technology-leveraged.
AI is and will continue to change the company landscape, but you can’t rely on it as a moat. Barriers to entry are close to zero. And so you must adopt it and use it as a tool, like other technology tools available to you.
But true advantage comes from that which can’t be prompted; namely judgement, and relationships.
And for that, you need the best people in leadership and relationship-oriented roles. Now, more than ever.
The change isn’t only technological. Across professional and advisory services, consolidation has turned owners into employees and rainmakers into line items.
If you sold or joined on a promise of future value, it’s likely the story isn’t unfolding the way it was told. And while your relationships are still yours, you have more options than you think.
But you can still Win, if you Hurry
With intention as a high-agency individual, you’ll see your quality of life double — environment, autonomy, accumulation — with these few key decisions: what skills you choose to focus on, who you choose to work for, how you get rewarded.
And with the right perspective as a challenger company, you’ll see twice as good performance — culture, profits, valuation — with these few principles in mind: relationship-driven; technology-leveraged; simple, high-impact solutions; the best leaders and salespeople.
Work with someone like You
Now you can work with the large incumbent companies, who sell you the Partner and give you the junior. And sure, you get the badge.
Or you can work with us. Where we partner with a handful of companies and people, invest in deep and long-term relationships, and give you everything we have. No fancy PowerPoints and pitches, just in-the-trenches counsel after walking the path ourselves.
Of course, on the People side, we do all the normal things the ‘best in class’ do — map markets, look at salary benchmarking, position you correctly. And for companies, we undertake the full leadership and strategic advisory best practice.
But in this fast-changing world, that’s not enough. And so we use technology as leverage for better insight and faster research. This allows us to do more with less.
And we prioritise relationships. We make it personal. We get in the arena and fight with you. We make it tribal.
Because we believe that’s where the edge is: technology-leveraged, long-term relationships, fighting with you against the incumbents for a better tomorrow.
How to Pick a Partner
Now, I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve built the leadership teams of some of the best consulting companies, negotiated the packages of some of the most impressive leaders, and partnered with owners to find clever ways to grow against the tide of large competitors.
And here’s where companies and people like you go wrong:
For people: they don’t compound skills, they don’t select for values, and they don’t design around what they want life to look like.
For companies: they don’t prioritise the best leaders and rainmakers, they don’t simplify the business model or focus on high-leverage activities, and they don’t prioritise relationships.
And often missed — when they look for solutions, they work with large, bloated, big-name companies they have absolutely nothing in common with.
And so my advice to both people and companies is to start with the end in mind — environment, values, economics — and work backwards to find the few things that actually get you there: a skill compounded, leveraged technology, invested relationships.
And just as importantly, pick an advisor partner who shares the outlook and values you do.
Anyway, that’s what I’d do if I were you thinking about who to work with. Obviously, you’re going to make your own decisions knowing what’s best for you.
Don’t Work with Us
Let’s be clear about who this is for. If you’re looking for contingent recruitment, template career advice, and PowerPoint business growth models, do not call us. The incumbents own that market, and will happily oblige.
But if you are a self-made operator running a solution-led boutique, or a rainmaker capped by an institutional ceiling, and you are ready to actively create your unfair advantage over the next 12 months — we should talk.
— Joe Thomsett
