Consultancy Growth Podcast

Anna Pantazi is Managing Director of KAE, a consultancy specialising in banking and payments. She joined the firm as a research analyst in 2012, developing expertise in the techniques that help businesses understand customer choices and refine their propositions. After leading the analytics team, she took responsibility for the whole firm, sharpening its sector focus and strengthening the connection between strategic insight, client decisions and execution.
In this conversation, Craig and Anna explore the transition from technical specialist to consultancy leader, why KAE moved away from being everything to everyone, and how long-term client relationships help the firm identify problems that individual projects can miss. They discuss why good advice sometimes means telling a client not to commission more research, how proprietary insights create commercial conversations, and why customer satisfaction does not necessarily mean loyalty. Anna also shares how she has approached hiring, brought in expertise beyond her own experience, and built a culture where trust and flexibility help people continue their consulting careers through different life stages.
This is a thoughtful, practical conversation about leading an established consultancy, turning specialist expertise into commercial impact, and building client relationships strong enough to challenge the brief.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Anna Pantazi, Managing Director at KAE

Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training helps consulting firms develop their teams’ delivery, leadership and business development capabilities. Joining Craig Herd are Deri Hughes, Founder and Managing Director, and Jo Hughes, Marketing Director, to discuss their experience as business partners and a married couple. 
Deri’s background spans Bain and finance and operations leadership in boutique consulting firms, while Jo brings business development experience from John Lewis. Founded by Deri in 2018, Honeycomb began as an outsourced operations service for boutique consultancies before evolving into a training business, following client demand and his growing enthusiasm for developing people.
In this conversation, Craig, Deri and Jo explore how they found the right business model, why founder-market fit matters, and what it takes to grow a business while protecting time for family. They discuss working together as a couple, balancing new ideas with focus, and why they describe Honeycomb as a lifestyle business with pride. They also explore how investing in self-awareness and honest communication has helped them manage stress, strengthen their partnership and build deeper trust with colleagues and clients.
This is an open, thoughtful conversation about the personal side of building a consultancy business, the trade-offs that come with growth, and how understanding yourself can help you become a better partner, leader and trusted adviser.
Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Deri Hughes, Founder & Managing Director at Honeycomb Consulting
Guest: Joanna Hughes, Marketing Director at Honeycomb Consulting

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, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe. After fifteen years, he founded Develop Consulting, applying many of the same principles to build a more focused, sustainable consultancy.
In this conversation, Craig and Steve explore what working inside Toyota taught him about building high-performing organisations, why the Toyota Way is about far more than lean, and how those principles shaped two successful consultancies. They discuss why Steve has always believed consultants should leave clients stronger rather than dependent, how Develop Consulting has balanced a core team with a wider network of associates, and why sustainable growth has become a more important goal than simply growing as quickly as possible.
This is a thoughtful, practical conversation with a consultancy founder whose philosophy has remained remarkably consistent, from the factory floor in Japan to building consultancy businesses designed to continuously improve, develop people and create lasting impact.

Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Steve Boam, CEO at Develop Consulting

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 Pubs on Wheels, an award-winning mobile bar business, before stepping into consultancy alongside Mike Kershaw and Richard Dean at Kershaw Partners.
In this conversation, Craig and David explore how Kershaw Partners productised advisory into a simple, easy-to-buy diagnostic review, why conviction in that first offering matters when clients try to skip straight to the bigger engagement, and how the firm's six pillars of growth. They also dig into why founders get stuck in the weeds, the importance of falling in love with your ideal client rather than your product or service, and why preparing a business for exit and preparing it for growth are essentially the same exercise.
This is a grounded, practical conversation with a consultancy partner who has lived the founder journey himself and now helps other owner-led firms systemise, scale and create the option to exit.
Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: David Watt, Partner at Kershaw Partners

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 this year, Mark transitioned from Chief Commercial Officer into the CEO role.
In this conversation, Craig and Mark explore the three insights that shaped Total Negotiation Group from day one, why the client rarely loses clients, how Mark handles clients asking for a quick fix when they really need a longer engagement, and how he balances a core team of employees with a wider network of associates.
This is a measured, practical conversation with a consultancy CEO who has built a global firm by sticking to the long view, on client relationships, on capability, and on the kind of business worth building.
Host: Craig Herd, MD at Consultancy Growth
Guest: Mark Grice, CEO of Total Negotiation Group