Experts Still Matter, But Builders Win.
By Mitchell Schuckman, PCC | Founder, The Schuckman Group
Experts still matter. But in today’s market, builders win.
AI is shrinking billable hours. Procurement is tougher. Competition looks the same on paper. Being technically excellent or well-liked is no longer enough to sustain a career in professional services.
The difference-makers now are builders: the professionals who create momentum with clients, spark new conversations, connect dots across their firm, and turn relationships into opportunities.
In my latest article, I share why this shift matters, what it looks like in practice, and how I’ve coached experts to become builders without losing who they are.
The World Has Changed. Careers Must Change Too.
Careers in professional services are under pressure like never before. AI is eating hours you used to bill. Buying committees are larger. Procurement is tougher. Pricing pressure is relentless. Regulation shifts without warning. Geopolitics adds whiplash on top of stress.
Being a great technician is still essential. Having solid client relationships helps. But neither is enough anymore. The people who survive and thrive now are the ones who build by creating opportunities on purpose, keeping clients close, and growing the work in the midst of all this turbulence.
The Ceiling Has Always Been There
The people who advanced the farthest were always those who could both deliver the work and grow it. For years, that truth was easy to overlook. Markets were steadier, work was abundant, and a career could go a long way on technical excellence or client loyalty alone.
Today the ceiling is impossible to ignore. AI accelerates the answers. Competitors look similar on paper. Clients expect competence as a given and value as a constant. Getting the answer right is no longer enough.
The real test is whether you can know your clients deeply, understand your firm’s capabilities broadly, connect the dots, create value, and grow the business in ways that go far beyond the immediate ask.
I recently wrote an article entitled “AI can do the work. Only you can build the relationship.” This truth still stands. But building relationships and growing your business takes more than just staying close. It is about turning relationships into momentum, and momentum into growth.
The Familiar Roles. The One That Shapes the Future.
In my years inside a global firm, I saw partners fall into familiar personas:
The technician, the person with answers nobody else has, calming the room with deep technical depth and precision.
The loyal relationship keeper, the one who never drops a ball, is always present for their clients, and always brings a steady hand.
The truth teller, the one who speaks plainly when it matters, forcing hard conversations when they are needed.
All of these roles matter. I have worked with partners who thrived in each, and they all had a place in the firm. They still do. The question is whether they have staying power in an age of AI, extreme competition, and volatile markets.
The people who move a firm forward, often called rainmakers, are those I call builders. Builders don’t just do great work or maintain relationships. They create momentum. They connect dots across clients and markets. They bring colleagues in when it adds value. They notice shifts early, share a point of view, and spark the next conversation. Builders are remembered not for what they deliver once, but for how they keep opportunities alive. In today’s environment, that mindset is the difference between a career that stalls and one that thrives.
One Leader’s Turning Point
I coached a technical expert in a large professional services firm. Brilliant. Trusted internally for the hardest problems. But like many experts, he was one dimensional. He knew the answer, delivered the answer, and moved on. Inside the firm that made him indispensable. Outside the firm, it limited how clients saw him. He wanted to change, but he didn’t know how to lead with anything other than his brilliance.
We began working together by changing how he showed up in client meetings. Instead of jumping in with answers, his job was to listen with a different lens. He sat down with senior client stakeholders not to prove his expertise, but to draw out what mattered most to them. What pressures were they facing right now? Where were they seeing friction in their plans? What would success look like in the next quarter? By shifting from answering to listening, he learned more in two weeks than he had in a year of project work.
Then he started showing up with a point of view. Short, clear observations about patterns he was seeing in the industry. No jargon. No pitch. Just perspective. He would ask, does this match what you’re seeing, or am I off? Clients began to see him as more than a problem solver.
Finally, he trusted his colleagues more deeply. He brought others into conversations to expand the firm’s value. In one instance, he arranged a working session on an issue the CFO cared about, with a tight agenda and practical takeaways the CFO could use with her team. The goal was to make the client the hero. That session created trust, and it set the stage for a next meeting.
Within months, he was being called directly for conversations outside his technical lane. A year later, he was the first call for that client account on topics well beyond his specialty. His expertise hadn’t changed. His identity had.
Beyond Relating: The Discipline of Builders
In another article I wrote, “The Real Secret to Winning Clients in Professional Services: It's About Relating”, I stated that it’s important to start by listening, not by pitching. That is still the first move. But real growth lives beyond it.
Builders are disciplined. They:
In another article I wrote, “The Real Secret to Winning Clients in Professional Services: It's About Relating”, I stated that it’s important to start by listening, not by pitching. That is still the first move. But real growth lives beyond it.
Builders are disciplined. They:
Offer something useful before asking for anything back.
Stay persistent with touchpoints instead of giving up too soon.
Stay curious and listen deeply.
Bring in colleagues when it makes the client stronger.
Make time every day to keep relationships alive.
Track their commitments so momentum is never lost.
These habits sound simple. Simple is not easy. The difference is the discipline to do them consistently in a world that moves faster than your calendar allows.
Coaching the Shift Without Changing Who You Are
Moving from expert to builder often feels unnatural at first. Technicians fear being wrong in public, because their whole identity has been built on having the right answer. Relationship keepers hesitate to stretch a bond, worrying that pushing into new conversations could damage the trust they’ve worked so hard to build. Truth tellers can narrow a dialogue without meaning to, focusing so intently on pointing out risks or blind spots that they miss the chance to expand the conversation into new opportunities.
Good coaching creates a safe place to experiment without turning you into someone you are not.
When I coach professionals through this shift, we start with clarity. What outcomes would make this worth it: becoming the first call on two accounts, building a stronger internal bench, sustaining a rhythm of client touches.
We work on live situations, not hypotheticals. Real accounts, real stakeholders, real conversations. Sometimes I shadow a call, then we debrief immediately: what was your intent, what happened, what will you try differently next time?
We focus on presence, not performance. Clean, simple points of view. Adjusting tone and timing so contributions land. Creating space for silence so clients step in. Making the client the hero inside their organization.
And we keep it accountable but attainable. Small commitments, five to fifteen minutes a day. A simple scorecard so nothing important goes cold. Reflection built into the rhythm so change is noticed and sustained.
The goal is not to turn someone into a different person. The goal is to expand who they already are so clients experience them as someone who moves the business forward.
What Is at Stake
For the individual, the risk is personal and immediate. Staying in expert mode may feel safe, but it caps your trajectory. Becoming a builder protects your future. It deepens relationships, keeps you relevant when scopes change, and opens doors you cannot see from the technician’s chair.
For the firm, the stakes are existential. Without enough builders, growth stagnates. Clients drift toward competitors who show up with energy, clarity, and a point of view. With enough builders, firms adapt, grow, and raise the next generation of leaders who can both deliver and create.
For the professional services executive, the rules are changing. Success is no longer about who has the deepest knowledge or the closest ties. It is about who can create momentum when the answer alone is not enough.
The Practical Takeaway
You don’t need a new personality. You need a new posture. Stay excellent at the work. Add presence, discipline, and a bias to create. Listen first. Offer a point of view that matters in the client’s world. Bring teammates in when it helps the client win. Keep showing up with something useful. Track it so momentum builds instead of evaporating.
Start small. Pick one account and one senior stakeholder. Listen with intent. Share one clear perspective that ties to what they told you. Invite one colleague who can add value. Do it again next week. That is what builders do.
Bottom Line
Technical mastery still matters. It is how you earned your seat. But builders win because they create opportunity when others are waiting. In a world this complicated, with clients needing value and with careers under pressure, becoming a builder is not optional. It is the way you survive and it’s the way you thrive.