PM Forum staged a playful “Fight Club” debate with a serious question at its heart: should professional services firms (PSFs) import ideas from outside the industry, or double down on insider expertise and ways of working unique to PSFs? Two heavyweights took the ring to make the case.

Round 1 – The case for looking outside

Shaendel Hallett argued that our clients are consumers all day long. They book flights, stream shows, tap to pay. Those experiences set the bar, so benchmarking only against the firm across the street is a trap. Her playbook comes from years at brands like EasyJet, BP, the Post Office and Dixons. Simplify choice. Tell stories that make complexity human. Stop hoarding data and act on it. Expertise without curiosity hardens into arrogance. Blend the best of other industries with technical depth and you get client experiences that are credible, memorable and human. The judges called this round for Shaendel.

Round 2 – The case for growing from within

Michael Graham countered that professional services are idiosyncratic. Progress depends on patience, politics, consensus and credibility with partners who bill in six‑minute units and often see marketing as a cost. Outsiders can arrive with flair and stall on the first committee. Insiders know the org map, the difference between a rainmaker and a practice lead, and the strategies already tried and rejected. Speed, institutional memory and trust win points with decision‑makers. The judges edged this round to Michael.

Audience vote – A split decision

When the room voted, the tally landed roughly even. That felt right. Each side punched hard because each side was right about different parts of the work.

What we learned in the Q&A

The best careers are often blended. Time in PSFs builds judgment and political feel. Time outside broadens creative range and raises the bar for client experience. You can also steal with your eyes: bring back what you notice as a customer in everyday life and ask how it might translate. Several questions circled the money point. Marketing gets treated as a cost far too often. If we connect investment to growth and margin, we earn permission to try more. There was also a reminder to invest in tech for colleagues, not only clients, because better tooling frees people for higher‑value work. And yes, AI may be the shove that finally moves some stuck habits, but it will still need translation into a PSF context.

So… which corner should we pick?

Neither - the durable answer is both. Borrow boldly from the best of B2C, then translate ruthlessly for PSF realities. Think of it as an outside‑in, inside‑fit strategy. Start with what delights clients in the wild. Adapt it to partnership governance, risk appetites and approval paths. Prove it with small wins that build trust.

Monday‑morning moves

1. Run an outside‑in listening sprint. In two weeks, collect ten examples of great experiences you’ve had as a customer. Note what made them work and the feeling they left. Shortlist three ideas worth translating for a current client journey.
2. Map the insiders. Draw the decision maze for one initiative: who influences, who decides, who blocks. Plan the sequence of briefings and proofs each stakeholder needs.
3. Pilot, don’t proclaim. Pick a thin slice of the journey — booking, onboarding, status updates, matter close — and ship a better version to one segment. Measure adoption and NPS before rolling wider.
4. Create a client‑and‑colleague scorecard. Track one metric for clients and one for colleagues on every change. If the new idea saves associates time as well as improving client clarity, it will stick.
5. Bring in breadth on purpose. Use secondments, rotations or targeted hires to import specific skills. Pair them with PSF veterans to accelerate translation.

The takeaway

Shaendel reminded us to widen the lens. Michael reminded us to work the room. The real opponent isn’t the other corner. It’s complacency. The firms that win will learn from everywhere, then execute in ways that make sense here — with proof, pace and respect for how decisions actually get made.