Exciting changes at Barnaby Cecil

It’s often said that the food in central London is terrible.

You can eat badly, of course. But you can also eat exceptionally well if what you're eating has been put together with intention.

For our end-of-financial-year planning meeting, I wanted to do it over a good steak tartare.

So I asked AI: where’s the best steak tartare in central London?

It pointed me to Macellaio on Shaftesbury Avenue. 

There were three different types of steak tartare on the menu.

That’s deliberate curation — and is the difference between something average and something exceptional.

‍A Deliberate Decision

That was the backdrop to a conversation Emma and I had in February, as we ate steak and planned for the year ahead.

We reflected that at some point in every business, the work changes.

What begins as doing the work shifts into being responsible for how the work is done.

It's a transition that is easy to miss, and in trying to be both, most firms plateau.

So we made a decision.

At Barnaby Cecil, Emma will lead on client relationships and take primary responsibility for delivering WealthMap plans. We will continue to collaborate closely on every case, particularly on the advice architecture, but the focal point will change. 

Emma will lead the planning and I will focus on the firm.

Not to grow it for the sake of growth, but to improve it.

‍Avoiding the Practitioner’s Trap

My attention was drawn to how businesses evolve a couple of years ago when I read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

The central idea is simple: most businesses are started by people who are good at the work itself, the practitioner. 

And for a while, that’s enough.

But over time, and as businesses grow, it becomes a constraint.

Trying to do both is where outcomes start to plateau.

‍Improvement Over Expansion

There is a natural assumption in business that progress means growth.

More clients.

More revenue.

More scale.

But that is only one path.

The other path is quieter, but more demanding.

Improvement. 

Taking what already works and making it more precise, more consistent, more considered.

That is the path we are choosing.

‍What This Means in Practice

From a client perspective, very little changes, and that’s deliberate.

You will continue to deal with both of us. We remain closely involved in every plan, every decision, every outcome.

But behind the scenes, there will be important shifts.

Less reactive. Tighter structure. More time spent refining how advice is designed and delivered.

We’re not increasing the volume of advice — we’re going deeper.

‍A Positive Direction

Stepping back from the day-to-day is not a step away from you, our clients — it’s a step towards improving your experience.

Because over time, better structure leads to better decisions and better decisions lead to better outcomes.

This is a deliberate step forward for Barnaby Cecil, one we believe will meaningfully improve your experience and your outcomes over time.