The conversation no one in your industry is having (until now)

A-Player,

Miss us? Because we've missed you.

Another week, another round of market intelligence you didn't know you needed - until now.

The team has been in the thick of it across Executive & Finance, Construction, and Trades & Labour, and there's plenty to unpack.

Here's what we're hearing across the board... ⬇️

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Our Founders Thought You Should Know This

I've been fascinated recently with the mindset and makeup of extreme high-performers, and what actually makes them tick.

I'm sure we can all think back and remember someone we worked with earlier in our careers who, even at graduate level, you just knew was a CFO in the making. And it's no surprise now to see them sat in an impressive CFO seat somewhere now.

For me, I go back to my football career in England, where it was obvious who was going to make it and who wasn't. It wasn't necessarily talent. It was the mindset, and their obsession over wanting to win and being the absolute best they could be.

It does provoke the debate of whether talent or technical ability is the be all and end all, and how much of someone's success actually comes down to that grit and obsession over high performance. Is that the real leading factor behind why people succeed? One thing we've learned from growing Harwell is that talent can absolutely be taught at any level, but the day-to-day effort and drive, in the big moments and the small moments, is impossible for me and Adam to have any influence over. It has to come from the individual themselves.

Right now the World Cup is front and centre, and all of the best players in the world seem to be delivering. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, all of them at the pinnacle of their game and still finding a way to win and deliver. I'd bet my mortgage that if you spoke to their coaches or team-mates, they'd just describe them as a different beast. And it wouldn't be about their technical ability, it would be about their mentality and their obsession to win.

That leaves me with two parting thoughts:

Is it possible to instil that level of obsession into someone? Or is it something they develop as a youngster (whether they're chasing a professional sport dream or a career dream), where those habits and behaviours are now instilled in them for life?

How can we identify it more easily at the interview stage, where we might only have an hour with someone? Whilst they might not tick every technical box, how can we confidently believe they're a genuine high performer, obsession-based, and that given the chance they'll blow past anyone with slightly better technical ability within months?

To be honest I don't have the answer to any of these things yet. One thing's for sure: I'm fascinated by the world's elite and take every opportunity to learn about what makes them tick and how I can replicate that in my world.

See you next time,

Harvey

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What's Happening In Your Industry?

Accounting & Executive

📈 The Finance Talent Pool Is Tighter Than You Think. Australian accounting enrolments have dropped over 90% since 2018 - Meaning the pipeline of emerging finance talent is genuinely thin right now. Some firms are already turning away work simply because they can't find the staff to service it. If hiring feels harder than it used to, it's not you, the market has shifted significantly. Understanding that is the first step to building a smarter approach to securing the right people.

📈 The Tools Are Changing - Is Your Team Keeping Up? Budgeting and planning technology is evolving quickly. Anaplan and Workday remain the dominant platforms, but Pigment is gaining serious ground - Built AI-native from the ground up and ranked the number one platform for Agentic AI in enterprise planning in 2025. For finance leaders evaluating their tech stack, or candidates looking to stay relevant, knowing where the tools are heading is just as important as mastering where they are today.

Construction

🚧 Modular construction is the live competitive conversation right now. Both vertical (30+ level towers) and horizontal (300-townhouse projects). With labour shortages only getting tighter on the road to the Olympics, the question every builder is asking: Is modular the silver bullet or just this year's buzzword?

🚧 Srong people are quietly walking away from "metrics-on-everything" projects... Not because the work isn't interesting, but because the environment makes it impossible to do well. When every decision has to be justified through a dashboard, the people who actually know what they're doing stop bothering - and the ones who stay are the ones who are good at reporting, not building

Trades & Labour

🔨Technical skill alone is no longer the ceiling, it's the entry point. Builders are increasingly seeking leading hands and senior operators who can mentor apprentices, manage small crews, and elevate the people around them. Trades who combine hands-on capability with leadership presence are commanding a premium, and that gap in the market is only going to grow. If you're a tradesperson who can bring others up while delivering results yourself, now is the time to make sure the right people know it.

🔨The aggressive rate inflation of recent years appears to have peaked, and the market is settling into a more sustainable structure. Base rates are expected to remain stable, with meaningful premiums reserved for niche, high-performing operators who have earned the right to negotiate. For the average worker, the leverage of the last few years is fading. For the best? It never went away. Proven performance will continue to command strong returns, the difference now is that reputation and results will do the negotiating.

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Our Podcast Recommendation

The Biology of High Performance - ft. Dr Daniel Kirkbride

You can have the best strategy in the world, but if your body isn't keeping pace with your ambition, it doesn't matter. Harv and Adam sat down with Gold Coast-based Dr Daniel Kirkbride - Osteopathic Doctor, Functional Medicine Practitioner, and founder of CYORA - who has reviewed over 3,000 biological profiles and built health systems for some of Australia's top CEOs and eight-figure founders.

In this episode, Dan breaks down why the highest performers are often running on the most hidden stress, what's actually draining your energy and focus (and it's probably not what you think), and the practical, science-backed steps to get your biology operating at the same standard as your business. With the Olympic pipeline accelerating and pressure mounting across construction, finance and trades right now, this one is essential listening.

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New Financial Year - How's Everyone Feeling? 👀

New FY. Fresh budgets, clean slates and that familiar mix of "let's go" and "wait, where did last year go?" 😅 Welcome to FY26/27.

But first, a quick look back at how we closed out FY25/26…

It started the day before with a full strategy afternoon, mapping where we're headed and what the next chapter looks like. Then came the main event: a session with Jess Cameron on finding our 'why', the real purpose behind the work, not the polished version you slap on a website. Next, a friendly game of paintball. And we finished the only sensible way: dinner at Rick Shores in Burleigh 🌅.

Here's the point. That 'why' session landed at exactly the right time, because a new financial year is when you should be asking the same question: what are you actually building this year?

Executive & Finance - FY planning season is here. The businesses locking in commercially-minded finance leaders now won't be scrambling come Q2. (Remember: experienced Financial Controllers are getting harder to find, not easier).

Construction - The Olympic build isn't slowing down and neither is the fight for good people. Teams getting ahead early will have the right crews locked in before peak hits.

Different industries, same principle: The new year rewards whoever plans with the long game in mind.

So... How's everyone really feeling heading into FY27? Hit reply and tell us.

We read every one 😊

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What We're Working On 🔎

Scoreboard Culture

Paintball proved half the office would rather lose a limb than lose a game, which says a lot about how we operate.

We're big on celebrating the wins here, but the losses get called out just as loud, no hiding behind "unlucky."

That's the standard: front up, own the number, go again.

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Until next time🖤

Rosie

‍Professional Oversharer (Market Insight Edition)HARWELL.

P.S. Have a question or want to book a strategy call with a team member?

‍Hit reply to this email and I'll get back to you ASAP😊

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