Technical expertise can make someone excellent at their work. Leading people brings different demands: listening without rushing to solve, understanding individual personalities and staying grounded when pressure or disagreement tests a team.

Payal Patel, founder of Shamal Consulting, joins Chris Adams for a conversation about finding your north: the values and perspective that help you pause, recalibrate and connect more effectively with other people. Drawing on experience across healthcare, sales and education, Payal explores why communication begins with recognising the human behind the professional title.

For lawyers, advisers, founders and team leaders, this episode offers practical reflections on the transition from technical expert to people leader. Chris and Payal discuss the small behaviours that help colleagues feel heard, the confidence to question respectfully, and why caring for your own perspective supports the people who depend on you.

• Moving from technical expertise to leading personalities.
• Listening before offering solutions.
• Recognising assumptions and strengthening trust.
• Creating space for people to speak up and disagree respectfully.
• Balancing clear expectations with flexibility.
• Recalibrating yourself before helping a team.
• Practicing trust, gratitude and everyday human connection.

Payal is the founder of Shamal Consulting. Her work centres on communication, values and human connection, helping teams navigate change and strengthen how they relate to one another. Her background spans healthcare, B2B sales and education. Shamal means “north” in Arabic, reflecting the idea of finding direction and recalibrating.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalpatel1/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/payalreflects/

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. He works with professional services organisations, particularly lawyers and law firms, on business development and marketing strategy.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisadamsdxb/

Muhami Matters brings credibility and clarity to legal and professional services, connecting listeners with trusted advisers, industry specialists and thought leaders through practical insights and strategic perspectives.

Explore the show: https://muhami.ae/muhami-matters/

Muhami connects people and businesses with trusted legal expertise and useful guidance.

https://muhami.ae/

CJA Consulting supports professional services businesses with growth, business development and marketing strategy.

https://www.cjaconsult.com/

Watch the full conversation on the Muhami YouTube channel, or follow Muhami Matters in your podcast app for future episodes.

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

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Technical expertise can make someone excellent at their work. Leadership asks something more: the ability to understand people, listen well and stay grounded when the pressure is on.

In this trailer for Muhami Matters, Payal Patel of Shamal joins Chris Adams to explore the human side of leadership. The conversation looks at the shift from managing projects to managing personalities, why professionals can feel they must always have the answers, and the human capabilities that help leaders build trust.

Payal’s reflections return to a simple but demanding practice: trust yourself, trust others, listen without assumptions and lead with gratitude.

The full episode, Finding Your True North: The Human Side of Leadership, will be released on Monday, 9 November 2026.

Payal Patel works through Shamal, a human-centred practice whose name means “north” in Arabic. Her work helps people and teams pause, recalibrate and strengthen the communication, confidence and connection that technical expertise alone cannot provide.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalpatel1/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/payalreflects/

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. Through CJA Consulting, he supports professional services organisations, particularly lawyers and law firms, with business development and marketing strategy.

Muhami Matters brings credibility and clarity to legal and professional services. The show connects listeners with trusted legal advisers, respected industry specialists and influential thought leaders, providing practical insights, strategic perspectives and actionable guidance.

https://muhami.ae/muhami-matters/

Muhami: https://muhami.ae/

CJA Consulting: https://www.cjaconsult.com/

#MuhamiMatters #Muhami #CJAConsulting #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #محامي

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

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How can young people prepare for work when technology, qualifications and employers’ expectations keep changing?

Chris Adams speaks with Maria Vitoratos, founder of MV Careers and the MV Careers Virtual Hub, about building a career strategy before education and employment decisions become urgent. Maria draws on her work in education and career development, alongside doctoral research into youth career services and employment.

The conversation examines what parents can do beyond asking children what they want to be, how families can evaluate education by its intended outcomes, and why employers should help develop future talent. Maria also discusses critical thinking, entrepreneurial skills and the importance of human relevance in a workplace shaped by AI.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Career education before school and university deadlines
• Parents’ assumptions and children’s exposure to work
• Choosing universities, vocational routes and further learning
• Critical thinking and the wider value of higher education
• AI, entrepreneurial thinking and human skills
• Mentoring, apprenticeships and access to employers
• Experience requirements for entry-level jobs
• The communities within the MV Careers Virtual Hub

ABOUT MARIA VITORATOS

Maria is the founder of MV Careers and the MV Careers Virtual Hub. Her work connects career education, young people, parents, schools and employers. Her doctoral research focuses on youth career services and youth employment.

CONNECT WITH MARIA

Maria’s website

MV Careers Education

MV Careers Virtual Hub

LinkedIn

Instagram

YouTube

ABOUT CHRIS ADAMS

Chris hosts Muhami Matters and is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. He advises professional services organisations, particularly lawyers and law firms, on business development, marketing, positioning and growth.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

ABOUT MUHAMI MATTERS

Where credibility meets clarity in legal and professional services. Conversations with trusted advisers and industry specialists bring practical insights to professionals, founders and business leaders.

Explore Muhami Matters

ABOUT MUHAMI

Muhami connects people with legal knowledge and legal professionals.

Visit Muhami

ABOUT CJA CONSULTING

CJA Consulting supports professional services businesses with business development and marketing strategy.

Visit CJA Consulting

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A young person can have plenty of options and still have no idea what they want to do. So how can parents, educators and employers help them prepare for a changing world of work?

In this trailer for Muhami Matters Episode 70, Chris Adams speaks with Maria Vitoratos, founder of MV Careers and the MV Careers Virtual Hub, about the assumptions that shape career choices and the barriers built into education and recruitment.

Chris reflects on studying law despite never wanting to become a practising lawyer. Maria uses the familiar experience of looking into a well-stocked fridge and finding “nothing to eat” to explore the difference between having choices and knowing what you want. She also questions why university applications ask about parents’ education, and why some employers demand three or four years of experience for supposedly entry-level roles.

The full episode, The Next Generation at Work: What Parents and Employers Need to Know, will be released on Monday, 26 October 2026.

ABOUT MARIA VITORATOS

Maria is the founder of MV Careers and the MV Careers Virtual Hub, focused on helping people make more informed decisions about education and their careers.

Website: https://www.mariavitoratos.com/

MV Careers Education: https://www.mvcareerseducation.com/

MV Careers Hub: https://www.mvcareershub.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariavitoratos/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariavitoratos/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mariavitoratos

ABOUT THE HOST AND MUHAMI MATTERS

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. Through Muhami Matters, he speaks with specialists and thought leaders to bring credible, practical perspectives to legal and professional services, business owners and decision-makers.

Muhami: https://muhami.ae/

Muhami Matters: https://muhami.ae/muhami-matters/

CJA Consulting: https://www.cjaconsult.com/

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being excellent at your work and building a business around that expertise are two very different things.

In this trailer for Muhami Matters, Chris Adams speaks with Ros Conkie, founder of The Marketing Machine Works and author of The Marketing Machine: How to Engineer a System That Drives Sales and Growth.

Ros trained as a mechanical engineer and initially thought marketing was little more than creative "fluff". She soon realised that even exceptional products and services will struggle if prospective customers do not understand their value.

Hear Ros reflect on an unexpected lesson from sailing across the Atlantic and explain why marketing works best as a connected system that can be tested and improved, rather than a collection of tactics that are simply labelled successes or failures.

The full episode will be released on Monday, 12 October 2026.

In the full conversation, Chris and Ros explore:

• Why experts often find themselves running businesses they never planned to build
• Why selling can feel uncomfortable for lawyers, engineers and other professionals
• How relationships and clearer communication support business development
• Why a buyer's perspective matters more than internal marketing jargon
• Why bigger is not necessarily better for a founder-led business
• How to develop a logical, sustainable approach to marketing and growth

About Ros Conkie

Ros Conkie is a former mechanical engineer, founder of The Marketing Machine Works, fractional marketing director and author of The Marketing Machine. She works with technical and specialist businesses to make marketing more systematic and effective.

Website: https://rosconkie.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosconkie/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RosConkie

About the host

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. Drawing on extensive experience in the legal and professional services sectors, he advises firms and business owners on business development, marketing strategy and sustainable growth.

About Muhami Matters

Muhami Matters brings credibility and clarity to legal and professional services through conversations with trusted specialists, business leaders and experienced advisers.

Explore Muhami Matters and Muhami: https://muhami.ae/muhami-matters/

CJA Consulting: https://www.cjaconsult.com/

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the problem a business is trying to solve is only a symptom of something deeper?

In Episode 68 of Muhami Matters, Chris Adams speaks with Adrian Rhodes, founder of AR Consulting, about why leaders can become too close to their organisations to see what is really happening, and how an outsider perspective can uncover assumptions, overlooked stakeholders and unintended consequences.

Drawing on a career spanning advertising, qualitative research, management psychology and consultancy, Adrian explains how he approaches problems by challenging the client's original definition of them. The conversation ranges from policing and healthcare to retail, professional services and organisational decision-making, with practical examples of what can happen when the wrong question is being asked.

Chris and Adrian also explore the tension between analysis and implementation. They discuss groupthink, different approaches to work through the GC Index, the value of stakeholder mapping, and why a solution that meets 90% of the requirement can sometimes be more useful than a perfect answer that never gets implemented.

In this episode:

• Why a stated business problem may only be a symptom

• What outsiders can see that insiders sometimes miss

• How stakeholder blindness affects decisions

• The role of qualitative research in understanding organisations

• Groupthink and the suppression of challenge

• The GC Index and management psychology

• Strategy versus implementation

• Why "good enough" can sometimes be the right answer

• Managing AI with the same judgement used to manage people

About Adrian Rhodes

Adrian Rhodes is the founder of AR Consulting. His work combines management consultancy, qualitative research and management psychology to help organisations understand problems, stakeholders and decision-making more clearly.

Website: https://www.arconsulting1.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-rhodes-b101b64/

About the host

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. Through CJA Consulting, he works with professional services organisations on business development and marketing strategy.

About Muhami Matters

Muhami Matters brings credibility and clarity to legal and professional services, connecting listeners with trusted experts, respected industry specialists and practical insights.

Muhami Matters: https://muhami.ae/muhami-matters/

Muhami: https://muhami.ae/

CJA Consulting: https://www.cjaconsult.com/

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the problem a business thinks it has is only a symptom of something deeper?

In this trailer for Episode 68 of Muhami Matters, Chris Adams speaks with Adrian Rhodes of AR Consulting about the value of an outsider perspective in business.

Drawing on Adrian’s experience across advertising, research, psychology and management consultancy, the conversation explores how leaders can become too close to their own organisations to see what is really going on, how groupthink can suppress challenge, and why overlooked stakeholders and unintended consequences can change the quality of a decision.

The full episode also looks at the balance between strategy and implementation, including Adrian’s view that once a solution meets around 90% of the requirement, it may be time to stop perfecting and start implementing.

The full episode, The Outsider Advantage: Solving the Problems Leaders Can’t See, will be released on Tuesday, 29 September 2026.

Adrian Rhodes is the founder of AR Consulting. His work spans management consultancy, qualitative research, strategic facilitation and management psychology,

helping organisations identify underlying problems, understand stakeholders and make better-informed decisions.

Connect with Adrian:

Website: https://www.arconsulting1.com

Chris Adams is the founder of Muhami and CJA Consulting. Through CJA Consulting, he works with professional services organisations on business development and marketing strategy.

Muhami Matters brings credibility and clarity to legal and professional services, connecting listeners with trusted experts, respected industry specialists and practical insights.

Muhami: https://muhami.ae

CJA Consulting: https://www.cjaconsult.com

Visit www.muhami.ae for legal knowledge and to connect with lawyers who can solve your legal issues.

Visit www.cjaconsult.com for marketing & business development services catering to professionals

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.