Fable has it that during the inaugural performance of George Handel’s Messiah choral masterpiece, attended by the royalty and elites of England, King George suddenly stood up just as the final, and probably most re-callable of the parts – the Hallelujah Chorus, was about to be performed. As royal protocol would dictate, everyone in the cathedral also stood up in gesture to the king, leading to the current tradition of audiences standing before each performance of Hallelujah.

The reason for the king’s unexplained vacating of his seat to this day is shrouded in speculation, but many historians attribute it to his premature assumption that the performance was actually over. I suspect that, had Ralph de la Vega (recently retired Vice Chairman at AT&T) been around in those days, and had he whispered in the king’s year “but wait, there’s more,” all of this could have been avoided.

Leadership bears its responsibilities. Following the lead of a well-intentioned but misinterpreting leader can have long reaching consequences. More on that in a moment …

Leadership engaged in business development bears a new responsibility in the new era of digital transformation and high speed service delivery. Business development leaders find themselves facing the fact that their customers are transforming at the pace of the industry within which they operate, and these transformations require a re-imagined approach toward servicing their needs.

A business development professional in the era of digital transformation is expected to be equipped with both knowledge and attitude to be discerning in processing information and to have the analytical skills to be able to assess viability and opportunity across a diverse portfolio of business solutions. Frequently these professionals no longer are referred to as sales or account management individuals, but rather business architects and strategic advisors. In these roles, recast into a considerably more customer-aligned function, their practitioners are asked to re-imagine their core values and to acquire new capabilities requiring both a skills and mindset change.

Client advisors need to adopt a more expansive paradigm of engagement with their clients. Within this expanded role, the following are among the key areas of focus for them to master:

• Client Lens and Empathy – observe and filter information using the Client’s lens, not one’s own nor the service provider’s, to offer a unique perspective on opportunities and a critical vantage point from which to assess them.
• See what others miss – maintain a vantage point that is broad across all client interactions by having access to, and processing information from a wide range of internal and external sources, including the client’s and the industry’s, tactical and strategic; from this vantage point hidden opportunities to service the client can be identified and acted on.
• Perseverance – pursue opportunities wherever they may lead, even when faced with opposing winds; the opportunity may not be over just because the leader decides to stand up (see earlier point).
• Respectful questioning – be the eyes and ears of the service provider as relates to understanding the real world in which their clients operate; by applying an understanding the customer’s core needs, inquire about the capabilities and provide inputs into the roadmaps of the service provider’s solutions.
• Insightful analysis – by maintaining broad expertise across key disciplines and core industry awareness, offer informed insights to both the  clients and the provider’s teams to help shape strategy and product vision.
• Big picture view – blocks don’t always fit together when viewed from up close; client advisors must step back and assess the larger frame of the opportunity and offer insights that are far reaching and possibly transformational, to best support the customer’s strategic vision.
• Long term view – maintain a long-term view of how best to serve clients, mitigating short-term impacts for the benefit of long-term effectiveness and results.
• Camaraderie – recognizing that knowledge and expertise is a crowdsourced discipline, client advisors must look to their immediate and broader teams for support, and offer it equivalently where it is requested.

King George stood up but the music played on. Whether a gaffe or gout (yes, there’s another version of the incident), the chorus completed its assigned task and delighted the audience, including the king. Even a leader can sometimes miss the proverbial forest through the trees, and when this happens, client advisors, with their unique skills, have the responsibility to communicate an alternative scenario, so that the music can play on.