Alex Thomson speaks at the Real Deals Value Creation Conference

We were delighted that our Partner Alex Thomson took part in this year’s Real Deals Value Creation Forum, which marked its seventh year as one of the industry’s most influential gatherings for private equity leaders.

The forum brought together a highly curated community of investors, operators and value creation specialists to address the most pressing challenges shaping the PE landscape from psychological decision-making and geopolitical complexity to AI structuring and operating model innovation.

Panel Discussion: What does it really take to lead in private equity today?

Alex joined a distinguished group of leaders for a frank discussion on the realities of modern PE leadership. The session was moderated by Mustafa Khanbhai, Director, Commercial at LDC, and included:

• Stephanie Caspar, Partner & Head of Portfolio and Via Summa, Summa Equity
• Pratik Chandaria, Partner, VALPEO
• Laurits Bach Sørensen, Senior Partner & Co-Founder, Nordic Alpha Partners

The conversation focused on how leadership expectations had evolved in a more volatile, complex and rapidly shifting environment. Key themes from the discussion included:

• Capital alone was no longer enough – value creation capability, specialisation and professionalism had become more of a focus in the industry.
• Leadership demands had risen sharply – meaning leaders with strong cognitive, emotional and adaptive capabilities were now increasingly well-positioned to thrive in today’s more complex value creation environment.
• Alignment was critical – misalignment between investor ambition and management/organisational capacity was a major cause of fatigue, stress and underperformance.
• Partnership, not boardroom distance, drove results – the most effective investment teams worked closely and continuously with management, building trust, psychological safety and real-time problem-solving.
• Resilience was driven by the ability to reframe challenges – strong leaders reset plans when reality changed, set achievable stepping-stone goals, and stayed candid on issues while remaining respectful to people.

The panel agreed that leadership in private equity had shifted decisively away from command-and-control styles and towards adaptive, trust-based models better suited to today’s high-change environment. Alex highlighted that authenticity and clarity were becoming essential traits for leaders seeking to maintain alignment and followership under pressure.

Growth Capital Partners (GCP) was founded in 1999 and has a proven track record of successfully building genuine investment partnerships with founders in ambitious, highly specialist businesses that power the Knowledge Economy. With deep expertise in the Technology and Specialist Services sectors, bringing valuable strategic support, tools for scaling, and extensive experience in helping people-driven businesses to unlock innovation, drive long-term sustainable growth, and build the businesses of the future