Relationships & Results Business Development in a Prolonged Crisis with Emad Odeh- 2026 Cosmic Conference LinkedIn Live Session
- Cosmic Centaurs
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 20
About the Session
In this session, Emad shared insights on how leaders can navigate business development in uncertain markets, from reading shifting market signals and adapting how they approach growth to building strong relationships that sustain long-term opportunity.
Key Takeaways
1. Opportunities shift before they become visible
The market is slowing, with longer sales cycles, delayed decisions, and lower conversion, even if pipelines remain active. This creates the impression that growth has stopped.
In reality, opportunity has shifted and requires a sharper lens to see it.
Leaders need to read patterns, not just react to surface signals. Each crisis behaves differently. The 2008 crisis exposed over leveraged models. COVID exposed lack of adaptability. The current crisis is regional, evolving, and harder to interpret in real time.. Like Alice in Wonderland, leaders have entered a world where the usual rules no longer apply. The way forward is not to force old logic, but to pause, observe, and separate signal from illusion.
Leaders need to look outward to spot shifts in demand and inward to assess whether their business model is still relevant. The focus shifts from where value exists today to where it could emerge next.
To put this into action:
Look for patterns across past crises to understand how opportunities shift
Challenge your assumptions and test where you may be wrong
Track changes in customer behavior and buying pace
Monitor regulatory and financial signals that may unlock movement
Reassess your business model to stay relevant to what is coming next.
2. Growth requires protecting today while building tomorrow
Growth becomes more selective in uncertain markets. It shifts toward where demand is most resilient and where businesses stay relevant. Leaders need to operate on two fronts at the same time. Protect existing revenue while actively positioning for new opportunities.
Existing clients are the first line of stability. Trust is already built, which creates space to deepen relationships, expand scope, and stay close to evolving needs. This is where revenue is defended and often quietly grown.
At the same time, new opportunities continue to emerge. In difficult periods, more deals come to market as companies restructure, seek support, or look for new partners. Entry points also shift. They may come through banks, legal advisors, or new intermediaries rather than traditional channels.
This creates a dynamic where leaders need to stay present in both spaces. Protect what is working, while staying visible and available to capture what is changing. The balance shifts over time, and strong leaders keep adjusting based on how the market evolves.
3. You don’t stop selling, you change how you sell
Selling continues, though the approach becomes more grounded in how clients think and decide. Clients move more cautiously. Decisions take longer, commitments get smaller, and conversations shift toward risk, efficiency, and immediate value. This changes how leaders need to engage.
Large, long-term deals will slow down. Breaking work into smaller, lower-risk entry points makes it easier for clients to move forward. This reduces hesitation and keeps momentum alive.Conversations also need to shift. Instead of leading with what is being sold, leaders should focus on what the client is trying to protect or solve. This could be cost, stability, or operational continuity. Speaking to these priorities makes the offer more relevant.
Presence matters as much as the offer itself. Showing up without pushing a transaction, listening closely, and sometimes advising against a deal strengthens credibility. It positions the leader as a partner rather than a vendor.
“Productizing differently” means reshaping what is offered to match current needs. This could mean simplifying the scope, adjusting pricing models, or reframing services around immediate problems clients are facing. The goal is to make it easier for clients to say yes to something that feels useful and manageable now.
4. Opportunities require perspective, patience, and simplicity
Opportunities in uncertain markets are rarely visible at first. They require leaders to step back, question assumptions, and separate real signals from noise.’
A practical approach is to simplify. Occam’s Razor reminds leaders that the simplest explanation is often the right one. In business development, this means cutting through complexity, focusing on what clients actually need, and avoiding overengineered solutions.
5. Relationships are integral to business development.
Emad shared how his father built businesses through daily conversations at home and in the community café Central. By staying close to people and listening to what they needed, he was able to understand real demand and build businesses around it, including a road construction company, an engineering office, and a construction materials business.
This shaped how Emad approaches business development today. He created his majlis as a way to stay consistently connected to people and the market. Through regular gatherings and ongoing conversations, he listens, exchanges perspectives, and taps into collective insight to understand what is emerging.
Business development is driven by proximity, listening, and staying present in the right circles. It is also about being in the right rooms, knowing who to speak to, and filtering signal from noise through conversation.
Trust is also built in the absence of a direct transaction. It grows through small, consistent touchpoints such as checking in, listening, and showing up without an agenda. When relationships are built this way, opportunities follow naturally when the time is right.
6. Lightning Round
What keeps you grounded?
Reminding myself that “this too shall pass,” and that everything is temporary
The idea of the “pale blue dot,” introduced by astronomer Carl Sagan, shows Earth as a tiny point in a vast galaxy, reminding me how small any single crisis is in the bigger picture.
What helps you be limitless? My father taught me that "The day you stop learning you start growing older, and the day you keep learning you stay young"
What is one leadership quality from the Arab world that the rest of the world can learn from? Wisdom, patience, and the belief that "وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ",
you may dislike something while it carries good for you.
What are the top three things leaders should do right now?
Look for patterns in the business and market
Simplify decisions and cut through complexity
Stay calm and composed under pressure
About Cosmic Centaurs
Cosmic Centaurs is an organizational and leadership development consultancy helping leaders and leadership teams make better decisions and drive sustainable change.
The Cosmic Conference is our annual, open platform for learning, reflection, and connection, bringing together leaders, thinkers, and practitioners to explore the questions that matter most to leadership today.
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