Blog 27 - High Agency: The Hidden Growth Engine in B2B and B2G Success

The blog this week is from Jeremy

High Agency: The Hidden Growth Engine in B2B and B2G Success

In our high-stakes world of Business to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G) growth, where complexity, competition and bureaucracy often collide - on reflection we find that one trait consistently separates the winners from the rest: high agency. This mindset—championed by thought leaders like Alex Hormozi and grounded in psychological research—is not just a personal asset; it’s a strategic advantage for companies seeking to scale, win work and lead markets.

What Is High Agency?

Alex Hormozi defines high agency as “the belief in one’s ability to positively influence their circumstances and outcomes, coupled with the proactive action and resilience required to achieve ambitious goals.” It’s about being the author of your own story, not a passive character in someone else’s.

High agency individuals:

  • Act without waiting for permission

  • Adapt quickly to setbacks

  • Find creative solutions with limited resources

  • Persist with clarity and purpose

  • Own their decisions and outcomes

  • Welcome feedback and evolve fast

  • Maintain rational optimism

These traits aren’t just admirable—they’re essential in the B2B and B2G arenas, where navigating procurement processes, stakeholder politics, and shifting priorities demands more than technical competence.

The Four Pillars of Agency in Action

According to Psychology Today, agency is built on four pillars:

  1. Forethought: High agency professionals don’t just react—they anticipate. In business development - this means identifying emerging needs, mapping influence networks and crafting compelling value propositions far before the tender drops.

  2. Implementation: They move fast. Whether it’s launching a pilot, iterating a proposal or initiating a stakeholder conversation - they act decisively and learn on the fly.

  3. Self-Management: Winning work is a marathon. High agency leaders manage their energy, emotions and focus over time. They build habits that sustain performance under pressure.

  4. Learning and Adapting: Feedback loops are their fuel. They debrief wins and losses, refine strategies and stay agile in the face of shifting client needs or procurement hurdles.

Why High Agency Matters in B2B/B2G Growth

In B2B and B2G contexts growth is rarely linear. It’s a dance of influence, timing, and trust. High agency individuals:

  • Accelerate deal cycles by proactively removing blockers

  • Build trust with clients through ownership and follow-through

  • Navigate ambiguity in public sector procurement with confidence

  • Mobilise internal teams around bold, clear goals

Nick Wignall notes that high agency people are “enthusiastic and positive, rarely complain, and are good at finding silver linings without being naive.” In a world where pessimism can stall progress, this mindset is a growth multiplier.

Cultivating High Agency in Your Teams

High agency isn’t just innate—it can be nurtured. Leaders can:

  • Model ownership and initiative

  • Reward experimentation and learning

  • Create space for autonomy and decision-making

  • Encourage reflection and feedback loops

By embedding high agency into your culture, you create a team that doesn’t just respond to opportunities—they create them.

Final Thought

In the pursuit of B2B and B2G growth, tools and tactics matter. But mindset is the multiplier. High agency isn’t just a personal trait—high performing organisations bake the intent of high agency into their DNA, their approach, systems and governance. In the hands of the right people, it’s a force that turns ambition into unrivalled achievement.


Other Resources

We’re on a mission to help companies like yours win more work. 

Here are some other free resources that should help you too. Feel also free to share them with friends and colleagues:

  • Bid Writing Training - Learn to write winning tenders here.

  • Free Bid Writing Basics Training Video - Watch the video here.

  • Writing Crown Commercial Services Bids - Learn to tackle the challenges of writing CCS tenders here.

  • The Bid Toolkit - We make winning simple.

  • Our free work winning Podcast, the Red Review, can be found here

  • You can also follow Jeremy on LinkedIn for hints, tips and insights here


100% Typo Guarantee—Our blog posts are free-range. It was hand-crafted with love and sent out unfiltered. There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-post revisions. Therefore, I can pretty much guarantee that there is some sort of typo or grammatical error or literary snafu. Got a business to run and a four year old to Dad. Sorry.

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Blog 26 - Bid Qualification: Making Smarter Decisions with SCOTSMAN