Building Stronger Leaders For A Growing Global Practice
How 2b Limitless helped Populous turn rapid growth into clearer leadership, greater cohesion and a more deliberate way of working.
Client: Populous
Partnership began: 2024
Areas of support: Executive Coaching, Senior Leadership Development, Strengths-Based Development, Women in Leadership, Executive Presence and Strategic Team Facilitation
Populous is a rapidly growing global architecture and design practice specialising in sports and entertainment. Its portfolio includes some of the world’s most recognisable venues and experiences, from Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to Sphere in Las Vegas.
By 2024, Populous had experienced a period of extraordinary growth. In approximately 18 months, the practice had doubled in size, both across EMEA and globally. The immediate priority had been managing that growth: welcoming new people, embedding systems and continuing to deliver an expanding portfolio of complex projects.
As the business moved beyond that initial period of rapid expansion, its leaders recognised that the next stage would require more than new systems and additional capacity. It would require stronger, clearer and more intentional leadership.
According to Chris Lee, Global Head of Design, Global Vice Chair and EMEA Managing Director at Populous, “We had gone through a pretty extraordinary growth period. Within about an 18-month period, here in EMEA, but also globally, we doubled in size.”
The challenge: evolving leadership alongside the business
Populous has continued to evolve throughout its 40-year history. However, as Chris explains, technical expertise does not automatically prepare someone to lead an increasingly large and complex organisation.
Chris joined Populous in 1996, early in his career as an architect. Over nearly three decades with the practice, his role has evolved alongside the business itself. He has progressed from designing increasingly complex projects to leading major teams and taking responsibility for significant parts of the global practice.
Yet, like many senior professionals, much of his development as a leader had happened through experience rather than formal training.
Having come from a sporting background, Chris understood that even the highest-performing athletes rely on coaches to challenge them and help them improve. As his leadership responsibilities grew and the business became larger and more complex, he began to question why leaders should be any different.
“There is very little training as a leader. Once you get into a larger-scale practice and a larger-scale company, you sort of find your way along.”
The objective was therefore twofold: Chris wanted to continue growing as an individual leader, while also helping the wider EMEA leadership team develop the capability and cohesion needed to lead a much larger business.
An early conversation between Mick Todd, Founder & Chairman of 2b Limitless, and Chris helped crystallise the opportunity. Chris described people as the greatest constraint on continued growth. Mick Todd challenged him to consider what would happen if Populous could unlock substantially more from the talented leaders it already had.
Rather than simply adding more people, the focus became helping existing leaders elevate their impact.
The solution: individual growth and collective performance
The partnership began with individual coaching for Chris before expanding into a structured 12-month leadership development programme for the EMEA senior leadership team.
The programme combined individual and collective development rather than treating them as separate challenges. Its components included strengths-based assessments and development, an immersive leadership workshop, 1:1 executive coaching, 2:1 performance coaching, quarterly team reviews and a final strategic debrief.
“From the beginning, this was never simply about delivering a leadership programme. It was about understanding what already made Populous exceptional and helping its leaders bring that to life more deliberately and consistently. Our role was to create the space, challenge and support for talented people to become even better – individually, collectively and for the wider practice” comments Mick.
Individual coaching created the confidential space for each leader to reflect on their performance, confront difficult questions and become more intentional about how they led. The collective sessions then brought the team together to examine its priorities, behaviours and ways of working.
The quarterly reviews were designed to move beyond conventional training. Leaders reflected honestly on what had been achieved, where frustrations remained and which behaviours would help the team continue to evolve. The sessions also created space for collaborative problem-solving, strategic thinking and shared accountability.
Coach selection was an important part of the process. Leaders were introduced to several members of the 2b Limitless coaching team before choosing the coach with whom they felt the strongest connection. This allowed each individual to work with someone whose style and experience suited their needs.
Chris initially knew 2b Limitless through his longstanding relationship with Mick, but the depth of the wider team became one of the most valuable aspects of the partnership.
“What did surprise me was the depth of their coaches. It’s not just Mick. There’s Pete and Vicki and a whole series of incredible people.”
The availability and flexibility of the team also mattered. Populous operates globally, and its leaders travel frequently. 2b Limitless was able to support people across different locations and working patterns while maintaining a consistent approach and culture.
The shift: from being busy to leading deliberately
For Chris, one of the most significant personal changes was becoming much more deliberate about how he used his time.
Before the programme, days were often filled with consecutive meetings and long working hours. Coaching encouraged him to question whether constant activity was the same as effective leadership.
He began delegating more responsibility to his senior team, creating space to focus on the work that only he could do. He also introduced unallocated time into his day: an idea that initially felt uncomfortable, but ultimately allowed greater room for thought, judgement and meaningful progress.
“In leadership, one tends to think being busy, being in back-to-back meetings and working through agendas is success. But quite often, it’s motion without moving forward.”
Rituals became an important part of this shift. Chris began thinking more consciously about the “shape of a good day”: the routines, boundaries and priorities that would allow him to perform consistently at his best.
The result was not simply a more organised diary. It was a clearer understanding of his role as Managing Director and where his attention would create the greatest value.
“Since working with 2b Limitless, I, as a leader, am much more deliberate in the way I structure my day. As a result, I feel incredibly more productive.”
The wider impact: a more cohesive and aligned leadership team
While individual development was important, Chris believes the greatest outcome has been the change across the leadership group as a whole.
Over the course of the programme, leaders became more conscious of how they showed up, how they communicated and how their individual styles affected the wider team. Coaching created opportunities for honest conversations and, at times, difficult feedback. The collective work helped turn these individual insights into stronger relationships and more effective ways of working.
The team became more open, more willing to challenge one another and clearer about its shared direction. Leadership became less reactive and more intentional.
“I’ve seen my senior leadership team grow as individuals, but more importantly, grow as a cohesive group.”
This cohesion has helped the team lead an EMEA practice of approximately 700 people with greater clarity and efficiency. Chris is careful not to attribute every business result to a single programme, but he sees a clear difference in how the leadership team operates since working with 2b Limitless: it is more aligned, more connected and more confident in where it is heading.
The effect has also extended beyond the senior group. Greater clarity within the leadership team has supported clearer communication across the broader practice.
“Since our partnership with 2b Limitless, I’ve found incredible clarity, both in myself as a leader and in my senior leadership team. We are much more clear and deliberate in what we are doing and how we are doing it.”
A partnership that has continued to grow
What began as individual 1:1 coaching with Chris and an EMEA leadership programme has developed into a broader partnership that now supports different populations and priorities across Populous globally.
Since 2024, 2b Limitless has supported more than 30 Populous leaders through executive coaching, 2:1 coaching, strengths development, leadership workshops, mentoring, assessments and group programmes. The original 12-month programme involved Chris and 15 senior leaders across EMEA, while subsequent work has expanded to additional leaders, two Women in Leadership cohorts and strategic programmes connecting colleagues from EMEA, APAC and the Americas.
The 2b Limitless and Populous relationship has continued to broaden both in the number of people reached and in the development opportunities available. Alongside additional 1:1 and 2:1 coaching, 2b Limitless has supported the global Populous Women in Leadership programme. Following the first cohort, a second 12-month programme was developed for 2026–2027, bringing together strengths development, immersive workshops, virtual learning and individual coaching for 12 female leaders from across the world. Its purpose is to help participants build greater confidence, clearness and presence, while taking more intentional ownership of their careers and influence.
This programme has been further extended through mentoring support and Bates ExPI 360 assessments and debriefs, with 13 female leaders receiving deeper insight into their executive presence and leadership impact.
In 2026, 2b Limitless was also engaged to facilitate the Populous Global Events Summit. This work brings together leaders from EMEA, APAC and the Americas to move from a shared global framework to practical alignment, stronger collaboration and clear ownership. The summit is designed to define the behaviours behind the strategy and create a focused roadmap for execution and accountability.
Looking ahead, 2b Limitless and Populous are now developing a three-year programme for 2027–2029 designed to embed the Populous Way across the global practice. Building on the leadership development work already completed, the programme will seek to capture what makes Populous distinctive, codify the behaviours, rituals and ways of working that support success and scale them consistently across regions, studios, teams and future generations of leaders.
This next phase represents a further evolution of the relationship: from targeted coaching and development programmes to a long-term global partnership focused on leadership, culture and sustainable organisational performance.
“The projects Populous creates will continue to define its reputation around the world, but the leadership behind those projects will define its legacy. What has been most rewarding for us at 2b Limitless is seeing the appetite across the business to keep learning, evolving and raising the standard together. Our partnership is now about capturing what works, codifying it and helping the Populous Way scale across people, teams and regions” emphasises Mick.
Unlocking potential
For Chris, the value of the partnership has been felt both personally and across the wider practice. Individual coaching has changed how he approaches leadership, while the broader programme has strengthened the capability and cohesion of the team around him.
“Working with 2b Limitless has, for me personally and for my practice, been able to unlock our potential.”
His advice to another senior leader considering coaching is straightforward: begin with a conversation.
“As an individual leader, working with a 1:1 coach has been incredibly useful and, for me, transformational. For my broader practice, it has been transformational too. I couldn’t recommend 2b Limitless highly enough.”
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