By 2028, most Investment Banking VPs and Directors will fall into one of two categories:

There will be less room in the middle.

The challenge?

Almost nobody has given you a serious, insider playbook for origination, especially if you’ve spent 10–12 years being rewarded for flawless execution, not for creating the next mandate .

This newsletter is that playbook.

Let’s start with the reality that most VPs and Directors are living.

You’re staffed wall-to-wall:

Origination feels like something you’ll “get to later.” But the market is already shifting. Firms are promoting those who show an early revenue signal:

If you don’t make time for origination, the decision eventually gets made for you.

You were trained to:

Not to:

Yet that’s exactly what promotion committees now expect.

Most MDs:

So you’re left assembling your own playbook.

Generic BD and sales training doesn’t reflect your world.

You’re not selling a product. You’re earning the right to advise. Origination in investment banking is not traditional sales.

It’s expertise, credibility, judgment, and timing in a competitive ecosystem.

One of the most important shifts comes from Matt Dixon’s The Activator Advantage.

In professional services, you are not “selling” something separate. You are the product. That means you are a Doer-Seller:

The implication is powerful. Origination is not a separate activity. It is an extension of how you show up. And this is where most VPs get stuck.

They still operate like: “I’m an expert who sometimes has to sell.”

The bankers who break through shift to: “I’m a business builder who happens to be an expert.” That mindset change alone can be career-defining.

Most VPs treat execution and origination as separate. The best bankers don’t. They stack them. As Matt Zimmer, Global Head of IB at William Blair on the IB Leaders Podcast recently put it:

“Execution… is the best form of origination.”

Every interaction is building or eroding future revenue. “Every interaction should be considered your last interaction with a client.”

Similarly, Marcel Brix Managing Partner at Blok Management reinforces this:

“You can and should do origination everywhere”

The implication is simple: You are either building your future pipeline or missing it every day.

Most bankers don’t fail at origination because they lack ability. They fail because they lack discipline. Execution requires discipline.

Origination requires a different kind:

Marcel Brix captures it clearly:

“It’s a consistent marathon, not a sprint.”

This is exactly where the Activator model sharpens the point:

Activators don’t find time for origination. They commit to it structurally and treat it as a Non-negotiable.

You will never “find” time. You have to build it and protect it. As Marcel Brix puts it: “You need to block your calendar with organisation and discipline.”

The best in the industry carve out at least 1-2 hours a week to be intentional about building and cultivating meaningful relationships. They utilize LinkedIn and show up to events, no matter how busy they get.

The Activator Advantage breaks origination into three behaviours that map perfectly to Investment banking.

Most bankers wait:

Activators don’t. They bring commercial insight that creates the opportunity. This aligns directly with your role:

As Philip Ross, the Chairman Global Healthcare IB at Jefferies put it on the IB Leaders Podcast:

“Look at your relationships in a 10-year arc. Transactions are episodic; a banker’s value lies in being present and providing advice even when there is no immediate transaction on the table.”

He also shared that “Taking a view is what is memorable.”

Not: “What do you want to do?” But: “Here’s what you should be thinking about and why.”

That’s how relationships grow, and mandates start.

Most VPs have one strong contact, which is fragile. You need to build a wide breadth of contacts and know multiple stakeholders. You also need to collaborate well and bring the right internal stakeholders to each opportunity.

Matt Zimmer stressed the importance of moving beyond a "solo act" by emphasising a philosophy he calls "Don't Be a Hero". He argues that rising leaders, who are open to collaboration and bring in a Managing Director or other internal stakeholders to establish better credibility, actually "accelerate faster in business"

Origination is not: “My client”. It’s: “Our platform’s relationship.” That’s how you build durability and scale your franchise.

Traditional thinking: “Hire us, then we’ll add value.” If you flip this and find ways to show value for potential clients, your relationships grow fast. “We’ll show you value first.” In banking, showing value first looks like:

Not a pitch. A perspective.

When you combine IB reality with the Activator model, origination simplifies into four capabilities:

1. Insight — Take a View

Clients remember conviction, not just information.

2. Access — Build Real Entry Points

Start with relevance, not hierarchy.

3. Momentum — Move Conversations Forward

Ideas don’t win deals. Momentum does.

4. Memory — Play the Long Game

Track, follow up, and compound relationships.

Origination is not something you can suddenly switch on at the VP or Director level.

It is built quietly in how you show up on deals, how you think about clients, and how consistently you choose to create opportunity rather than wait for it.

Over time, that behaviour compounds. Reputations are formed, trust builds, and a pattern becomes visible to clients, to colleagues, and ultimately to those making promotion decisions.

The question is not whether you are capable of origination. It is whether you are building it deliberately. Because in today’s market, the difference between those who move forward and those who stall is rarely technical.

It is whether they made the shift early enough from executing work to creating it.