Sam McClary: ‘I was convinced I was brilliant’

Posted on: 1 February, 2026

Speaking at the University of the Built Environment’s Winter Graduation Ceremony 2026, Sam McClary, chief executive of British Council for Offices (BCO) reflects on the lessons she learnt as a journalist, the power of persistence, and why listening remains an essential skill.

Standing on a stage and addressing a room full of graduates never really gets easier, Sam McClary admits. Even after years of public speaking, the responsibility that comes with offering advice to those about to embark on their careers still brings nerves.

“When you are asked to come to an event like this to provide a few words of supposed wisdom to a room full of most excellent graduates,” she told the audience, “nerve-wracking doesn’t come close to covering it.”

Sam, now chief executive of the BCO, was speaking at the University of the Built Environment’s Graduation Ceremony on Friday 30 January 2026. Her message to graduates drew heavily on her earlier career in journalism and on the lessons she says no classroom can fully prepare you for.

Real estate journalist

“For the first 20 years of my career, I was a real estate journalist,” she explained. “It is those years, the lessons I learnt throughout them and even the heartbreak I suffered at the end of that journey that I want to share today. Because it is those things that have got me to where I am today.”

The most important of those lessons, she said, was tenacity.

As a young reporter working at ‘Caterer & Hotelkeeper’, Sam enjoyed the variety of the role, but she had her sights set firmly on property journalism and on joining the Estates Gazette. Convinced she was ready, she approached the publication directly and asked for a job.

The answer was no.

So she went back. And then back again.

‘I was convinced I was brilliant’

“I really was quite convinced I was brilliant,” she told graduates, recalling how confidence initially outweighed experience. Rejection followed rejection, but persistence eventually won out. “And eventually everyone gives in,” she said. “And they did. I got the job.”

That confidence, she added, was quickly tempered by reality. “I did quite quickly learn that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.” Copy was heavily edited, and the learning curve was steep. But by listening, observing and absorbing how others worked, she built a deep understanding of the sector.

That determination ultimately led to editorial leadership and gave her a platform to both champion and challenge an industry she had grown deeply attached to.

“Tenacity comes with belief,” she said. “Belief in yourself. Belief in what you want to achieve. Belief in what matters.”

For Sam, belief has always been closely tied to the built environment. It is a sector, she told graduates, with extraordinary potential to do good. “This is an industry that has the power to do so much. To fix the broken. To turn lives around. To save our planet.”

Yet it often struggles to articulate that impact clearly. Helping the industry better explain its value has become a driving force in her work, particularly after her own career took an unexpected turn.

“Even when my route to helping was taken away,” she said, “my tenaciousness saved me, and put me where I am today.”

The art of listening

Before closing, Sam shared one final lesson from her journalism career: the importance of listening.

Early in my career, I landed what I thought was the scoop of the year. Retail agent Malcolm Dalgliesh was selling his eponymous business to CBRE for a lot of money and I’d heard about it before anyone else.

I called him up and asked him: “Are you selling your business to CBRE for £30m?”

His response: “Do you think I’d sell to those ******s*?”

I hung up the phone, crestfallen. I didn’t write the story. A day or so later, a press release landed in my inbox announcing the sale of Dalgleish to CBRE for £30m.

I immediately picked up the phone. Outraged I told him “how dare you lie to me, that’s not how this works”. He very calmly replied: “I didn’t lie to you Sam. What did I say?”

I repeated his answer – without the swearing – “You said ‘do you think I’d sell to those idiots?”.

“Exactly,” he said.

The answer, of course, was yes. I’d got too caught up in my own desire to land the scoop that I hadn’t actually listened. If I’d listened, I would have pushed him further. I would have made him answer and not deflect.

It hurt to miss the scoop. But I never made the same mistake again.

So. Be passionate. Be tenacious. Be proud. And listen.

Read more about Sam: Sam McClary wins Built Environment award