The Book
We wrote this book for…
- Leaders who see the need to change the way they lead and manage professional service firms but who lack a framework for doing so.
- Leaders who like their work but feel overloaded and conflicted. No matter what these leaders are doing, they think they should be doing something else.
- Leaders who asked for a guide, for new underpinnings and frameworks to help steer their thinking.
- Leaders who wanted help in making better decisions about how they managed themselves and their firms.
To help all of these leaders, we have created what we call an integrated leadership model, which is designed to stimulate thinking and facilitate the changes that high-performing leaders want to enact. Our integrated leadership model identifies four critical, interrelated activities effective leaders must carry out at both the firm and operational levels:
- Setting strategic direction – articulating where the practice is going and why, as well as clarifying how associates’ work relates to the firm’s objectives.
- Securing commitment to this direction – making everyone in the firm, especially the solid performers, feel included and heard, which encourages them to work more creatively to move a firm, practice, or project along the desired path.
- Facilitating execution of strategy – establishing, follow-through and accountability rather than leaving these to chance.
- Setting a personal example of desired behaviour – embodying the firm’s stated values and goals, displaying personal integrity, giving associates credit, and taking responsibility for one’s own actions, including mistakes.
In one form or another, the three of us have spent most of our careers working in professional service organisations, studying them, or both. Our collective and complementary experiences, together with our shared excitement about professional services as a specific genre of organisation, provided both the basis and motivation for writing this book. We hope that our integrated leadership model will provide an effective guide for leaders and partners in professional service organisations and the unique challenges they face.
You can buy the book at: