Press Release
WHEN PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO LEAD
A New Model for High Performance
By Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro, and Robert J. Lees
“Taking a leadership role is an absolute necessity for all partners if their firms are going to remain successful. When Professionals Have to Lead reveals the difference successful leadership can bring. It is both inspirational and forward thinking and should be compulsory reading for partners everywhere.”
John Mack, Chairman and CEO, Morgan Stanley
“When Professionals Have to Lead succeeds by providing compelling examples of the real-world problems faced by managers of professional services firms and savvy, practical recommendations making it as exciting and energetic as it is informative. Anyone in a position of leadership in a professional service firm will benefit by reading it.”
John Haley, President and CEO, Watson Wyatt Worldwide
The fact is, professional services firms – or PSFs – are different. These firms differ from other organizations in many ways: in the value they offer to customers; in their structures and culture; in the way they are managed; and perhaps most importantly, in the way they manage and develop their professionals. Because of this, they need their own set of rules when it comes to leadership.
In addition, today’s PSFs – organizations specializing in consulting, investment banking, public accounting, law, public relations, advertising, academia, and medicine – are facing a more competitive landscape, as well as escalating expectations from clients, associates, and partners. Clients expect PSFs to be all things to all people, requesting help in areas where firms may have little or no expertise. Associates have development needs that often aren’t being met. And partners increasingly grapple with challenges such as how to keep a family-like culture in a fast-growing firm, how to retain top performers, and how to balance coaching and mentoring with doing their ‘real’ work.
Unfortunately, many leaders of PSFs rely on old behaviours to meet these new challenges. Some work longer and longer hours, risking burnout. Others assume that stepping up their travel schedule will get problems under control. Still others keep striving to hire the best and brightest, incorrectly assuming that is all it takes to maintain a strategic edge. But these old models require a tough juggling act-one that has become far more difficult in today’s volatile environment. The new realities facing PSFs call for a redefinition of leadership.
In WHEN PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO LEAD: A New Model for High Performance, authors Tom DeLong, Jack Gabarro, and Rob Lees provide the new definition in their integrated leadership model – which they maintain is an absolute necessity for PSFs to remain successful. The model rests on the belief that what PSF leaders say and do is more important than ever. It 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.
Citing examples from a broad range of professional service organizations – including Clifford Chance, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and Herbert Smith – the authors explain how their model enables PSF leaders to not only address new challenges but also handle the thorny difficulties posed by these firms’ unique characteristics. For example:
- In many practice-based PSFs, leaders and partners are also major shareholders, which can blur lines of authority.
- Young professionals learn on the job, which makes the quality of teaching, coaching, and mentoring especially critical.
- Many PSFs have a flat, apprenticeship-based structure, which can make communicating direction and values as well as coordinating people’s work difficult in larger firms.
- Some PSFs have moved from providing only services to offering a combination of products and services, while others are moving from product-based to advisory-based offerings. These trends raise significant leadership and management challenges, as the degree of ‘product intensity’ in a firm strongly affects organizational structures, managerial roles, capital intensity, and staff development.
In WHEN PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO LEAD, the authors provide case histories showing how forward-looking PSFs have used integrated leadership principles to achieve dramatic performance gains. Through such case studies and a wealth of practical recommendations, this book challenges established notions of how leaders in professional services firms can best steer their organizations to enduring success.
About the Authors
Thomas J. DeLong is the Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior area at the Harvard Business School.
John J. Gabarro is Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School.
Robert J. Lees consults to the leaders of professional firms. He is a former director of professional development at Morgan Stanley and former director of human resources for Ernst & Young Global.
WHEN PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO LEAD
A New Model for High Performance
By Thomas J. DeLong, Jack Gabarro, and Rob Lees
Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: December 19, 2007
Price: $35.00; Pages: 256; ISBN: 978-1-4221-1737-8
www.hbspress.org
Contact
Erin Brown
Harvard Business Press
(617) 783-7764
ebrown@hbsp.harvard.edu