Art of Managing Professional Services, The (eBook)

'High praise for Maureen Broderick.... Her book gives firm leaders a step up in competing on the global landscape.'
—James Turley, Chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young
'Anyone involved in the management of a professional service firm will find real value here.'
—David Childs, Global Managing Partner, Clifford Chance
'Maureen Broderick brings shape and clarity to the vital, but abstract, essence of professional service firms.'
—Ralph Shrader, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Booz Allen Hamilton
'Broderick's book is filled with best practices that will help all kinds of companies—whether they are professional service firms or not—meet the challenges of doing business in the 21st century.'
—Ray Kotcher, Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum
'Every professional service partner—and aspiring partner—should read this book.'
—Paul Laudicina, Managing Officer and Chairman, A.T. Kearney
'This comprehensive overview of best practices from the world's leading firms will resonate with leaders and managers.'
—Eric Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps
'The takeaways are fantastic!'
—Andy Cohen, Co-CEO, Gensler
'One only needs to read this book to realize that managing a professional service firm is very much an art, if not a science, worthy of its own special study and examination.'
—Mike Goss, Managing Director and COO, Bain Capital
Building and managing a professional service firm is very different from running a product-based business. Infrastructure, governance, talent acquisition and retention, and compensation and financial management vary significantly from traditional corporate environments. Conventional management advice doesn't offer all the answers, and mainstream business gurus rarely address the unique challenges facing professional service firm leaders.
The Art of Managing Professional Services is one of the most comprehensive, research-based guides to firm management ever written for the industry. Based on more than 130 in-depth interviews with leaders of the world's top firms, the book offers practical, proven, best practices on how to tackle the ten critical areas that firm leaders must monitor to build and maintain a strong organization: vision, values, and culture, people, clients, services, finance, positioning, partnership, strategy, structure, and leadership style.
Maureen Broderick draws on her 30 years of experience in professional services to explore both the art and science of running a high performance firm. She presents tangible processes and programs–including 40 featured best practices–that readers can tailor to their own organizations and cultures. Inside you will learn:
>> How to create and maintain a shared vision, values, and culture
>> Best programs to recruit, train, and retain great people
>> Strategies to develop and manage a profitable portfolio of clients
>> What it takes to innovate services and share knowledge
>> The key metrics to monitor financial health
>> Insights into effective positioning, marketing, and selling firm services
>> Proven practices for rewarding and managing the partnership
>> A guide to both long-term and annual strategic planning
>> Balancing structure and governance in a consensus-driven organization
>> Secrets for leading 'incredibly smart and independent people'

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Today, millions of people work at over one million professional service firms generating over $2 trillion in revenue annually. These firms face unique issues that are not fully understood by management thinkers and consultants. Making matters more complex is that many of these firms stand at a crossroads, searching for new strategies and practices to succeed in a radically new economy. In The Art of Managing Professional Services, Maureen Broderick offers the solution. Broderick has brought together modern best practices for these and other crucial areas of professional services management: * Building, communicating, and maintaining shared vision, values, and culture * Recruiting, training, and evaluating people * Crafting the right strategies, portfolio, and mix of clients * Innovating and sharing knowledge * Financial planning, metrics, and reporting * Positioning: brand, marketing, and sales * Defining effective partnerships: equity, selection, and compensation * Ensuring responsibility and accountability * Organizational design, structure, governance, and systems * Leading effectively, and growing the next generation of leaders This book reflects Broderick & Co.'s unparalleled research into professional services management, including 200+ executive interviews with leaders and innovators in organizations of all sizes and types.