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Professional Services Leadership Handbook: How to Lead a Professional Services Firm in a New Age of Competitive Disruption
Professional services firms - from the legal sector to accountancy, consulting and beyond - face increased disruption. Service delivery models are under pressure to adapt to changing client expectations. Technology offers new ways of working with clients, but changes the skills profile required of professionals, and threatens the traditional people-centred business model. The Professional Services Leadership Handbook equips leaders, and aspiring leaders, with tools and insights both to tackle these long-term disruptive trends and to maximise their firm's profitability today.
Leaders of professional services firms find themselves with a daunting, but exciting, range of challenges ahead. Using practical insights drawn from experienced professional services leaders, the Professional Services Leadership Handbook explores new models and working practices to address four components of strategic clients, business, people and self leadership. It offers clear-sighted analysis of common pain points, and provides innovative solutions for dealing with them. This practical guide is designed for everyone involved in leadership decisions, whether that be a practice area, sector group, business function, or even firm-wide leadership role. It will help readers to focus their attention on the activities that will really make a difference to the success of their firm.
Leaders of professional services firms find themselves with a daunting, but exciting, range of challenges ahead. Using practical insights drawn from experienced professional services leaders, the Professional Services Leadership Handbook explores new models and working practices to address four components of strategic clients, business, people and self leadership. It offers clear-sighted analysis of common pain points, and provides innovative solutions for dealing with them. This practical guide is designed for everyone involved in leadership decisions, whether that be a practice area, sector group, business function, or even firm-wide leadership role. It will help readers to focus their attention on the activities that will really make a difference to the success of their firm.
- GenresBusiness
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 29, 2017
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July 20, 2017
Who would be a consultant today? The answer is, of course many, but there is tremendous, even unprecedented competition for the role and the whole consultancy field is under pressure and change. Leading or working within a professional services company needs a certain skillset, something that may not be optimised for many. A book like this can be worth more than its weight in gold.
This excellent book takes a focussed look at the changing face of consultancy, fired up by the need for greater consolidation of expertise, cooperation between service providers and even the differing needs and demands of clients. Multi-disciplinary firms are taking over an increasing share of the market, yet there is scope still for narrow-focussed, quality sector expertise too. Technology is both a help and a hindrance: local is no longer necessarily ‘best’ and the client will let the project’s need be key.
Consultants love to benefit from disruption, except perhaps when it is also eating or affecting their own business!
To use a bit of a hated modern-day consulting term, this book offers a 360-degree look at the consultancy field. No sacred cows are here. It is written in a clear, understandable and actionable form. It gives advice and guidance but doesn’t do the work for you. Dependent on your firm’s needs, you may need to consider new business models, new ways of working and rationalise change. For others, it might be more of a polishing exercise. It has a lot of good advice that could even be beneficial to a commissioning client too – everyone can benefit from transparent, informed knowledge. The price, for what you are getting, is literally a steal!
The authors draw heavily on their experiences within (and with) professional service firms, mixing it with current research, thinking and peer opinion to deliver a powerful resource in a small package. It is particularly good to see the industry participant quotations. A so-called Leadership Triangle has been developed by the authors, which distils the various leadership challenges together, showing how a firm needs to see-over several elements to ensure the entire being is in good, functional health. The book then looks at each element in detail, dispensing good advice and leaving the reader with a lot to think about in the process, since these are the 12 key challenges identified as being acute for firms going forward.
Each chapter has further reading suggestions in the shape of references and case studies add even more external validation to the authors’ helpful advice. It is a specialist book that deserves the reader’s attention. Even non-specialists stand to gain some good advice and value from the book if they let it. It is a powerful, highly focussed and valuable resource.
This excellent book takes a focussed look at the changing face of consultancy, fired up by the need for greater consolidation of expertise, cooperation between service providers and even the differing needs and demands of clients. Multi-disciplinary firms are taking over an increasing share of the market, yet there is scope still for narrow-focussed, quality sector expertise too. Technology is both a help and a hindrance: local is no longer necessarily ‘best’ and the client will let the project’s need be key.
Consultants love to benefit from disruption, except perhaps when it is also eating or affecting their own business!
To use a bit of a hated modern-day consulting term, this book offers a 360-degree look at the consultancy field. No sacred cows are here. It is written in a clear, understandable and actionable form. It gives advice and guidance but doesn’t do the work for you. Dependent on your firm’s needs, you may need to consider new business models, new ways of working and rationalise change. For others, it might be more of a polishing exercise. It has a lot of good advice that could even be beneficial to a commissioning client too – everyone can benefit from transparent, informed knowledge. The price, for what you are getting, is literally a steal!
The authors draw heavily on their experiences within (and with) professional service firms, mixing it with current research, thinking and peer opinion to deliver a powerful resource in a small package. It is particularly good to see the industry participant quotations. A so-called Leadership Triangle has been developed by the authors, which distils the various leadership challenges together, showing how a firm needs to see-over several elements to ensure the entire being is in good, functional health. The book then looks at each element in detail, dispensing good advice and leaving the reader with a lot to think about in the process, since these are the 12 key challenges identified as being acute for firms going forward.
Each chapter has further reading suggestions in the shape of references and case studies add even more external validation to the authors’ helpful advice. It is a specialist book that deserves the reader’s attention. Even non-specialists stand to gain some good advice and value from the book if they let it. It is a powerful, highly focussed and valuable resource.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review