by Bruce | August 21, 2014 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Strategy
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about leadership—something of a first here at Adam Smith, Esq., at least calling it out explicitly by that name—and the topic deserves revisiting and elaboration. My article took off from an HBR piece, Why You Lead Determines How Well...
by Bruce | August 14, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A famous former (and now late) leader of the US House of Representatives, the classic Boston pol Tip O’Neill, supposedly remarked that “all politics is local.” To that I would add MacEwen’s corollary, that “all rivalries are...
by Bruce | July 18, 2014 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
We’re just back from a week in London—coincidentally smack in the middle of the UK firms’ earnings-release season—and for reasons far more profound than that annual roll call of bragging rights, the level of preoccupation with the future in the great City...
by Bruce | July 7, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Strategy
Lots of loose language has been tossed about lately on the topic of “disruption,” and it may be time for a bit of perspective. McKinsey, never late to a trend, published Strategic principles for competing in the digital age a few weeks ago, noting that...
by Bruce | June 9, 2014 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategy
For those of you who may have missed it, we refer you forthwith to Brian Dalton’s latest column on Above The Law, “Is There a Business Case for More Female BigLaw Partners?” Anyone with a scintilla of conscience can only look at the information...
by Bruce | March 27, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Turnabout. Today we have a sequel, in a yin-yang fashion, to our earlier column, “3 leading indicators of failure.” What might the equivalent indicators be for success, or outperformance? I’m not going to rehearse characteristics of successful firms...