by Bruce | November 18, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership
We’ve all met the "800 pound gorilla" rainmakers who are narcissistic, obnoxious, disruptive (even vicious)—and absolutely brilliant at what they do. Is mute toleration the only recourse? Our friends at Wharton suggest firms need to...
by Bruce | November 17, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A recent poll/post about the "optimal" partner compensation system produced interesting—and very mixed, a/k/a divided—results, with the option "there’s no such thing" coming in second overall. Off-line, I had a subsequent...
by Bruce | November 16, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A recent post that received a fair amount of attention (or notoriety, as you prefer) was that recapping a presentation by Prof. William Henderson of Indiana University School of Law/Bloomington about the relative profitability of firms that converted to two-tier...
by Bruce | November 14, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
Today I submitted the following book review to my friends at ALM Media. No telling if they’ll publish it, but the loyal readers of Adam Smith, Esq. deserve a look no matter whatFull disclosure: I count Bruce Marcus a friend (although I have never met or spoken...
by Bruce | November 12, 2005 | Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
I’ve written previously of my firm conviction that it’s people who make the times and not the times who make the people, and we’ve seen it in action again vis-a-vis the demise of Coudert. The two firms who pounced on the situation the fastest...
by Bruce | November 12, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Just Plain Interesting, Leadership, Strategy
Peter Drucker, the management uber-guru who hated the term "guru," died at home in Claremont, California yesterday "of natural causes," a phrase all too rarely heard in our Big Medical Science era. I’ll leave the recitation of the facts...