by Bruce | August 16, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Did you ever wonder whether it’s more important, in terms of profitability, to be in the right industry or to be good at what you do? As it turns out, the UCLA business school professor I’m about to introduce you to answered that question over 15...
by Bruce | August 11, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
The elements of leadership—not as ineffable as some would have you believe—are a topic I spend a fair amount of time on, for one simple reason: I believe that leadership matters, deeply. Regular readers will know that I subscribe to the theory...
by Bruce | August 1, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Strategic planning is hard to argue with. Unless your practices and your operations are absolutely positively optimal across the board (in which case you need to divulge to me the source of your pixie dust), strategic planning is the generally accepted tool for...
by Bruce | July 25, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management
But enough about Gen X and Gen Y. As urgent as the issues of associate retention can be, with the human costs and the financial repercussions front and center, it’s time to focus on the other end of the generational spectrum: Partners nearing...
by Bruce | June 29, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Behold a thunderclap of common sense. Might our industry be about to introduce the camel’s nose of "merit-based pay" into the tent? Washington-based Howrey (630 lawyers) just announced, as reported on law.com, that they are ditching lockstep...
by Bruce | June 23, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Sometimes we take our IT infrastructure for granted—too much so. In the last few weeks I’ve encountered a succession of stories where client relationships were strongly reinforced by astute deployment of IT assets. Call it the intersection of marketing and...