I thought I’d start the New Year with a case study and lessons learned. Those who have followed this blog had read countless articles here on the importance of strategic planning, strong implementation, results reporting and analysis. Some readers might not be aware of this but 2014 was actually the first year of my consulting [...]
My last post of the year focuses on how to feel greater personal accomplishment in a way that can also profoundly and positively affect the life of everyone around you. We consider success the achievement of certain goals. Those goals vary, but society tends to assess our success based on financial goals. These are gauged [...]
In the month of December, a professional’s mind often turns to frustration over the lack of accomplishment in the current year, and the desire to be more productive in the New Year. But wishing it better isn’t enough, so here are Heather’s rules for getting more done in life. I’ve been coaching professionals for over [...]
Earlier this year, surprisingly inspirational blogger James Clear made a connection between Sir Isaac Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and the principles of getting things done. With huge kudos to James for the original content, I’ll now translate for law firms. Newton published the three books that comprise this work between 1687 and 1726. The [...]
The book, “How Will You Measure Your Life” by Clayton Christensen is filled with valuable life and business lessons. The one I’ll focus on today is the difference between deliberate and emergent strategies, and how they can ideally come into play in a firm. Christensen illustrates this point by summarizing Honda’s entry into the North [...]
Firms are filled with people so passionate about their profession that their sense of self is founded in their careers. So the last thing they want to think about is leaving their profession. Yet unless they give their eventual departure some strategic thought, they could be orchestrating a disastrous crescendo to their own career. Many [...]
Outside suppliers can be a curse or a godsend to firms: depending on how you hire and manage them. Over the years, professional services firms have learned the value of having strong in-house administrative roles. This includes a marketer or even a marketing department. Such professionals can go a long way toward assisting a firm with [...]
How many times have you reflected back on a firm retreat and thought “wow, that was money well-spent”? I worry that we’ve become far too comfortable with the underwhelming performance of one of the most expensive management tools a firm will ever engage in. Most professional service firms have held a retreat before and are [...]
Business success requires evolution, and that means new strategic and marketing programs. This can be difficult to roll out in firms at the best of times – but it’s almost impossible when the first attempt was a failure. Professional services organizations exist for the delivery of a service to clients and a living to professionals. [...]
I write (and preach) frequently about the value of different kinds of plans that would benefit professional service firms. This post will focus on how all of those plans would ideally work together. You’ve probably heard of “top-down” planning, as well as “bottom-up” planning. Each is a valid approach but the best firm planning includes [...]