In many mid-market professional services firms, the CEOs (or managing directors) typically have come through the ranks. They are consultants, lawyers, accountants or other professionals who have spent most of their career managing projects – not an entire organization.
In these firms, the unique CEO challenges can include:
- Quickly learning the core elements of strategy and business planning (especially if this wasn’t the CEO’s domain of expertise)
- Getting dozens or hundreds of exceptionally bright people who are paid for their expertise to agree on a common strategy and a way to execute it
- Dealing effectively with people who were once their superiors or colleagues
- Guiding professionals to embrace business development and to grow the enterprise
- Managing poor-performing partners and employees
- Managing career paths for younger professionals while maintaining the appropriate ratio of partners to non-partner professionals
We have helped several CEOs of professional services firms to successfully deal with these and other challenges in becoming highly effective CEOs.
Read Helping Hanson Bridgett’s Chief Hone the Law Firm's Growth Strategy- Our work with Managing Partner Andrew Giacomini around growing the firm-wide focus on the value of leadership (in addition to the value of practicing law) and broadening the leadership team.
“We hired Rob to help us understand business development strategies for our company. We had always had a growth-by-referral strategy, but as we grew larger, we needed a more programmatic growth strategy. We have experienced phenomenal growth by applying the principles that Rob outlined for us. He brought and embedded a new thought process in us.”
- Rae Lee Olson, Principal and Chief Operating Officer
of The Vita Companies, an employee benefits
advisory and administration firm.
