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When Professionals Have to Lead

Authors: Thomas J. Delong, John J Gabarro, Robert Lees
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

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Sales Rank: 88057

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1

ISBN: 1422117375
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4092
EAN: 9781422117378
ASIN: 1422117375

Publication Date: December 1, 2007
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Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Dimensions of High-Impact Leadership January 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

In this volume, Thomas DeLong, John Gabarro, and Robert Lees have devised what they characterize as "an integrated leadership model" that is designed to "stimulate thinking and facilitate changes that high-performing firm leaders want to enact." Although their focus is on the professional service firm (PSF), all of the information and counsel in this book can also be of substantial value to other kinds of organizations. In fact, decision-makers in those (e.g. manufacturers) must also offer professional service of the highest quality, especially now when competing in what has become, as Thomas Friedman describes it, a "flat world."

First, DeLong, Gabarro, and Lees introduce their integrated leadership model and explain its background, "how it evolved out of the problems and opportunities that have bedeviled heads of firms in recent years." I agree with them that, for most PSFs, a fresh leadership approach is "mandatory." In fact, research and DeLong, Gabarro, and Lees in combination with their own experiences have revealed exemplary firms and what can be learned from them. That information helped to guide and inform the development of the integrated leadership model.

In the remaining eight chapters, DeLong, Gabarro, and Lees respond to questions such as these:

What are the dominant characteristics of the integrated leader?
To what extent are PSFs "a breed apart"?
What unique challenges and opportunities do they offer to their leaders?
What should a firm offer: products, services, or both?
How to define and then measure a PSF's market?
How to achieve and then sustain strategic differentiation?
How to attract, motivate, and then retain the talent needed?

Note: DeLong, Gabarro, and Lees identify and then discuss ten "motivational drivers" in Chapter 7, pages 150-155, and then suggest five reasons why high-achieving professionals stay motivated. In my opinion, this is some of the most valuable material in the book.

Why is the "essential B player" the "heart and soul" of an organization?
How to connect professionals to a PSF and then the firm to the future?
How to communicate expectations and provide the resources for meeting them?

I especially appreciate the provision of various checklists and "Figures" which consolidate key points throughout the narrative. Here is a selection of brief excerpts that suggest the thrust and flavor of the co-authors' insights and writing style.

"The integrated leadership model is incomplete if any one of the four core behaviors is left out. The model is powerful only if leaders set direction, get commitment to the direction, execute, and by their actions set personal examples as leaders." (Page 42)

"The challenge that each firm faces is how to answer the following four strategic questions about each of its practices, and then to remain true to the answers: What is the economic equation that will drive this practice? What will differentiate the practice from our competitors? What can we do better than anyone else? What are we absolutely passionate about?" (Page 97)

Financial performance can improve significantly "when a firm or practice aligns all of its internal structures, processes, and activities - its `organization' as whole - with its strategy. Organizational alignment has its roots in the work of Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch...who found that high-performing companies in different industries developed organizations and procedures that were uniquely adapted to the particular demands posed by the industry segments." (Page 141)

"For many partners and other senior professionals, on-the-spot corrective feedback, coaching, and mentoring are not seen [by the high-need-for- achievement personality] as central to the task trajectory of getting a project, deal, or matter done, so these aspects of leadership are ignored. We call this self-feeding dynamic the `PSF Paradox' [in that] because they too are high-achievement personalities, senior professionals are not disposed to give junior professionals what they need to stay motivated or develop - even though they too had the same needs early in their career." (Pages 163-164)

With regard to the last excerpt provided, I am reminded of what recent research conducted by the Gallup Organization revealed: only 25% of employees are engaged in their jobs, 55% of them are just going through the motions, and 20% of them are working against their employers' interests. How could it be otherwise when senior professionals are unwilling and/or unable to provide corrective feedback, coaching, and mentoring to junior professionals in the same firm?

To their great credit, after carefully identifying the "what" of effective leadership in personal service firms, DeLong, Gabarro, and Lees focus most of their attention on how to achieve and then sustain high-impact performance, especially now when leaders in PSFs face unprecedented challenges in a global marketplace and are engaged in a constant battle against disconnection. Integrated leaders are "connectors" who "create a safety net to catch those professionals who may be ready to leave the system or who are not [sufficiently] engaged in the enterprise. The dilemma for most PSFs is that they do not explicitly value or reward those professionals who spend the time and effort focused on the human side of the enterprise. Great PSFs need to confront this deficiency. The time has come to value the professionals who keep the culture dynamic and supportive through their ability to connect people throughout the firm."

Amen.

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out David Maister's Managing the Professional Service Firm and his more recent Practice What You Preach, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood's Brand Leadership, Justin Menkes's Executive Intelligence, Judgment co-authored by Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis, Ram Charan's Know-How and his more recent Leaders at All Levels, Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, The New American Workplace co-authored by James O'Toole and Edward Lawler, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.