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From the Russian edition of True Professionalism

by David Maister 2004

This book was the second in my series of (to date) five books about professional service firms. Like its predecessor, Managing the Professional Service Firm, it was a collection of articles I had published separately in the four years prior to its publication in 1997.

Readers familiar with the first book will find that, while I write about similar topics here (managing, marketing, profitability) the tone of this book is very different. Without planning it, I found that my chapters, which are all derived from my consulting work, had a common themes of principles, values and standards. Since I am, by nature, a cynic and a skeptic, not an idealist, this discovery surprised even me when I put the book together.

Whether looking at successful individuals and firms, what I found was a passionate pursuit of something that had meaning for those involved. They pursued their profession because they cared. As the subtitle of the book suggests, they cared about their clients, they cared about their employees and they cared about their own progress. From this passionate caring, success (and lots of money) followed.

What my real-world consulting had taught me was that the most motivated employees were that way not because of the mechanical systems and incentives of the firm they were in, but because they shared certain attitudes and beliefs: they acted as professionals because that was how they saw themselves. Their professionalism wasn’t about knowledge or skills, but was based on their attitudes to their clients and their work.

Similarly, my exposure to the most effective managers taught me that their effectiveness came not from textbook tactics on managing, but from the fact that their motives and values were trusted by those they led. Effective management, I learned, was less about being smart and more about

In turn, this led to my discovery that the most effective firms were those that had clear, explicit and vigorous values and standards. I rush to report that this was not just a reflection of my own beliefs, but simply what I discovered about the real world of professional firms when I looked closely. (I was later able to give statistical rigor to this finding in my 2001 book Practice What You Preach.)

As business people, we often look to techniques for the solution of our business problems. We take comfort in analytics, research, formulae and categorization schemes. All of these are, no doubt, important. But they rarely make the crucial difference in achieving competitive success. One of the reasons is that, today, logic, rationality and analytical methods are readily available to all.

Every competitor can easily figure out the growing industries in the region, the most attractive clients, the services that are in hot demand. Everybody, in short, can easily figure out what needs to be done to win. Much harder – much, much harder – is actually making it happen in an organization made up of bright, mobile professionals. This requires the managerial ability to energize individuals (who are resentful of being influenced), getting them to throw themselves into their work with passion, not just diligence.

It requires the ability to get independent professionals to function in teams. And it requires the ability to convince clients, who must entrust professionals with their most important and sensitive issues, that the firm has have a sincere desire to help, and is not just in it for the money.

What managers of professionals have to be good at, therefore, is influencing attitudes. Helping people find meaning in their work, getting people to stretch to their full potential because it is a challenge, getting them to consent to and take pride in a society of high standards, getting them to act as if they cared about their clients, not just clients as the source of interesting problems and money.

However, the book is not just addressed to managers. The issues raised are relevant to all of us as individuals. In the first chapter I quote my former business manager (executive assistant) who, on reading the book, asked me “But they taught me most of this in secretarial school! Isn’t it obvious to these high-powered and high-paid professionals?” All I could say was “It might be obvious, but not everyone has the courage to do the right thing.” Maybe this book will help.

David Maister

Boston, March 2004