A new ethic: 'pay as you learn' The training day is widely treated as a joke. Depending on your point of view, it is either a day out of the office or an unbearable chore of corporate life. Workers should pay for on-the-job training These are all quotes from an item in the Times yesterday
I have just watched an old video clip of the professional services firm guru, David Maister, in which he highlights the six most scarce resources in most professional service firms: Energy Excitement Enthusiasm Determination Passion Ambition David also points out that his research has proved that the top achieving firms are those that energise, excite
I recently had a call from a salaried partner in a 12 partner professional firm. Let's call him 'Andy'. It was a good few months since the last time we had spoken. Andy is in his early forties and has been with the firm for around ten years. Last week during his annual appraisal Andy
What’s your answer to that question? What about this one? Do you want more GOOD clients? And this one? Do you want less frustration from your smaller clients? Most ambitious professionals would answer ‘yes’ to all 3 questions. That then leads onto the key question, which is: “So what are you going to do about
I was reading a report recently, from Kaisen, about characteristics of partners in professional advisory firms. The report concludes by noting that: "what distinguishes partners from non-partners are 'emotional intelligence' factors such as sensitivity to clients' feelings and psychological needs, and the ability to trust people to 'pick up' on what motivates them as individuals."
Many ambitious professionals welcome the opportunity to expand their thinking and to benefit from identifying new ideas all by themselves. You will also find that you can STAND OUT from your peers in a positive way by reflecting on key questions and then answering them honestly. Here are some great questions I've benefited from in
When you see a glass of wine do you consider it to be half full or half empty? (or are you a typical accountant and point out that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be?) Ambitious accountants who are good 'finders' will tend to see the positive side of life. They
A friend of mine, Stephen Harvard Davis is recognised as the UK’s leading authority on job transition and retaining top talent, He is the author of “Why do 40% of Executives Fail?” The following observations were inspired by an item on Stephen’s blog in which he addressed the retention issues relevant to top executives in
Whilst exam training focuses on developing technical skills most firms need managers and partners who also have a broad mix of business skills. As promotion is likely to depend upon such skills there are essentially only four options available to your firm. They will either: pray, hope or make a wish that you magically
In a previous blog I referred to the classical categorisation of professionals: Finders - who go out and find the new work Minders - who look after the relationship with the clients Grinders - who do the work Binders - who keep the team working well together It seems to me that most CPD is
Accountancy magazine (July 2006) ran an article "Coaching: the new religion" written by Wilf Altman. In it he suggested that 'leading firms of accountants are surprisingly coy about coaching.' In my experience however all of the largest firms run partner development programs and most of these include a form of coaching or mentoring. I agree
I was a guest of Taxation magazine at their Annual Taxation awards ceremony last night. Big black-tie event at the Park Lane Hilton hotel. Met loads of people who had said they’d received my recent email newsletters and that they had not ‘removed’ themselves from my mailing list. Phew! Sat next to a really nice
