Leading Professionals

Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas

Laura Empson
Oxford UP © 2017
240 pages
[@] getab.li/31501
Book:

Rating Take-Aways

9
9 Applicability • Leading a professional organization – a law, accounting or engineer firm, a university, a
religious organization, a hospital, and so on – is hugely difficult.
9 Innovation
8 Style • “Plural” or “collective” leadership is the main system at most professional firms.
• This is the opposite of anachronistic, command-and-control style leadership.
  • An informal “leadership constellation” manages most professional firms. It’s made up
Focus of a senior leadership “dyad,” certain “business heads” and “key influencers.”

• Authority within such firms is ambiguous and diffuse; firm members are idiosyncratic
Leadership & Management and interpersonal relationships are challenging.
Strategy
Sales & Marketing
• Leadership often depends on interactions among senior partners and key practitioners.
Finance • Professional firm leadership must build consensus, negotiate deals, engage in trade-offs
Human Resources and gain support.
IT, Production & Logistics
• Leaders must be astute political players – but never overtly political.
Career & Self-Development
Small Business • Effective leadership manages both “implicit power dynamics” and “micropolitics.”
Economics & Politics
Industries
• Leaders must challenge and appease “powerful prima donna professionals.”
Global Business
Concepts & Trends

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getabstract

getabstract
Relevance
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What You Will Learn
In this summary, you will learn:r1) Why leading a professional firm is so difficult, 2) What constitutes a “leadership
constellation” and 3) What 10 paradoxes confront professional firms.
getabstract
Recommendation
Professor Laura Empson of London’s Cass Business School and Harvard Law School reports on intensive research
into how to lead professional firms, such as law offices, and complex organizations, such as hospitals and universities.
Her scholarly work, packed with citations and cross-references, details how leadership functions in a professional
services environment. This layered study, funded by Great Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council, includes
findings from interviews with 500 professionals in 16 countries. Empson’s exemplary and surprisingly engaging
text could be a go-to guide to organizing and managing professional firms. getAbstract recommends her insights
to professionals in leadership positions, to those aspiring to such roles and to academics studying the operations of
professional firms.
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getabstract

getabstract
Summary
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Managing a Professional Firm
Leading a professional organization – a law firm, an accounting firm, an engineering firm,
a management consulting firm, a university, a religious organization, a hospital, and so on –
is hugely difficult. Authority within professional firms is ambiguous and diffuse, members
of such firms are idiosyncratic, and internal interpersonal relationships are complex and
getabstract
“The hackneyed phrase confusing.
‘herding cats’ does not
even begin to capture
the complexity of Establishing consensus is the only way to manage a firm under such unruly circumstances –
the challenge facing endemic to most of these organizations. However, professionals are famously independent;
leaders of professional
organizations.” they want to call their own shots and arrive at their own conclusions. That’s one of the
getabstract main reasons they became professionals in the first place. Bringing them together to seek
agreement can be a thankless task that’s often doomed to failure.

Compared with traditional corporations with hierarchal leadership structures, professional

firms or organizations are outliers and so are their employees – doctors, lawyers, engineers,
professors or the like – at least when compared with employees in conventional companies.
Professional firms and organizations, like hospitals or colleges, may have few tangible
assets. Their value – which can be exceptional – is the specialized knowledge, talent and
getabstract expertise of their members.
“Senior professionals
may choose to delegate
authority to their Shaky Ground
elected leaders, but Leadership at professional firms rests on shaky ground. Leaders of these firms must depend
reserve the right to
undermine or remove on their partners’ cooperation – which is never guaranteed – to get anything done. Generally,
them.” the only way leaders of professional firms can move ahead is to forge deals or trade-offs
getabstract
with the firm’s partners. Most professional firm leaders have no formal leadership training
– though they may be excellent lawyers, physicians, professors, accountants or clergy
members – and often they’ve done nothing to prepare for holding leadership positions.
These leaders generally stop practicing their individual professions to take the reins of
their firms. Many new professional organization leaders review management literature to

Leading Professionals                                                                                                                                                                 getAbstract © 2018 2 of 5

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 understand their new jobs. Unfortunately, most available instructional material deals with
traditional corporations with conventional hierarchies. The best management advice for
those who lead professional firms is to try to understand the “implicit power dynamics and
getabstract covert political processes” at play within the firm. These leaders need to find a pragmatic
“The assumption is
that professionals midway point between confronting their professional members’ big egos and easing them
who understand their into compliance. None of this is easy.
clients’ business will
be well qualified to
lead their own. This Autonomy and Authority
inference is…no more
than a good guess.” Professional firms have two dynamics that directly oppose each other:
getabstract
1. “Extensive autonomy” – Professionals prefer to be in charge of their own affairs.
2. “Contingent authority” – Leaders can’t lead these firms unless their partners consent
to their having control. Almost always, someone eventually contests this power.

Leaders must persuade, guide and suggest in hopes of securing consensus and agreement.
Their leadership must be “subtle and nuanced.” In such a system, politics, compromise and
getabstract negotiation are standard operating procedures. Politics isn’t a negative at a professional
Peter Drucker’s firm: No leader can achieve consensus without it. Professional firm leaders must inspire
“assertion that ‘leaders
must by definition have their partners and associates to put aside their big egos and achieve consensus.
followers’…turns out to
be incorrect, or at least
very unsophisticated.” When professionals select a company leader, all the candidates already have power. But
getabstract the type of power that usually counts in filling leadership roles is “referent power” – status
that accrues to certain professionals because of their ability to bring in new clients as
rainmakers. They are role models. Such leaders can earn additional respect based on their
“technical expertise, client relationships and market reputation.” Referent power confers
more than formal or assigned power. A professional firm leader needs a “mandate,” which
often springs from “personal credibility and authority,” in the words of one senior partner.

“Plural Leadership”
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Professional firms, which are organizational collectives, often turn to plural leadership,
“Political behavior in which leaders emerge from among the partners as a result of their interactions. “Plural
among professionals…
is not inherently bad;
leadership is a prevailing model” within professional firms. In other words, as one partner
it is an organizational explained, the firm’s “leadership sort of happens.” Such leadership is by its nature volatile
fact of life.” and it can change as relationships among professionals change.
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Plural leadership is the opposite of personalized leadership, as exemplified by anachronistic

command-and-control management. Leadership at many professional firms occurs
collaboratively among people with similar goals and like-minded ideas who agree to
cooperate.

The “Leadership Constellation”

getabstract
“Many…management A leadership constellation is a metaphor for the informal structure of leadership and
professionals…take power within many professional firms. It often co-exists with “the formal authority within
as much pride in their
ability to persuade and
the governance structure.” The main elements of the leadership constellation are power,
maneuver their way politics and “professionals (and prima donnas).” The latter are often self-important and
around client-facing temperamental.
professionals as they
take in the more explicit
aspects of the job.” Professional firm’s leaders don’t necessarily belong to formal teams. They determine the
getabstract
parameters of their leadership position and interrelationships on an ad hoc basis. People
with impressive titles might not function within the leadership constellation and may have
scant influence on their peers. The firm’s true leaders – the members of the leadership

Leading Professionals                                                                                                                                                                 getAbstract © 2018 3 of 5

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 constellation – may lack designated leadership roles, but they may wield great power and
influence.

getabstract The members of a leadership constellation include:

“Strong relationships
between individual
professionals and their • “Senior leadership dyad” – This duo is at the center of any professional firm’s
clients are essential to leadership constellation. Its members are the two primary leaders of the professional firm.
the successful sale and
delivery of professional Their titles might be managing partner, senior partner, or chair and chief executive. These
services.” leaders must be adept at “micropolitics [which includes] undermining assumptions,
getabstract
constructing identity, policing, advocating, mythologizing and enabling.”
• “Selected business heads” – These people lead the primary client-facing areas, such
as the law offices and practice areas. Most leadership constellations don’t include every
business head in the practice. For instance, the head of a firm’s Washington, DC, office
– but not the head of its New York City office – may be part of the constellation.
• “Selected management professionals” – These positions might include the head of
marketing, head of finance, and so on.
getabstract • “Key influencers” – These members don’t necessarily hold formal titles or designated
“Professional services leadership responsibilities. Yet they may wield substantial influence and power based on
cannot be inspected
in advance; they their reputation, rainmaking history, client connections and expertise.
are purchased and
consumed on the basis
of trust.” External nonexecutive board members are notably absent from any professional firm’s
getabstract leadership constellation. Many professional firms don’t have boards of directors. Those
with boards use them as executive committees.

The “Paradoxes of Leading Professionals”

Leaders of professional firms have to be able to help their members understand and react
intelligently to the demands of their professional lives and activities, which often contain
basic conflicts and may be subject to the paradox theory. A paradox features “two or more
getabstract elements that are inherently contradictory, interrelated, simultaneous and persistent.”
“Your credibility
is tied up with how
successful you’ve been The essential tenet of paradox theory is that you can’t resolve paradoxes – so don’t try
as a professional,
so that’s the starting
– but you can develop a “dynamic equilibrium.” Firms’ leaders can help their colleagues
point for people who separate and balance the elements of a paradox to increase their understanding of how to
end up in leadership manage them.
positions.” (practice
head at a law firm)
getabstract Professional firms and complex organizations often deal with various “opposing forces
which are in constant flux.” The ideal outcome is to steer these forces deliberately to create
something “constructive rather than destructive.” Coping with paradoxes requires being
adaptable and can be confusing and tiring. The leaders of these organizations confront 10
paradoxes:
getabstract
“By looking at
leadership as 1. “Autonomy and control” – Professionals expect autonomy, but those who lead them
something…created
through interactions
must exert some control so the firm can run smoothly. The balance may lie in arranging
among professionals, a firm’s administration so professionals choose and agree to a degree of control, as
we can start to managed by their leaders.
understand how it is
fluid and unstable, 2. “Reluctance and ambition” – People who wish to lead their professional firm or
changing and adapting complex organization must walk a fine line. Professionals are reluctant to choose leaders
as relations between
professionals change who appear overly ambitious. They’re unlikely to cede authority willingly to those who
and adapt.” are too eager to get it. Professionals who want to lead must not exhibit personal ambition.
getabstract
On the other hand, they must convince their colleagues of their overall ambition for the
firm’s success.

Leading Professionals                                                                                                                                                                 getAbstract © 2018 4 of 5

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 3. “Political and apolitical leadership” – Professional organizations are often political
organizations, although most try to come across as apolitical. Their leaders need refined
political skills, but they must never act overtly political.
4. “Individual and collective interests” – All professionals in a firm have individual
interests yet they share common interests as partners. The firm’s leaders must convince
getabstract everyone to coalesce around collective plans and goals.
“In a professional
organization, the so- 5. “Harmony and conflict” – Achieving harmony promotes organizational efficiency and
called greater good productivity. But, disconnections can occur when leaders operate within a “harmonious
is simply the interests
of the collective as cocoon.” This can lead to groupthink among the firm’s leaders. To avoid letting
defined by its leaders tensions develop, leaders should stay alert to everyone’s feelings, recognize conflict and
at a particular point in
time.” forthrightly try to resolve it.
getabstract 6. “Insecurity and confidence” – Professional firms’ clients want their lawyers,
accountants or consultants to be self-confident; the higher the fee professionals charge,
the more self-confident they need to be. The paradox is that professional firms often hire
insecure junior employees who work around the clock to demonstrate their worth. The
managing partner of a UK law firm explained, “Partners are earning more than £800,000
[$1,083,460] a year and the average guy here will be thinking, ‘I’m not worth it,’ and
that keeps them motivated to prove that they are.”
7. “Commercial and professional priorities” – In professional firms, senior business
getabstract experts steer various commercial departments. This might include the chief financial
“Professionals tend to
resent their leaders’ officer, the head of HR, and so on. Of necessity, they focus on business functions
attempts to control like maximizing income. The firm’s professionals – attorneys or doctors, for example
them personally, while
encouraging their – have professional, not commercial, priorities. For professional firms to excel, their
leaders to control their commercial priorities must never outweigh their professional priorities. Professionals
colleagues.”
getabstract must put delivering superior service to their clients above any “commercial
imperatives.”
8. “Centralized power and distributed leadership” – During the evolution of a
professional firm, power evolves, too. Initially, power resides with the usually small
coterie of founding partners. Power broadens to the senior professionals and then to
a tight group of leaders, a progression that seems to result in centralized power. This
process should never be the de facto process in a professional firm. Power must always
getabstract
reside with the senior professionals as a group.
“I thought once I was 9. “Active and passive leadership” – Traditionally, leadership is proactive. Leading
elected chairman I
would finally have
means seizing the initiative and taking action. In professional firms, smart leaders may
access to the levers also occasionally be passive. Sometimes, it’s best for them to do nothing to provide
of power. But when I needed room for other members of the firm – its partners – to step up and to “pursue,
moved into my new
office, I realized there adopt and implement” change. Many times, a do-nothing approach by the leaders is the
was nothing there – just best way to bring about notable change within a professional firm.
a desk.” (accounting
firm chairman) 10.“Ambiguity and clarity” – In paradox theory, leaders must help followers “cope
getabstract more effectively with ambiguity.” Such ambiguity can be useful in professional firms,
serving as “the cloak under which leaders exercise authority.” In a professional firm,
“authority is ambiguous and potentially contested.” Leadership is essentially insecure
– something partners often negotiate among themselves. The result is ambiguous and
never definitive.
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About the Author
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Laura Empson directs the Centre for Professional Service Firms at Cass Business School in London and is a senior
research fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession.

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