G2: Building the Next Generation

Preface

I have always striven to work with the largest and most successful firms in the advisory industry. I have always wanted to be the consultant who knows the most, works with the top people in the top firms, and has answers to the most difficult questions. You could say I have more than a little ambition. After I wrote my first book, The Ensemble Practice, I thought that my next book would be called Super‐Ensembles, a book about the biggest, largest, fastest‐growing, and smartest firms.

Working with professionals in the leadership development program we run at The Ensemble Practice made me realize that I have been focused on the wrong phenomenon. What the industry needs most is not a description of how to be bigger and more complex, or how to work with bigger clients. Rather, firms need to know how to develop professionals who are capable of making bigger and better enterprises. You can't build a big, successful firm without a strong, well‐functioning team of colleagues and partners. Indeed, achieving success with my own firm and career depends on our ability to develop the next generation.

I was not a founder at my first two firms. I was part of G2, or the second generation of professionals who joined later. For 12 years I looked up to the founders, but at times I also questioned their leadership. I felt that they should be doing more to help professionals like me who were growing in their careers. Now that I am a founder, it is time for me to develop and grow the careers ...