When Professionals Have to Lead: A New Model for High Performance

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Professional Service Firms

A Breed Apart

Professional service firms and product-producing companies are similar, but different in certain key respects, especially from a leadership perspective. This characteristic of being “similar but different” can prove to be confusing to the untrained eye, because the differences may seem insignificant. In fact, these differences are more important than ever, making traditional leadership models even more out-of-date for PSFs. In addition, as the line between PSFs and corporations has begun to blur, some PSFs have adopted leadership models more appropriate for product-producing companies. Some firm professionals believe that their organizations behave in a more corporate manner because of their more complex ...