Article

Leadership without control

Leadership without control

Leading an accounting firm, an advertising agency, a consultancy, an investment bank, or a law firm is not about giving orders to employees further down the hierarchy.

  • min read

Article

Leadership without control
en

Leading an accounting firm, an advertising agency, a consultancy, an investment bank, or a law firm is not about giving orders to employees further down the hierarchy. It's about manoeuvring a group of peers who are star performers—who constantly question, debate, and even oppose initiatives. It's like boxing with one hand tied behind your back: You lack the power to enforce decisions—even though you are in charge. This article, by two Bain partners, examines how leaders of professional service firms successfully meet that challenge. It lays out how they can become masters at brokering agreement on important decisions among the firm's elite players—a delicate balancing act that requires emotional intelligence, constant monitoring of the firm's undercurrents, careful groundwork preparation for strategic moves, and continual tweaking of organisational structures to make sure they serve the needs of both the firm and its star players.

Download PDF

Bain Book

Aligning the Stars

Learn more about how leading professional service firms approach strategy, organization, and leadership.

Tags

Ready to talk?

We work with ambitious leaders who want to define the future, not hide from it. Together, we achieve extraordinary outcomes.