Product Description

Every company relies on talent to succeed, but none so much as professional service firms. Within this rapidly expanding, trillion-dollar sector, people are more than "valuable assets"; they are the source of competitive advantage. Indeed, success is determined more by the people these firms pay than by the people who pay them. What separates the best professional firms from their less-successful competitors? And what lessons do their experiences hold for other talent-driven businesses?

In this comprehensive book, respected academic Jay W. Lorsch and accomplished practitioner Thomas J. Tierney draw from rigorous research and decades of experience to provide a practical perspective on how to win in professional services. Their work is based on an analysis of industry leaders in fields as diverse as law, accounting, investment banking, advertising, information technology, executive search, and management consulting.

Aligning the Stars argues that strategic success is achieved by building an organization of executive-level stars whose day-to-day performance reinforces and ultimately achieves the goals of the business. Outstanding firms align stars across business lines, geographies, and even generations. Through compelling real-world examples, Lorsch and Tierney show how successful firms create and sustain alignment via:

· Strategy: Determining which elements of strategy are most important and why-and how effective implementation incorporates organizational realities.

· People Systems: Converting talent into stars, while nurturing "firm first" behaviors.

· Structure and Governance: Organizing around partnership principles-even in a corporate environment.

· Culture: Actively managing the culture to guide-and control-individual behavior.

· Leadership: Exercising effective leadership when the power to control "partner-peers" is limited.

· Careers: Aligning individual stars by helping professionals build a life, not just a resume.

By showing how to integrate strategy, organization, and the needs of individual stars, this book offers valuable lessons for the current and future leaders of every talent-driven business.

AUTHORBIO:Jay W. Lorsch is the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School. Thomas J. Tierney is the former Chief Executive of Bain & Company, and currently serves as Chairman of The Bridgespan Group, Bain's nonprofit affiliate.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42422 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From the Publisher
Fills a void by providing practical guidance about how to manage a professional service firm, addressing the unique strategic and organizational choices of these private partnerships as well as how turmoil, technology, and a shifting competitive environment impact firms.
Gives readers a better understanding of how to lead, organize, and create strategy by uncovering the strategic and organizational approaches of successful professional service firms.
Large built-in market: Professional service firms—those firms that provide accounting, advertising, management consulting, IT consulting, and other professional assistance to the business community——comprise one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, with a global market of $911B.
Based on the popular Harvard Business School course on leadership in professional service firms (the leading program of its kind in the world) and a joint research project between Bain & Company and HBS.
Includes interviews with the leaders of the following firms: accounting firms Price Waterhouse and Ernst & Young; advertising firms Grey Advertising, Oglivy & Mather, and Young & Rubicam; investment banks Goldman Sachs, Hambrecht & Quist, and BT Alex Brown; and management consulting firms Bain and McKinsey, as well as other professional service firms.
Stellar authorship: Combines the authority of both a prominent academic and a prominent practitioner in this area, blending their cumulative experience and judgment.

About the Author
Jay W. Lorsch is the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School. Thomas J. Tierney is the former Chief Executive of Bain & Company, and currently serves as Chairman of The Bridgespan Group, Bain's nonprofit affiliate.

Customer Reviews

great book for strategy in professional services
This is amongst the best books there is for those who are interested in strtategy in professional services. If that's your interest, this book is the ticket written by Lorsh who is one of the foremost academic authorities still alive.