leadership

the 3 traits shared by 150 top managing partners

by

what successful managing partners do

by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the future

the problem is that in the majority of cpa firms there is no clarity around what being a managing partner actually entails and, specifically, what managing partners should do to create and sustain their partners’ commitment to actively participating in delivering the firm’s future.

our research involving in-depth interviews with 150 managing partners at the world’s leading firms identified that the truly successful managing partners share three key activities: read more →

mismanaging project management

by

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and a

by ed mendlowitz
101 questions and answers

question: i assigned four projects to a manager who reassigned them to a staff 2 person and i gave a date when they were needed that was three weeks away.  when i asked about the progress after two weeks, i was told that nothing was near completion.  now there is a super rush with much stress. how could this situation have been avoided?

response: first off – you are to blame. you did not work with the manager to see how she would assign the work and to whom.  read more →

the 14 rules for what being a partner means

by

aquila how to engage partners in the firms future clip square cvrplus: 4 keys to tie pay to performance.

by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the future

partners are the culture in a professional service firm – what they believe, what they reward, what they do and how they do it determines what and how things get done. partners are the owners – they, and they alone, are responsible for the firm’s vision and its implementation.

being a leader means each partner must: read more →

fixing the partner entitlement mentality

by

nine reasonable entitlements and 15 misconceptions, bad ideas and outright abuses.

it’s a privilege to be a partner in a cpa firm. not an entitlement. too many partnerships seem to operate as if they had it the other way around. and, in most cases, those partnerships don’t usually make the best cpa firms. marc rosenberg has seen his share of dysfunctional firms. they are no better nor no worse than the people who run them. get these 24 points of partner roles and responsibilities correct and your firm could find a renewal in spirit and in growth.

read more →

the four keys to creating a firm vision that unites and mobilizes

by

and the eight ways to give core values real business value.

by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

when we talk about having a compelling vision, we don’t just mean the simple, well-crafted statement you find in a lot of firms.

for a vision to be compelling, for it to persuade the partners that they want to play an active part in making it a reality, a vision must have four elements: read more →