dispatches from the new world of work

Professional Service Firm Excellence

Preparing to speak to a Professional Service Firm this Friday. Trying to get my arms around their world ... which, incidentally, has been my world since "signing on" at McKinsey in 1974. Per my usual trick, I resorted to Listmaking. Hence what follows ... The PSF25+:

Work & Legacy

1. Crystal Clear Point of View (Every Practice Group: "If you can't explain your position in eight words or less, you don't have a position"—Seth Godin)
2. DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE ("We are the only ones who do what we do"—Jerry Garcia)
3. Stretch Is Routine ("Never bite off less than you can chew"—anon.)
4. Eye-Appetite for Game-changer Projects (Excellence at Assembling "Best Team"—Fast)
5. "Playful" Clients (Adventurous folks who unfailingly Aim to Change the World)
6. Small "Uneconomic" Clients with Big Aims
7. Life Is Too Short to Work with Jerks (Fire lousy clients)
8. Obsessed with LEGACY (Practice Group and Individual: "Dent the Universe"—Steve Jobs)
9. Fire-on-the-spot Anyone Who Says, "Law/Architecture/Consulting/I-banking/ Accounting/PR/Etc. has become a 'commodity' "
10. Consistent with #9 above ... DO NOT SHY AWAY FROM THE WORD (IDEA) "RADICAL"

People & Leadership

11. TALENT FANATICS ("Best-Coolest place to work") (PERIOD) 12. Eye for the Peculiar (Hiring: Go beyond "same old, same old") 13. Early Opportunities (vs. "Wait your turn") 14. Up or Out (Based on "Legacy"/Mentoring as much as "Billings"/"Rainmaking") 15. Slide the Old Aside/Make Room for Youth (Find oldsters new roles?) 16. Talent Is Obsessed with Renewal from Day #1 to Day #"R" [R = Retirement] 17. Office/Practice Leaders Evaluated Primarily on Mentoring-Team Building Skills 18. Team Leadership Skills Valued Early 19. Partner with B.I.W. [Best In World] Outsiders as Needed and to Infuse Different Views

The Firm & The Brand

20. EAT-SLEEP-BREATHE-OOZE INTEGRITY ("My life is my message"—Gandhi) 21. Excellence+ in EXECUTION ... 100.00% of the Time (No such thing as a "small sins"/World Series Ring to the Batboy!) 22. "Drop everything"/"Swarm" to Support a Harried-On The Verge Team 23. SPEND AS AGGRESSIVELY ON R&D AS A TECH FIRM OR CIRQUE DU SOLEIL 24. Web (Technology) Obsession 25. BRAND/"Lovemark" Maniacs (Organize Around a Point of View Worth BROADCASTING: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world"—Gandhi)
26. PASSION! ENTHUSIASM! (Passion & Enthusiasm have as much a place at the Head Table in a "PSF" as in a widgets factory: "You can't behave in a calm, rational manner. You've got to be out there on the lunatic fringe"—Jack Welch)

I'll return to some bits of this in the days to come ...

[See "Preview2005", Tom's new Special Presentation, which includes The PSF25+.]

Tom Peters posted this on 11/10/04.

Comments

Rule No. 7 (Life is too short to work with jerks) applies WITHIN the firm, too. Good people will attract good clients.

Posted by Diego at November 10, 2004 12:18 PM

TP :I like this posting and like this a lot !! What I dont like is the statement " ...has been my world since "signing on" at McKinsey in 1974". It was just pointed out, to me that McKinsey was the lead consultant for Enron!!! You see what I mean ?? it just throws your whole pitch into a different Zone, just because of that comment..anyway, whatever ... makes no difference to me..but just needed to point out what the 'others' think and chatter too, when "McKinsay" is dropped around !!!

FWIW.. I spat it out ..mea culpa !!

PS. As a sidebar, could you make your RSS feeds to be 256 chars or 512.. rather then whole text. My reader gets filled in w/the whole post rather then just the first para.. yup my trolling becomes limited .. !! :)-

Posted by /pd at November 10, 2004 12:37 PM

Just was flipping through the psf50 book again yesterday, and this 25+ list is a great update.

These are the secrets for external psf's to steal business from snoozing internal departments. It's also the set of secrets for internal departments to keep their jobs in house.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at November 10, 2004 2:43 PM

I posted a few days ago under the OOPS entry about Enron. Being in the utility industry and having read a lot about that company over the past few years, it seems to me that McKinsey and Arthur Andersen are two completely different situations. McKinsey's engagement spawned real innovation, e.g., Skilling's "Gas Bank" concept. Andersen tried to walk a fine ethical line and in the end crossed over it. What happened at Enron could (and does) happen in other situations where greed and ego rule. That's not attributable to McKinsey. And just as it might not be fair to paint McKinsey and Andersen with the same brush, neither should Tom's comments be filtered through a McKinsey lens. One of the better books about Enron is Swartz & Watkins POWER FAILURE, which briefly documents Tom's own take on the Enron situation well before things came unglued there. IMHO he nailed it!

Posted by Jim West at November 10, 2004 2:49 PM

Jim: thanks a zillion for the feedback. I can't speak for other people and the reasons why they look at Enron/Mckinsey in a certain lens. But I certainly felt it was noteworthy, and brought it up here. Like I said for what its worth.. mea culpa for bringing it up here.. but again...these are the facts and chatter outside the box (blog ?))!!! :)-

Posted by /pd at November 10, 2004 3:03 PM

No apology necessary, Peter. It's certainly the case that Enron and all associated parties are viewed with a particular slant--I wouldn't dispute that for a minute. On a broader scale than just McKinsey, once the truth became known about Enron, it reflected poorly on all the business pundits who had sung the company's praises. That's one reason it was reassuring to read that Tom had seen the truth, or at least a glimmer of it, when they were still in their heyday.

Posted by Jim West at November 10, 2004 3:23 PM

You guys really inspire me. I read this blog mostly from my newsreader: NetNewsWire 2 beta. It looks better on mine than here. Everyone's taste differs but I like reading blocks of text in a serif font - Georgia. And, I style blockquotes with colored boxes. Your little gray line down the left is fine but the boxes make the information feel bite-sized. I know Tom likes bites and chunks. Naturally, my blog uses colored boxes. I wish you could see the difference. Rock on!!!

Posted by Janet Tokerud at November 10, 2004 4:01 PM

WOW Tom, So true as a criteria for consultants. I work as a one man band business consultant and I got to the client firing stage 6 years ago. Why the hell should I work with people who are less committed to making their business work than I am. If people don't get it it's because they don't want to. In my City (Adelaide Australia) I'm the only one who does what I do by getting off my backside and working with clients in the field by giving them the very latest tactics and strategies to build business.(My competitors are light years behind.) Those who get it have growing businesses those who whinge and think I'm an idiot continue to slide backwards. I am passionate about changing the universe and so are my clients and yes we do have fun, lot's of it. Great article, it cuts right to the point with straight talking and no BS, keep em coming.

Posted by Reg Templer at November 10, 2004 4:21 PM