A partner from a ‘big four’ accounting firm hired one of us (Andrew Bass) to work with some of his senior managers on a one-to-one basis. He explained: “I have some really bright guys who have succeeded throughout their lives by being excellent at technical things. And that has got them as far as one level below partner. But then one day they started coming in and they were not standing so tall; in fact, they were dead worried. Because they had just realised they have not been commercial enough and that they therefore are a long way from making the case for partnership. They are used to succeeding but now they are stuck and cannot make any further progress by doing what they have done to succeed before.”
We have also worked with a number of firms recently that have been caught by a scenario with which I suspect most readers will be familiar: a longstanding partner retires and his client base dissolves because the relationship has developed over the years on a very personal basis. The same happens at any time when partners move firms without there being a strong number two in place to babysit the client base.
