The Managing Partners’ Forum (MPF), the association for leaders and their management teams in professional firms, has long recognised that a firm’s people are fundamental to its success. Any leader, whether called MP, CEO, chairman or practice director, has to rely on management disciplines if the firm is to achieve its goals.
Traditionally, partners were given management roles such as marketing, finance or staff partner. However, this was progressively seen as a poor use of valuable partner time, combined with a higher risk of the firm making costly mistakes through the actions of enthusiastic amateurs. In addition, the leading professional firms have grown rapidly over the last 20 years and are now complex businesses that employ many thousands of people. This leads to the need for greater focus on ‘the firm’ rather than on ‘the partners’.
