From collegiate to collaborative

Joel returns to Dialogue with From collegiate to collaborative, an outstanding post adding to the growing understanding of how better collaboration creates competitive advantage.

With increasing competition from freelancers, boutiques and solo specialists, most professional service firms are realising that their primary source of competitive advantage is the ‘collective’. By winning and delivering together, they can offer things the one-person bands can’t. The edge is not from economies of scale, but rather in more holistic advice and lower client transactions cost. The value proposition is not cross-selling but integrated cross-practice problem-solving.

7 key enablers of smart collaboration

In 7 key enablers of smart collaboration,  Joel Barolsky takes another angle to the topical theme of collaboration in BigLaw firms, following from Pam Woldow’s post on Dialogue a couple of weeks ago. Joel’s post today sets out his views on execution and describes seven key enablers of smart collaboration…

Is 2017 the year the fat smoker quits?

Eleven years ago David Maister published a brilliant article on the barriers to strategic change in professional service firms. In Strategy and the Fat Smoker, he stated…

Remaking partner engagement

‘Remaking Partner Engagement’ is the first post on Dialogue by Joel Barolsky, our friend and colleague of many years. Today Joel addresses the thorny questions of partnership, performance, and pie-splitting.