This summative episode focuses on the importance of Passion, People and Principles for the individual professional as well as the entire firm.David Maister

In this episode, we will examine a speech that was written for a newly titled CEO. We will see how these executives can take the first step in leading firm wide accountability and forward momentum.David Maister

What in law firm culture differentiates itself from virtually any other type of firm in the realms of management, collaboration and relationship building? In this episode, we explore what makes law firms different and what can be done to improve the sDavid Maister

Internal collaboration becomes increasingly difficult as a firm grows and diversifies. We will look at some of the issues that come up and some possible solutions.David Maister

This episode revisits five firms named in a 1985 article entitled “The One-Firm Firm”. We will discuss the differences in these firms and the pertinence of the article 23 years on.David Maister

Often, the guidelines an organization sets for what it expected of its managers are unclear at best. This episode focuses on setting non-ambiguous, non-contradictory standards for selecting leaders.David Maister

Often, management neglects its own stake in the betterment of the organization as a whole. We will look into ways that managers can become accountable for their own work and improvement and serve as an example to the whole of the organization.David Maister

In this episode we will examine the intuitive managerial approach of Jerry Labbate and clarify the lessons you can take to maximize your managerial effectiveness.David Maister

The key to great coaching lies in a persons ability get another to commit to goals on their own terms. This episode looks into ensuring that those in managerial roles have the attitudes, skills, and behaviors of a skilled coach.David Maister

Too often, companies look to training as a stand-alone solution for behavioral changes in their employees. However, training is a wonderful last step in a committed process towards a common goal, but an almost useless first step.David Maister

With so many approaches an organization can take to management, only one of these approaches will, in the long run, produce enduring profitability and abundant business generation. Why are so few firms willing to invest the time?David Maister

The basis for any successful marketing effort is the ability of the provider to convince the buyer that they are truly interested in them and are genuinely trying to help. This is however, rarely the focus of marketing discussions within any firm.David Maister

Trusting relationships in business are built on the same formulae as trusting relationships in personal life. We will look into some of the cues one can take from personal life to enhance ones professional standing.David Maister

The Fat Smoker Syndrome, the inability to do the things we know will help us accomplish our long-term goals, finds no better illustration than in the area of client relations. We will look into different types of client relations and relative merits ofDavid Maister

For any organization to achieve a unified, forward momentum, it must first have a solid set of rules and goals for its members to agree upon. We will discuss a number of integrating concepts aimed at getting all players on the same page.David Maister

Firm-wide strategy often assumes firm-wide consensus. However, it is rarely the case that all players within any given firm are team oriented. We will discuss some of the widely held player preferences and prescribe alternatives in dealing with them.David Maister

A career path is rarely a series of logical steps towards resulting in an ultimate goal, but is more often a series of experiments seen through by the drive and determination to find the next challenge. We will explore this principle in this podcast.David Maister

One of the hardest things for a professional to do is to turn down work and everyone has an excuse as to why they shouldn’t. We will learn why the refusal of work that is contrary to your strategy is essential to building a distinguished and specialDavid Maister

A strategy, like any other lifestyle altering decision, requires the discipline stick to the plan. Without this determination, most strategic planning is a complete waste of time. We will discuss the tools necessary to do what is obvious but not easyDavid Maister

We will close this series with a proverb that I use to conclude many of my seminars. It illustrates that what most businesses need, is not clarification on what is the right thing to do, but the courage to not give in to short term gratification.David Maister

We will close this series with a proverb that I use to conclude many of my seminars. It illustrates that what most businesses need, is not clarification on what is the right thing to do, but the courage to not give in to short term gratification.David (Maister)

Everything in we want in life must be given to us by another human being. This being the case, a key question in the early stages of a relationship is, how do you get another human being to want to give these things to you?David Maister

A core element in my view of the world is that everything we want must be given to us by another human being. So weather it is about getting our staff to cooperate with us, or to get clients to entrust us with business, our main task is to make other people, want to give us what we want. We must learn how to earn relationships. The following video,…

Professionals at any given time can be one of three things: dynamos, cruisers or losers. What are the percentages in your organization and how will you as a manager motivate and excite in order help under-performers and create dynamos?David Maister

In this video clip we're going to look at the issue of energy, excitement, and ambition in a different way and talk about the different states of drive that you and I might experience at different stages of our career.David (Maister)

Marketing services that excite you to clients that you are interested in brings the odds of winning business significantly higher. However, this appears to be the route less taken in most professional lives. The question is, is this acceptable?David Maister

A core proposition in my way of thinking about business development is that you will have more success if you're trying to market things that turn you on for clients that you are truly interested in. Now this is simple to say, but it appears that it is not the case with the way that many professionals actually come to market. Listen to the followin…

sides of the fence. We will discuss how to thwart this cycle at the root by demonstrating your capabilities first and building a reputation as a trustworthy provider.David Maister

In this video clip, we explore how you can win business from a non-client who is looking around and talking to many providers. So this is the situation that may be described as a beauty parade or a competitive bid or a request for proposal. We analyze it by using a direct experience of my own.David (Maister)

In the marketing of professional services, you can come across in one of two ways to the buyer. You are either interested in them, or you are interested in their cash. We will show why the former is the key to successful business marketing.David Maister

In the marketing of professional services, you can come across in one of two ways to the buyer. You are either interested in them, or you are interested in their cash. We will show why the former is the key to successful business marketing.David (Maister)

Most professional organizations spend the overwhelming majority of their non-billable, business generating hours on chasing new clients even though it has the least probable R.O.I. We will examine the alternatives and their relative effectiveness.David Maister

One of the biggest ways that professionals and professional firms can improve their marketing effectiveness is to think through and make sure that they are actually putting their marketing efforts in places which yield the highest return. This is actually not commonly the case. Most firms say that they believe that marketing to existing clients is …

There is far more to building a relationship than the point of any given conversation and there is no “going through the motions� or baseline communications. Learn two of the most important aspects of communication in relationships.David Maister

We all say we want relationships and we want to be good at romance, but we have not all thought through the actions and behaviors that a Necessary to create those things. In this video clip, we begin to explore the necessary skills.David (Maister)

In business development it is too often the case that professional strive for the transaction in the short term and neglect the essential foundations for building a lasting business relationship. We will discuss two distinct mindsets for coming to markDavid Maister

In thinking about business development, there are two basic mindsets that must be distinguished. On the one hand, you could focus on trying to win each transaction, transaction by transaction. Somewhat rudely, I call this the mindset of going for the quick hit, or the one-night stand. The other way of coming to market is trying to build relationshi…

All marketing and selling questions boil down to one basic query: How do people buy? To learn the answer to this, one only needs to look as far as their own experience in buying to find that it’s not only about qualifications but also about trust.David Maister

The key to all marketing, selling, client service, and client relations questions is actually not about how do you market, or how do you sell. The thing that we need to understand is, "How do clients buy?" And what follows is my attempt to explain that perspective at a recent lawyers conference.David (Maister)

Often times there is a degree of laziness in communication on the part of the professional that is incredibly alienating to the client. Learn a simple exercise that will help you better understand and fulfill your clients’ wants and needs.David Maister

The key to giving your clients a great client experience is to understand what it feels like to be a client. In the following clip, we explore exactly that, by drawing on our common experience of being the patient of a doctor.David (Maister)

The standard marketing practice of proposals and assertions fails in respect to building relationships. We will discuss one of many tactics aimed at earning and deserving existing and new client business through demonstration rather than assertion.David Maister

In this video clip, we're going to explore another example of how you go about investing in a relationship in order to get involved in more of the transactions in business that your client has, otherwise known as cross-selling or expanding a relationship. We will explore the tactics that work with a particular emphasizes on how you invest in the re…

In order for the employees of an organization to raise their performance, those in managerial roles must first be held accountable for their own performance. We will discuss one way that this accountability could be installed inside an organization.David Maister

In the following video we will make the case that, if the employees of an organization are to raise their performance, then logically what is required is that the managers must first be better at performing their role and that, in order to make this happen, the managers must be prepared to be accountable for their performance. In the video, you'll …

Commonly used tactics in management such as performance appraisals, go against every rule of family life. In this episode, you will learn how the interpersonal, emotional, and psychological skills implemented in family interactions are the very same thDavid Maister

In this clip we dig into the parallels between being an effective manager in the workplace and being an effective change agent within your family. How do you learn how to deal with different family members and bring about harmony and joint action in a family situation? And where does that match what you have to do at work?…

Careful attention to language and an understanding of the best way to present issues are key interpersonal skills. Listen to and learn from an example of phenomenal use of language.David Maister

In business, performance appraisal or even out and out criticism supplants skillful use of language and careful presentation of issues and solutions. We will examine a story of exemplary language skills and note the various applications in business life.David (Maister)

Getting another human being to fulfill their potential is a general process akin to the process of parenting or coaching. What are the steps to unleashing the true potential within an individual?David Maister