July 2003Building A Bench
American Lawyer 7/1/2003
by Jay W. Lorsch and Thomas J. Tierney
Stars are those lawyers who have the highest future value to a firm as an organization-young lawyers who are potential rainmakers, for instance, or lawyers whose work is so outstanding that potential clients seek them out. Star-making is the ability to align star lawyers' needs with the firm's strategic goals, to allow the firm to get as much value as possible from stars. To obtain a lasting competitive advantage, there is no greater priority than recruiting, developing, and retaining star talent. In fact, a recent Bain & Company study suggests that the single biggest root cause of law firm failures is that they underpay their stars (who eventually depart), while overpaying their lowest-performing tier of partners. This leads to a dilution of the entire partnership's capacity and, eventually, a meltdown.
Making Pussy Cats out of Tigers
Business Strategy Review 7/1/2003
by Tom Tierney
With talent shortages and companies increasingly reliant on a small number of key individuals, Tom Tierney says that managing talented but demanding individuals now lies at the heart of many organisations and that the lessons of professional service firms -- such as legal, accounting and consulting firms -- are increasingly relevant to those in other industries.
May 2003Follow Your Stars
The Straits Times 5/22/2003
by Tom Tierney, Sarabjit Singh and Ravi Vijayaraghavan
As more companies become service providers, they need to find the star performers on their payrolls who can create relationships with customers.
April 2003Star Guide: Finding Success in Professional Service Firms
HBS Leading Research 4/1/2003
by Peter K. Jacobs
From advertising and law firms to consultancies and investment banks, managing professional service firms presents a unique set of circumstances. After all, they're comprised of very smart, independent-minded professionals who wear three hats at once: they're producers who also serve as leaders and owners. In short, they are the firm's most vital assets, and none are more important than the "stars" those individuals with the highest future value to the organization.
September 2002 Build a life, not a resume
Consulting to Management 9/1/2002
by Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney
Personal aspirations collide with firm realities; conflicts rage among a person's competing interests. Outstanding professionals-stars-are inherently ambitious and restless, creating a certain amount of unavoidable turmoil for themselves and their colleagues.
July 2002 When something is rotten
The Economist 7/25/2002
"A corporation's culture is what determines how people behave when they are not being watched," says Tom Tierney, a former managing partner of Bain, a consultancy, and author of "Aligning the Stars", a book about the culture of professional-service firms. Cultures are formed over time, by big events and small ones. The $110 billion merger of AOL and Time Warner has tried, so far disastrously, to weld a nifty e-culture to a sedate media business. The departure of Bob Pittman, the group's chief operating officer and an AOL man, marks a return to dominance by the old-media culture.
Nurturing Leaders Starts With Telling Stories
The Boston Globe 7/14/2002
Ready's message echoes some of the themes in "Aligning the Stars," a recently published book on managing professional service firms by Jay Lorsch, a Harvard Business School professor, and Thomas Tierney, the former chief executive of Bain & Co. Lorsch and Tierney argue, passionately, that professional services firms should devote more time to nurturing their staffs in general, and their "stars" in particular. A company's culture is often its most important strategic advantage in a tight, competitive market, Tierney and Lorsch maintain.
Boston Globe Archived Article
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June 2002 In the ring with the big egos
The Times 6/20/2002
by Stuart Crainer
Tom Tierney joined the international consulting firm Bain & Company in 1980, became a partner in 1983 and then ran the company's San Francisco office. In 1992 he was elected Bain's worldwide CEO, a job he held until stepping down in 2000. Under Mr Tierney's leadership in the 1990s, Bain grew its revenues six-fold, while expanding from 12 to 26 offices worldwide. He has now captured what he learnt from the experience in the book, Aligning the Stars, written with Jay Lorsch of Harvard Business School.
Business bestsellers
The Globe and Mail 6/17/2002
#7: Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results by Thomas Tierney and J.W. Lorsch (Harvard Business School Press, $47.95)
May 2002 Business Books
Richmond Times-Dispatch 5/20/2002
by Theodore B. Kinni
"Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results" by Jay Lorsch and Thomas Tierney (Harvard Business School Press, $29.95). The secret to growing the professional service firm is by aligning the desires and development of talented individuals with the needs of the firm. You create that alignment, say the authors, who studied the best practices in 18 successful firms, through the design of organizational strategy, structure and systems, culture, and leadership.
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