Sublime

Rather than relying on individual talents, the firm would need to create more of an institutional reputation, based not only on the “raw” talent of key individuals but on the ability of the firm to bring to bear its collective knowledge derived from past engagements.

The second-best scenario is a serial entrepreneur CEO planning to build out a new team. Third best is a team that did amazing things, but perhaps due to macro market conditions did not achieve a high return for investors.

talent sets the floor, but character sets the ceiling.

Impulsive-Red Organizations don’t scale well for those reasons—they rarely manage to keep in line people who are separated from the chief by more than three or four degrees.

form a small team within each discipline (or service area). Their task is to develop a proprietary client-service methodology: that is, to come up with value-enhancing action ideas

successful leveraging of top professionals is at the heart of the success of the professional firm.

One company policy is that all leaders must spend 10 percent of their time helping employees develop—including the CEO, Thom Crosby. “The core part of every manager’s job is to be an educator,” Crosby has said.9