Practice Management

Farewell and Thanks

Posted on January 05, 2010
After nearly 30 years of advising and writing about professional services, I have decided to retire. I no longer plan to consult, speak or write.A wonderful way to mark this decision happened last month (December 2009) when the Association of Management Consulting Firms awarded me its Carl S...

Suspension of Blog

Posted on June 13, 2008
I’m going to stop blogging for a while – at least taking the summer off.If you’d like to be notified if and when I return to regular blogging, just add your name to my email list (www.davidmaister.com/subscriptions ) and I’ll send you an email...

Being a Happy and Successful Lawyer

Posted on June 11, 2008
Stephen C. Ellis is the managing partner at the law firm of Tucker, Ellis & West.What follows is the commencement address he gave at Case Western reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio on May 19, 2008. The title of his remarks is "On Being a Happy(and Successful) Lawyer"*** Thank you Dean Simson...

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on June 04, 2008
The eleventh episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

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Escape from Corporate America

Posted on May 22, 2008
Pamela Skillings has written a fun  AND serious book called “ESCAPE from CORPORATE AMERICA: a practical guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams.”Here are some of the lists from the book:The Benefits Of Corporate Jobs Steady paycheck...

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on May 21, 2008
The eleventh episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Clients as friends as Clients

Posted on May 14, 2008
Daniel F. Hunter, Special Counsel at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York has posed the following questions:1) Should friends become clients? I am often afraid to ask friends for legal work because it might "taint" our friendship and make me feel like a service provider any time I go over to their house and see their kids, etc...

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on May 07, 2008
The tenth episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Blogging

Posted on May 02, 2008
Linas Simonis has just published an e-book called "The New Rules of Business Blogs." You can find it on www.positioningstrategy.com

The indecisive employee

Posted on April 30, 2008
A reader from Russia wrote in with this:After reading Strategy and the Fat Smoker, I made a research in our company to find out the types of people who work with me. It was very positive because I found out that we have: 75% of employees with long term and team motivation15% - wolf pack5% - individualist5% - spider It was funny that after this research two managers-individualists left the service at once and other employees were very happy about it...

Pricing Consulting Services

Posted on April 28, 2008
Raintoday.com has just released a new study Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008. 645 respondents in the consulting industry completed the survey. Among the findings: Firms that are well-known in their target markets receive higher fees, see their revenue grow, and earn higher profits than their lesser-known counterparts...

A Entrepreneur's Lessons

Posted on April 25, 2008
GL HOFFMAN, Chairman, JobDig, and Linkup has created a free eboook about the 100 "learnings" he has experienced after 25 years in starting companies. 

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on April 23, 2008
The ninth episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.It is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Katter's Philosophy of Doing Business

Posted on April 21, 2008
In correspondence with me, Wilson "Bill" Katter offered the following views, and gives permission to us all to circulate (as long as we acknowledge his authorship and copyright.)BUSINESS DEAL BASICSTo avoid many of the problems which arise in business relationships, here is a set of prerequisite criteria with which all parties should enter the discussions/negotiations...

Web 2.0 and law firms

Posted on April 18, 2008
A question from a reader:Though plenty of examples of “Enterprise 2.0” show tangible ways that social media can improve business, I have not been able to find many examples of law firms taking advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. In the UK at least, it seems that although some niche blawgs are very popular and have done quite well in establishing the author(s) as authorities in their respective fields, law firms as organizations have yet to take advantage of new platforms in substantive ways (as have eg investment banks with internal use of wikis/social networking)...

Client Responsiveness and Compromised Quality

Posted on April 16, 2008
A question from Joseph A. Heyison of the Legal Department at Daiwa Securities America Inc.“David, a thought sparked by April 11's WSJ front page, describing Moody's alleged move to client-friendliness and possible debasing of its ratings process...

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Posted on April 15, 2008
For more than a decade, I have preached (and practiced) the policy of giving all clients an unconditional satisfaction guarantee. Most of my clients have thought the idea impractical and idealistic.So, I was delighted to be made aware of the Valorem Law Group  who make this statement on their website:“If you’re interested in seeing whether we are right for you and your team, try us on a matter...

Collaboration Tools and Technologies

Posted on April 14, 2008
The Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association has just published a book entitled “The Lawyers guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together” It was written by Dennis Kennedy and Tom MighellHere’s a list of the Chapter headings:Getting StartedCollaboration at the CrossroadsCollaboration Inside the OfficeCollaboration Outside the OfficeFirst StepsBenefits of Improving Document CollaborationBasic Collaboration on DocumentsCreating a Document OnlineWorking Simultaneously on a DocumentHidden Dangers, Security and MetadataBenefits of Collaboration in Lawsuits and TransactionsInstant Collaboration – from Conference Calls to Instant MessagingHow to Hold a Meeting on the InternetSimple Project Management: BasecampSetting up a Simple Extranet or Deal RoomEmail as a PlatformSharepointExtranets and IntranetsAdobe AcrobatWikis: Web CollaborationOther Web 2...

Kathy wins Webby Award

Posted on April 09, 2008
I just had to share this with you all. The announcements for the 2008 Webby Awards, hailed as "the Oscars of the internet" by the NY Times, happened yesterday, and my wife’s venture (www.startcooking.com ) was named a 2008 Official Honoree placing it among the highest honored content on the internet...

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on April 09, 2008
The eight episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.It is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Ending the relationship

Posted on April 08, 2008
A reader asks: “I think it's time to leave my job (where I have been for a number of years) and move on. I don't have anything lined up; I'm just burned out. “Do you have an (unconventional) advice for how to leave on "good" terms? I want to make this as positive of a resignation as possible...

Do You Kindle?

Posted on April 07, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I received my Kindle from Amazon - an electronic book.I love it already.I love the fact that if I want a book, I can have it within less than a minute or two, downloaded wirelessly. No longer do I have to wait for overnight delivery...

My worst habits

Posted on April 04, 2008
In my previous blog post, you were invited to say what the worst habits of partners in porofessional firms are.But you know what? It's always easier, as someone very important once said, to see the speck of dust in someone else's eye than the plank in your own...

My worst habits

Posted on April 04, 2008
In my previous blog post, you were invited to say what the worst habits of partners in porofessional firms are.But you know what? It's always easier, as someone very important once said, to see the speck of dust in someone else's eye than the plank in your own...

Bad Habits

Posted on April 02, 2008
One of my correspondents asked this question: "I am looking for the top 10 bad habits partners within professional services firms display - and hopefully some answers on how to correct them"Anybody want to propose some suggestions?

Bad Habits

Posted on April 02, 2008
One of my correspondents asked this question: "I am looking for the top 10 bad habits partners within professional services firms display - and hopefully some answers on how to correct them"Anybody want to propose some suggestions?

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on March 26, 2008
The seventh episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download. The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Strategy and The Fat Smoker - New podcast episode available now

Posted on March 26, 2008
The seventh episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download. The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material...

Merchandizing

Posted on March 16, 2008
I just received a complementary copy of a new book(let) by David Cottrell called "Leadership Energy (E=m x c squared)."It's a 100-page large-type (very clever) packaging of some key management lessons, using Einstein's famous equation. In this case, the energy is the organization's output, the m is the mass of the people and the c is the leader's impact on energy...

"Give a Copy to Management" Campaign Closing

Posted on March 13, 2008
Due to the overwhelming success of my "Give a Copy to Management" campaign, I wanted to let everyone know that I am closing the offer, and will be taking no more requests.I received MANY more requests than the initial 100 I planned to offer, and from all corners of the globe! Since I don't want to disappoint anyone who wished to circulate my ideas in their workplace, I've made the following decision:I will be sending out 100 books as hardbacks, as offered...

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