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No model is flawless. But firms with multiple profit centers must stay alert to unintended consequences. You may need to rethink profit-sharing to avoid internal competition. You may need more intentional communication to combat information hoarding. Otherwise, teams may optimize locally at the expense of the whole. ISG has chosen the single profit center route because it aligns with our values. No one is disincentivized from sharing resources or ideas. Our only competitive focus is on ISG wins – firm-wide wins. When a new office opens, others rally around it, knowing their support won’t impact their own performance or recognition. We believe that good behavior begets good results. Focus on doing what’s right, and the right metrics tend to follow. Our diversity across geography, services, and markets helps steady the business when external forces shift. We don’t have to chase short-term wins when we’re already playing the long game. SCALABLE PRACTICES TO REDUCE SILOS. The single-profit-center model may not be for every firm, but the following practices can help reduce siloed behavior, regardless of structure: ■ Align incentives with firm-wide goals. Compensate teams based on overall performance, not by office or business unit. This encourages collaboration and discourages internal competition. performance to inform decisions, but avoid using it as a basis for profit-sharing. Transparency is valuable when it drives learning, not rivalry. ■ Promote cross-location and cross-discipline collaboration. Create systems that support workload sharing, joint pursuits, and knowledge transfer across offices and services. ■ Invest in onboarding and integration. When opening new offices or adding services, provide support from across the firm. A rising tide lifts all boats when no one is penalized for lending a hand. ■ Use performance data wisely. Track segmented ■ Encourage long-term thinking. Promote strategic decision-making by reinforcing that sustained success matters more than short-term gains. ■ Be intentional about communication. Guard against hoarding of information by building a culture of openness, especially where segmented structures already exist. Silos break down when people have shared stakes in shared success. Chad Surprenant is the chief strategy officer at ISG. Connect with him on LinkedIn .
CHAD SURPRENANT, from page 3
and more importantly, we questioned the point. From the beginning, our mindset was simple: answer the phone, take the meeting, and say yes to the work, regardless of where it came from. That approach built service and client diversity, which became a core strength. What’s hot one year often isn’t the next. Flexibility and teamwork helped us thrive. The purpose of each new office was to create opportunity for the entire firm. Project delivery often spanned multiple locations and assigning profits geographically would have discouraged the very collaboration we were trying to build. Today, with offices across multiple states and several acquired firms, our systems can absolutely break down performance by geography, service, or market. And in limited ways, we do. Leaders need visibility. But how you use that information matters. “ISG has chosen the single profit center route because it aligns with our values. No one is disincentivized from sharing resources or ideas. Our only competitive focus is on ISG wins – firm- wide wins. When a new office opens, others rally around it.” THE RISKS OF MULTIPLE PROFIT CENTERS. Once compensation or bonuses are tied to segmented metrics, people start working the system. If you reward high utilization, people will charge as much time to projects as possible. If you reward project profitability, they’ll charge as little time as possible. Multiple profit centers also create behavioral divides. If profits are tracked and shared by location, there’s little incentive to share leads, workload, or expertise across offices. We’ve recruited many professionals who were ready to escape that kind of siloed environment. TRAITS OF A MULTI-PROFIT-CENTER FIRM:
■ Competitive. Drives strong performance in isolated units.
■ Efficient. Prioritizes local goals and lean processes.
■ Short-term focused. Optimizes immediate returns over firm-wide value. TRAITS OF A ONE-PROFIT-CENTER FIRM:
■ Strategic. Supports long-term decision-making.
■ Collaborative. Encourages communication and trust across teams. ■ Integrated. Shares people, knowledge, and opportunity without hesitation.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 20, 2025, ISSUE 1606
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