11
O P I N I O N
Avoid new partner pitfalls Generational ownership and leadership transitions pose unique challenges. Anyone you promote to the highest level must be cut from the right cloth.
T he statistics bear repeating: Most professional services firms are aging at the top. For example, the average partner age of big law firms is 52, and only 2 percent of partners at these firms are millennials, according to data compiled by The American Lawyer . AEC firms are no different. Our engineering firm’s average partner age is 48. That means that in the next decade a lot of decisions will be focused on the next leadership group.
Stephen Lucy
1)You must be a good communicator. You simply cannot be an effective leader if you are not able to communicate your message to your constituents, be “Most professional services firms are aging at the top. For example, the average partner age of big law firms is 52, and only 2 percent of partners at these firms are millennials ... AEC firms are no different.”
Handing off the responsibilities of running a firm, especially at partner level, can be a daunting task. Organizational cultures vary and the approach to leadership has changed. Organizational charts and autocratic leadership styles don’t motivate or impress millennials – and why should they? Given societal changes – a values shift that focuses on work-life balance – and definitions of success in defiance of monetary gains or promotions, most millennials seek opportunities that come in the form of meaningful and well-defined professional experiences.
See STEPHEN LUCY, page 12
So what does the partner of the future look like?
THE ZWEIG LETTER June 26, 2017, ISSUE 1206
Made with FlippingBook Annual report