leadership

why managing partners need to be accountable.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

as we have said so many times before, everyone likes the idea that “i” will hold “me” accountable. but few like the idea of “anyone else” holding “them” accountable.

more on performance management: the job of managing partner: empowered or emasculated? | partners as role models: the good, bad & ugly | managing the managing partner | pay varies when performance varies | accountability is for everyone | who decides what? | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions

so, once it is decided that accountability is important and someone needs to be responsible for implementation, the discussion quickly shifts to “let’s form a group of people, like an executive committee or a compensation committee to hold us accountable.”
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why eat-what-you-kill firm cultures produce weak ceos.

by bill reeb and dominic cingoranelli

let’s review some best practices as to how the managing partner is elected, what is expected, for what term and how he or she is protected if removed from that role.

more on performance management: how to monitor goal progress | how to implement strategy, step by step | how to decide who decides pay | accountability includes partners | succession plan requirements | how retired partners are robbing their own firms | 4 ways to create more capacity | partner retirement and the war for clients | succession: the questions to care about | hazards of not reallocating equity | cpa firm performance assessments: 15 core competencies, 21 questions | 5 harmful management attitudes (and how to fix them)

the job differs whether it is being filled under the eat what you kill (ewyk) or building a village (bav) models. for example, under the ewyk model, the managing partner is likely the largest equity partner, or if not, then the default would be that the role of the managing partner would be that of administrative partner.  because the ewyk model is usually a silo model built around superstars, the managing partner’s role is to handle all of the matters that the other partners don’t want to do.  it is not uncommon in these scenarios that the managing partner earns a stipend to fill that position, and that the stipend is not very much (maybe $25,000 to $75,000 a year).

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