Aligning the Stars

Featured Read

"Aligning the Stars: How to succeed when professionals drive results"

By Jay W. Lorsch and Thomas J.Tierney

Seldon Gill review

Ever wished for a half-way decent manual on the professional services? Ever wanted more information on how the industry works; what's driving it; where to look for advice? Well look no further. Aligning the Stars is for you. Aligning the Stars, quite simply, is a book that explores how to win in the professional services. It explores the forces behind the rapid development of the professional services industry, and asks: "What separates really successful firms from less successful competitors?"

Drawing on research, experience and studies of the best practices in eighteen successful professional services firms (from accounting to advertising and banking to law), co-authors Jay Lorsch and Thomas Tierney argue that the secret to the ongoing strategic success is this:

"...building an organisation of executive level "stars" whose day to day performance reinforces and ultimately achieves the goals of the business". "Outstanding firms...", they say, "are consistently able to identify, attract, and retain star performers; to get stars committed to their firm's strategy; to manage stars across business lines, geographies, and even generations..."

In a nutshell: Manage your people well; as much as possible align their needs with needs of your firm; get everyone working toward the same goals. Why? Because they're much more likely to stay - and contribute to the long term success of the firm.

As recruiters specialising in the professional services sector, we know as well as anyone that good people are sometimes hard to keep, and even harder to find. As a result, it makes sense to hang onto the ones that you have. But how do you do this? Well the authors argue that Alignment is achieved through the design of organisational strategy, structure and systems, culture and leadership - all broad areas that are explored and discussed in great detail. But we're not going to do all the work for you - you'll have to read it to find out for yourself.

There are valuable lessons in the book for managers, marketers, HR professionals, and indeed anyone who is part of a team, or more laterally, thinking about their next move. Underlying the advice is the importance of aligning yourself in your career: finding the right firm and the right people to work with; the right culture in which you can thrive.

The book is insightful, comprehensive and surprisingly readable. It is full of examples from real life, both good and bad, and combines theory with down-to-earth practical advice. Why do we like it? Because the advice is good. It's a must read for not only the leaders of professional services firms, but the marketing and business development professionals who work with them.

About the authors

Jay W. Lorsch is the Professor of Human relations and Director of Research at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration. Thomas J. Tierney is a director (and former CEO) of Bain & Company, the global strategy consulting firm.