Leading Professionals in the 21st Century
January 2008

Attracting, retaining and getting the best out of ‘knowledge workers’ has to be a long way up the list of priorities for today’s leaders and managers. So, in Tom Peters Company, we are always interested in what the traditional powerhouses of knowledge workers, the Professional Service Firms, are learning about this complex, and often perplexing subject. A recent new book on the subject from Thomas J DeLong, John J Gabarro and Robert J Lees has surfaced some of the dilemmas they face in these highly competitive times.

Two of the elements of the new leadership model they recommend show a lot of alignment with our FSW model. DeLong et al believe that much more effort now needs to be put into setting the direction of the organisation so that everyone can understand their role in making it happen. But more than that, they recommend devoting more time and energy to gaining the commitment of these talented individuals to the overall direction.

We agree with both of these recommendations! In FSW terms, we would position Setting Direction under the Ambition element of our model, and gaining commitment would sit on the Ambition/Talent/Performance axis. It’s heartening to know there is some emerging consensus around the new organisation logic that is developing in (what Tom calls) the White Collar Revolution.

Read more about the book in a Harvard Business Review article entitled New Challenges in Leading Professional Services.