Executive Education

What You Can Expect

Managing a professional service firm during periods of economic adversity is a balancing act that requires extraordinary leadership abilities. Senior managers must consistently maintain fiscal discipline while impressing clients, motivating staff, and displaying leadership strength. Leading Professional Service Firms not only prepares you to improve service fundamentals, but also equips you to lead your company confidently through a downturn and position it to capitalize on the eventual recovery. Working closely with a group of accomplished peers, you will develop new insights into formulating effective strategies, creating an organization that can execute those strategies, and driving growth in all economic cycles. Specifically, you will be better able to:

• Devote attention to attracting and developing talented professionals—your firm's most vital resource
• Build a company culture that not only supports the attitudes and behaviors critical to your company's success, but also encourages the personal satisfaction of each team member
• Implement corporate governance, decision-making processes, and performance metrics that are well suited to the unique characteristics of your firm and the realities of the service economy
• Sharpen core competencies and adhere to best practices, thereby maximizing the value delivered to your clients
• Drive long-term strategic planning, while effectively executing your firm's current business strategy

How Will My Organization Benefit?

Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School are a significant investment for both you and your organization. Going far beyond the basic transmission of skills and theories, each leadership development program provides applicable lessons in the classroom that can be implemented successfully within your organization. You will acquire a fresh perspective on global business from our groundbreaking curriculum, world-renowned faculty, and an accomplished group of elite peers from around the world.

"Leading Professional Service Firms challenged me to rethink the way professional service firms are led, and expanded my portfolio of solutions for dealing with current business issues. Already, the program has helped me to restructure our firm and find new ways to motivate our consultants to get the maximum return. In the long term, the program will definitely help me improve the performance of our organization."
Paul Spaans [Partner], KPMG Management Services, The Netherlands