Geoff Smith
Leading the Professionals
How to Inspire & Motivate Professional Service Teams
Kogan Page, 2004
What's inside?
Professionals tend to be soloists. To conduct your teams of professionals like an orchestra, learn to play their way.
Recommendation
Any professional whose job involves inspiring and motivating other professionals to work as a team probably has a pretty good idea of what it’s like to conduct a symphony with an orchestra of soloists. Author Geoff Smith has written a very useful book that will help you harmonize your band of hotshots. While some professionals relish team interaction, many appear allergic to harnessing their brilliance on behalf of the group. Law firms, CPA practices, ad agencies, architecture offices, research labs and other service firms all rely on professionals. But to move the firm ahead, those professionals should check their egos at the door. Not very likely, you may think, and you’d be right. At least, not likely without this book’s coaching on how to manage professionals with a light touch and still get the job done. getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book to those leading professionals in small and medium-sized firms, more so than in corporations, though it will help anyone who wants to make the members of a professional team march to the beat of a not-so-different drummer.
Summary
About the Author
Geoff Smith is a consultant specializing in managing and implementing leadership programs. He worked for several major corporations and served as director of studies at Ashridge Business School. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), he co-authored Personnel Administration and Industrial Relations.
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