When I listen to professional services leaders share their fears, concerns, and challenges, it becomes clear that their decisions are often based on internal narratives rather than market realities. These stories, while understandable, can lead to choices that undermine the very advantages that make boutique firms competitive.
Most professional services firms hit a ceiling. The cause may be one of a hundred things. It’s not usually lack of talent. Quite often, it’s fractured data.
Ask most founders of boutique professional services firms what problem they solve, and they’ll give you a list of services.
This quote resonates with me: “Work on the business, not in the business.”. For me, part of working on the business is making myself more resilient, healthy and happy so that I can make the investments in the rest of the business. If I’m not stable, energized and able to bounce back from challenges, then how am I supposed to work on the rest of the business?
When someone quits, let them. Thank them. Wish them well. And start planning for life without them.
When we began doing customer research at Integral, I thought it would confirm what I already knew. Instead, it changed how we saw our business.
One of the hardest parts of running a professional services firm is keeping great clients and growing with them. Too often, founders fall into the trap of treating every client the same. That works in the early days, when you are just trying to get revenue in the door. But as your firm matures, that approach stalls growth.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in professional services:
“Your website is your shop window. Treat it as such.”
Unfortunately, most professional services firms treat their website like an annual checkup. They refresh it reactively—usually when the copyright date at the bottom feels embarrassingly out of date.
In professional services, we pride ourselves on solving complex problems with smart people. But when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence, the constraint is rarely the technology; it’s us. Research shows that people resist, and sometimes even sabotage, AI initiatives. CIO.com, reported in the Pivot 5 newsletter, released a study revealing that 31% of workers (including 41% of Millennials and Gen Zs) are actively undermining their company’s generative AI rollout.
For years, I wore my firm’s manual processes like a badge of honor. “We do things the old-fashioned way,” I’d tell clients. “Personal touch. Human expertise. No shortcuts.”