The Dilemma

Being an effective firm leader has never been more difficult. Firm leaders must fill two roles simultaneously. They must manage their firm’s operations (doing things right) while moving in a proper direction (doing the right things). Of the two, managing is easier because it relies on what is known and proven to be effective. Leading into the future is much more challenging because there are no easy answers or best practices, and there are only ideas and indicators as to which way to proceed.

Warren Bennis, an extraordinary management consultant, made this observation when he wrote about the leader-manager dilemma, “The manager accepts status quo. The leader challenges it.”

Managing Is Easier

Yes, leaders have to do both. When managing, they align with status quo—making the trains run efficiently and on time, using what is known from the past. When leading, they must look beyond status quo and peer into the future—full of risks and unknowns. Consequently, leaders tend to opt for the less risky, sure thing—management.

Leading Is Harder

Leaders can’t ignore the bigger picture that encompasses the unfamiliar and risky future. Admittedly, it is so much easier to make plans based on what is known. This is why so many strategic plans tend to assume that the current environment will remain stable instead of imagining how the environment is likely to be.

The New Reality

The problem is that the former reality no longer exists. Some of the new reality is already known: talent will be in severe demand for years to come. Wages will continue to rise—exorbitantly. Remote and hybrid work are the new employee demand. Advisory relationships with clients are more important now than ever before. Compliance work alone will not satisfy the best clients. Many of the firm’s clients no longer fit the firm’s profile.

Welcome to the new reality.

What To Do

If your firm’s strategic direction was created before Covid or hasn’t been updated to account for the new reality, then you are headed in a direction where the assumed environment no longer exists. Tweaking the old plan gives the illusion that important adjustments have been made. But the truth is that the foundation of the old plan is still there. Repainting an old car is still an old car.

It’s hard to disengage from the “here and now” and to venture into the “there and then.” It’s exhausting, time consuming and you may not have much to show for it. So it’s easier to remain where we are, doing what we do, hoping that our status quo will suffice. And the new reality continues make itself known, day by day, until it is upon us.

If you are a firm leader, pay attention to the firm’s management, but don’t neglect your leader responsibilities. Embrace the manager-leader dilemma and include the discussion in your strategic meetings. It’s the role you have.