The Professional Service Firm50 (Reinventing Work): Fifty Ways to Transform Your "Department" into a Professional Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and Innovation! [Hardcover]

Tom Peters (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 21, 1999 | Series: Reinventing Work

Transform white collar departments into "professional service firms" whose sole, powerful asset is knowledge.

Idea: You are boss of a 23-person finance department in a division of a big company.  Or, rather, you were boss of the finance department.  Now, per our suggestion-model, you are Managing Partner, Finance Inc., a full-fledged professional service firm which is a wholly owned subsidiary of your division.

Goal: Learn from the best professional service firms!  Transform your unit!  Today, even after re-engineering done well, the "department" doesn't look much like McKinsey, Andersen or Chiat Day.  (And that's an understatement!)

Aim, in short: Cool people (call them "talent") working on cool projects with cool clients.  The aim redux: A cool Finance/Purchasing, IS, HR, Sales department. Why not?

The cool professional service firm is just that: cool people/talent, a portfolio of cool projects, cool clients.  Period.  It's only asset -- literally -- is brains. It's only product is projects. It's only aim is truly memorable client service.

So step #1, then, is the organization (PSF) . . . transforming "departments" in which white collar folks work into way cool professional sercie firms adding way cool value by doing way cool "stuff".

Peters discusses making the most of presentations, working with outsiders on market analysis, how to imporve brainstorming meetings, how to develop relationships with clients and get the most out of them.

50 of Tom Peters's trademark insights on how to get the most our of your department.

See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Brand You50 and The Project50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tom Peters thinks that you can turn you "dept."--be it the HR "dept." or the payroll "dept."--into a professional service firm with the same level of creativity and commitment of the firms we always seem to hear about--McKinsey & Co., Chiat/Day, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In The Professional Service Firm50, Peters spells out 50 ways to transform your "dept." into a client-centered, passionate organization. His advice ranges from "Bring in wild and woolly outsiders. E-x-p-a-n-d the box" (no. 27) and "A rabid scheduler is a must!" (no. 32) to "Become a Research & Development evangelist" (no. 35) and "Provide 'project management-leadership' opportunities" (no. 45).

The Professional Service Firm50 joins Peters's Reinventing Work series, which also includes The Projects50 and The Brand You50. Like that of all the titles in this series, this book's presentation--especially its bouncing typography--is distinctive and at times overwhelming. Nevertheless, managers looking to inject new ideas and life into their departments will find lots of high-energy advice here. --Harry C. Edwards

From the Inside Flap

Transform white collar departments into "professional service firms" whose sole, powerful asset is knowledge.

Idea: You are boss of a 23-person finance department in a division of a big company.  Or, rather, you were boss of the finance department.  Now, per our suggestion-model, you are Managing Partner, Finance Inc., a full-fledged professional service firm which is a wholly owned subsidiary of your division.

Goal: Learn from the best professional service firms!  Transform your unit!  Today, even after re-engineering done well, the "department" doesn't look much like McKinsey, Andersen or Chiat Day.  (And that's an understatement!)

Aim, in short: Cool people (call them "talent") working on cool projects with cool clients.  The aim redux: A cool Finance/Purchasing, IS, HR, Sales department. Why not?

The cool professional service firm is just that: cool people/talent, a portfolio of cool projects, cool clients.  Period.  It's only asset -- literally -- is brains. It's only product is projects. It's only aim is truly memorable client service.

So step #1, then, is the organization (PSF) . . . transforming "departments" in which white collar folks work into way cool professional sercie firms adding way cool value by doing way cool "stuff".

Peters discusses making the most of presentations, working with outsiders on market analysis, how to imporve brainstorming meetings, how to develop relationships with clients and get the most out of them.

50 of Tom Peters's trademark insights on how to get the most our of your department.

See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Brand You50 and The Project50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (September 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375407715
• ISBN-13: 978-0375407710
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.9 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence--the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged as the best business book ever. Sixteen books and almost thirty years later, he's still at the forefront of the "management guru industry" he single-handedly invented. What's new? A lot. As CNN said, "While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all its worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself." His most recent effort, released in March 2010: The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. Tom's bedrock belief: "Execution is strategy--it's all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory." (Keep up with Tom at tompeters.com, ranked #9 among "The Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs.")

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Tom Peters "Wow"! September 29, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This book has several potential uses. Although I have worked in professional service firms almost my entire life, I found this book to be a useful reminder of what makes a professional service firm great. Although Tom Peters did not intend this purpose, I think it may be the best use of the book. The second use is the intended one: Turn your internal business department into a professional service firm look-alike. The book will work well for those who have driving ambition to be the best. For those who do not share Peters' passion, this book may seem over the top. Peters is a very qualitative thinker, so it would be easy to misapply his ideas in a way that created a tough work environment that created little benefit. For example, The Dance of Change warns against trying to create new language and culture in an organizational sector because everyone else may think you are weird and ignore you. Peters could create that kind of tension for a group if you followed his advice too literally (he suggests that you use questions like "How can we wow you?" when working with colleagues in the firm). On the other hand, Peters is at his best when he is a little off-the-wall because he makes you think. There are plenty of references to outstanding books, and he is really trying to create a picture of perfection. That is helpful, because most business books simply share dated information about past best practices. As someone who helps executives design simple, effective approaches to perfection, I applaud the effort. Peters would do well to accommodate other perspectives. Being totally committed to work and perfection through maximum effort often does not appeal to people as a permanent life style. What should the other people do? If you are an ambitious MBA who wants a mentor, you could do a lot worse than adopt this book as your guide. If you want balance in your life, you had better read Life Strategies as well. Keep up the good work, Tom Peters!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom Peters Puts The Wow! Back Into Work! April 14, 2000

By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This book has several potential uses. Although I have worked in professional service firms almost my entire life, I found this book to be a useful reminder of what makes a professional service firm great. In fact, this is much more useful than The McKinsey Way (a book about Tom's original firm). Although Tom Peters did not intend this purpose, I think it may be the best use of the book. The second use is the intended one: Turn your internal business department into a professional service firm look-alike. The book will work well for those who have driving ambition to be the best. For those who do not yet share Peters' passion, this book may seem over the top. Peters is a very qualitative thinker, so it would be easy to misapply his ideas in a way that created a tough work environment that provided little benefit. For example, The Dance of Change warns against trying to create new language and culture in an organizational sector because everyone else may think you are weird and ignore you. Peters could create that kind of tension for a group if you followed his advice too literally (he suggests that you use questions like "How can we wow you?" when working with colleagues in the firm -- that may work if you politely ask the person first if you may ask them an unusual question). On the other hand, Peters is at his best when he is a little off-the-wall because he makes you think. There are plenty of references to outstanding books, and he is really trying to create a picture of perfection. That is helpful, because most business books simply share dated information about past best practices. As someone who helps executives design simple, effective approaches to perfection, I applaud the effort. Peters would do well to accommodate other perspectives. Being totally committed to work and perfection through maximum effort often does not appeal to people as a permanent life style. What should the other people do? If you are an ambitious MBA who wants a mentor, you could do a lot worse than adopt this book as your guide. If you want balance in your life, you had better read Life Strategies as well. Keep up the good work, Tom Peters! I hope you keep challenging us!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars As always with Peters, 80% Filler, 20% Epiphany September 23, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

OK, I concede Tom Peters has some wonderful ideas and observations, but does anyone else struggle with this new free form writing style he's migrated to? Wow ... but REALLY? necessary (Or?) appropriate?!? Also, Tom Peters' using the term "Phat" in a business writing reminds me a little of when my dad would come into a room of me and my friends and ask what we "dudes" were "grooving" on - a little awkward. Come on Tom, it's ok to be past 45! It's no 'dis, Homey!