True Professionalism: The Courage to Care about Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career

This is a must read for any managing partner of a law firm. I bought 20 copies and gave them to our partners as a must read.

Should be required reading for anyone aspiring to develop themselves professionally in a professional services firm. Especially pertinent for leaders and managers. As Maister points out, some of his recommendations require the courage of ones' convictions to be realized. Yet, this book provides inspiration (along with wonderful advice) to achieve its ends. Maister is simply the best in this niche...and this book, once again, demonstrates that. Bill Wiersma, Author, The Big AHA

David Maister does a great job of explaining the fundamentals essential to anyone that has a job or is looking for a job in consulting. Splitting the book into three sections made it flow well and easy to follow and comprehend. Furthermore, Maister really focuses on the things that you should look for within yourself as well as the firm and clients. He makes you think about what one should really focus on in your career and the benefits you can receive from your job. This book also guides an employee in explaining situations that will probably occur at some point in their working career. David Maister gives you the tools that you need to be successful; all the person has to do is apply it to their everyday life.The principles that Maister discussed in his book showed me that there is a balance between the client, the firm, and yourself. This balance is important because it dictates how successful you will become. It is also important to value your client as well as engage with them so that you really know who the client is and what their needs and wants are. Even though you must achieve your goals, you should help others to do the same by establishing a relationship, which in turn will make the working environment healthy and successful. There is so much information you take a way from this book that will help you in your career as well as your life. I advise everyone to buy this book, because it is very beneficial to the success of anyone's career. Through the use of catchy phrases and clear, practical explanations, I feel that anyone can read this book and take something from it to apply to their career.

"True Professionalism" expresses Maister's core message: do workyou love with people you like and everything else will comewith ease. Few of the lawyers I coach have heard this messagebefore. If they'd read Maister they'd realize that businessdevelopment isn't about selling, with all of its worst connotations -- it's about helping people you respect and whose problems are meaningful to you. Maister encourages the reader to consider the "radical" idea that work should be enjoyable and that if it is, then success will come from doing it well and with sincere caring. I agree with him and enjoy being reminded each time I re-read this wonderful book.

A former professor at the Harvard Business School, Boston-based David H. Maister is the world's premier consultant to professional service firms. His core principles spring from good, sound logic: Believe passionately in what you do, never compromise your standards and values, and care about your clients. Maister passionately believes we should do all these because they are the ethical things to do and because they are the primary road to commercial success. True Professionalism is a candid treasury of practical wisdom in which Maister expounds some eternal truths about the individual professional, the firm, and the client.