Review: Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas

Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas by Laura Empson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A semi-academic book based on more than 500 interviews with professionals working in professional services (such as management consulting or law).

It gives a conceptual structure to what leaders in such professional partnerships experience. And the quotations and case studies arising from various interviews help to visualise that.

I found several of the concepts there novel and intriguing. And something I could very much relate to.

The authority in a professional partnership is contingent on your success as a partner, it is not given.

The leaders in professional partnerships need to build consensus using political skills - yet without being perceived to do corporate politics.

The leadership in professional partnerships is very much plural (a so-called leadership constellation) as opposed to traditional strong CEO archetype.

A leadership dyad (two leaders collaborating on top management) can be surprisingly effective.

Organisational dynamics between management professionals (such as Heads of HR, Marketing, Strategy, CFO etc) and partners requires careful equilibrium.

A professional partnership has its own lifecycle. It can experience development from one stage to another: from a founder-focused through collegial and delegated to corporate / federated / dispersed.

Facilitating post-M&A acclimatisation of two merged cultures requires leaders to be like the organisers of the school dance: you set the stage but never decide who dances with whom.

Overall ambiguity in roles, hierarchies and structures can function surprisingly well in professional partnerships. Order and structure is not always desired as in the regular corporate way.

Recommended to those building or working in professional partnerships, especially if substantiated research is appreciated.

Review: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author is a former hostage negotiator - and brings interesting illustrating stories from that dramatic past. The objective of the book is to shed a light on how to be more successful in negotiations (in reality, in any communication situation which involves arguing over some issue).

The central concept to me from the book was a tactical empathy. That is, how to use good communication tactics in order to understand another person's wishes, desires and fears - and make that person more predisposed to be listening to you. These tactics are fairly simple (but way too easy to forget when we want to get OUR point through):
- Listen, hold on talking
- When talking, slow it down
- Mirror (rephrase what another person has said in a form of a question)
- Label another person's emotions/fears/desires ("It seems like you...")
- Don't push people for "Yes" - understand the reasons behind their "No"
- Don't get stressed and create additional stress due to deadlines
- Do an accusation audit (list the reasons another person might dislike what you are offering)

Sometimes it all felt somewhat cynical and manipulative. On the other hand, many of the communication practices described there are actually helping to build relationships - either with your negotiation counterpart, a child, a colleague or anyone else. Everyone wants to be listened to and understood. If we play along with this for ultimately good reasons, it's not that bad communicative manipulation after all...