Performance Leaders Podcast

Our guest on the Performance Leader podcast is Carole O'Neil, ManagingPartner at Cundall, a global multi-disciplinary engineering practice delivering sustainable design projects in the built environment from 26 offices in locations across the UK and Ireland, EMENA and Asia Pacific.   Carole embarked on a career in Human Resources quite by chance, having completed a law degree at Oxford University and decided not to move into practice. Since then, she has worked in a variety of HR roles in professional services firms across the legal and built environment sectors. She spent most of her HR career as a generalist but developed a particular expertise and interest in the development of leadership capability.   In 2022, she was elected Managing Partner at Cundall. She is the first non-engineer to hold the position, and Cundall's first female Managing Partner.   Show notes (1m:30s) Carole's path into the MP role (3:26) Cundall as a people-focussed firm (6:27) How Carole sees high performance, and her high performance life outside work: powerlifting! (12:08) Rewarding different contributions and strengths (17:40) Maintaining culture through growth (19:27) Cundall's Zero Carbon Design 2030 goal (23:13) Linking transformational goals to individual contribution (24:30) The value of regular 1:1s, and how Cundall is evolving its approach (27:15) Carole's advice on having difficult conversations (28:50) Fostering collaboration in a diverse, global firm (31:57) Legacy at Cundall ‍

Our guest on the Performance Leader's podcast is Lewis Iwu, co-founder and CEO of Purpose Union, a social purpose strategy firm united by the belief that the world is better off when companies and organisations think, act and communicate with a defined social purpose. Lewis advises organisations on how to devise and execute winning arguments and campaigns on social and environmental issues. Over the past 15 years he has worked with some of the world's most influential organisations and individuals, and led campaigns and coalitions on issues such as racial injustice, climate change and education access. He is the author of Words that Win, a book about how to win arguments on social and environmental issues.  Lewis was previously the founding Director of the Fair Education Alliance, a national advocacy coalition of almost 100 non-profits and businesses. Lewis has also worked at leading global corporate reputation agencies, Finsbury and Brunswick. In this podcast we discuss: The work of Purpose Union The historical link between the professions and social purpose, including how firms can resolve purpose conflicts such as which clients to represent The connection between social purpose, organisational purpose and individual purpose Building purpose into the employee value proposition And The role of leaders in advancing purpose   I hope you enjoy this conversation with Lewis Iwu.

Our guest on the Performance Leader podcast is Neville Eisenberg. Neville grew up in South Africa, where he qualified as a lawyer. After gaining his Masters in Law from the LSE, je joined the London Corporate Finance Department at Berwin Leighton in 1989. He was made partner in 1995, joined the board in 1996 and was elected managing partner in 1999. Neville oversaw Berwin Leighton's successful merger with Paisner & Co, to become Berwin Leighton Paisner. During his 15 years as managing partner, the firm grew its revenue by more than five times, more than tripled its profit per partner, and grew from two offices to 14 offices in 11 countries. In that time, BLP became known for pioneering innovation in legal services. After stepping down as managing partner in 2015, Neville became senior partner until the firm's US merger with Bryan Cave in 2018. His final act at BCLP was to set up and run BCLP Cubed, a platform for delivering routine legal services at scale. In this podcast, Neville talks about his time as a leader. We discuss his interest in strategy and the value of democratizing strategy in firms. We delve into what made BLP innovative, including how Lawyers On Demand was born. We cover high performance firms, building a feedback culture and having difficult conversations. I hope you enjoy listening to a professional services leader who really understands the power of strategy and culture.

Our guest on the Performance Leader's podcast is Dr. Heidi K. Gardner, author of the best selling book Smart Collaboration, and the newly released Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work. Dr. Gardner is a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School and previously a professor at Harvard Business School. Named by Thinkers50 as Next Generation Business Guru, Dr. Gardner is a sought after advisor, keynote speaker and facilitator globally. With her team at Gardner & Co., she works extensively with boards, executive teams and other senior leaders to boost performance by embedding the principles and practices of smarter, agile, cross silo collaboration. Her work results in concrete, quantifiable performance improvements. Dr. Gardner has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow and for McKinsey & Co and Procter and Gamble. In this podcast, we discuss Dr. Gardner's new book, Smarter Collaboration. We cover a wide range of topics from firms that do a great job of collaboration to leadership and change. We go into depth on compensation models, performance systems and metrics that enable or inhibit collaboration. We also talk about purpose and feedback, and we even touch on Chat GPT. I hope you enjoy this podcast with the most influential thought leader in the professional services sector today.

My guest on S3 Ep 3 of the Performance Leaders podcast is David Patient from Travers Smith. David trained at Travers Smith and became a partner in 1999, specialising in UK and international M&A. He established the firm's Paris office in the same year.  In this episode David reflects on his time as Managing Partner, building a talented leadership team, the firm's strategic goals and change agenda, and leading a high-performance firm. We touch on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), legacy, managing partner peer support, the unique Travers Smith office set up, and more. We hope you enjoy this episode.

My guest on S3 Ep 2 of the Performance Leaders podcast is Leadership Expert, William Johnson. In this conversation, William draws on 30 years' experience developing leaders in the world's leading consulting and professional services firms. He distills the three key leadership tasks for every equity partner: exemplifying the brand embodying the culture ensuring the legacy. The discussion takes place in a dynamic context for many firms: the unfolding nature hybrid working and the consuming war for talent.

Welcome to series 3 of the Performance Leader podcast series. In this episode, Ray D'Cruz and guest Patrick St John discuss Patrick's recent white paper on Measuring and Rewarding Partner Collaboration in professional services firms. Patrick, a former law firm leader, lays out a simple model for recognising and rewarding the best collaborators. He also reflects on this experience as a Remuneration Committee member and partner reviewing other partners.

Host, Ray D'Cruz, is joined by Partner Remuneration expert, Michael Roch, to discuss the role and evolution of the partner remuneration committee (Rem Com) in professional services firms. This podcast is a valuable resource for senior leaders of the firm and Rem Com members, especially new members wanting to understand more about their roles and responsibilities. The podcast covers: When a Rem Com is a desirable part of the remuneration governance model. The role of the Rem Com Chair, elected members & internal experts (HR, Finance etc). Effective and efficient decision making and communication. Evolving the Rem Com to maximise its value to the firm. The last step every Rem Com should take at the close of the annual remuneration round. Learn more about partner contribution management at https://www.performanceleader.com/partner-contribution-management.

Our guest is former Herbert Smith Freehills Global CEO, Mark Rigotti. Mark shares his insights on the nuances of managing dispersed and hybrid teams, as well as his reflections on leading one of the world's leading professional firms. This special episode of the Performance Leaders podcast was recorded live at the 2021 Managing Partners Conference in Sydney, Australia.

My guest for our special International Women's Day episode of the Performance Leader's Podcast is Michelle Dixon. Michelle is the former CEO of the Australian law firm, Maddocks. In this episode we discuss: the opportunities and challenges of leading a law firm if her leadership style was influenced by her gender the scrutiny that comes from being a woman in leadership how she counsels other firms seeking leadership roles in law

My guest on S2 Ep 4 of the Performance Leaders podcast is Firm Diversity Partner, Dawn Rosemond. In a reflective and candid conversation, Dawn shares her experience as the first African-American female to make equity partner at Barnes & Thornburg, and how it informs the strategic initiatives and programs she champions as Firm Diversity Partner. I hope you enjoy listening to our podcast with Dawn as much as I enjoyed recording it.

In this extended podcast, Gerry Riskin reflects on 40 years leading and advising leaders of professional firms. He discusses how to lead with courage, manage partner performance, support dispersed teams and how to use after action reviews. He also reflects on his own journey, from his desire at an early age to be a lawyer, his passion for business management and the profound influence of David Maister on his life.

Our first guest for season two of the Performance Leaders' Podcast is Strategic Talent Management & Culture Expert, Adam Hall, from Willis Towers Watson. ‍In this episode, Ray D'Cruz and Adam discuss Willis Towers Watson's research on the factors that make a high performance employee experience (EX) including: ‍The theory and ROI of Employee Experience How to create a positive Employee Experience in professional firms The application of Employee Experience theory to partners in professional firms How collaboration and inspiration play a central role in the Employee Experience Using an Employee Experience lens to respond to COVID-19

In this podcast, Ray D'Cruz and Michael Roch discuss 5 key insights uncovered by the 2020 Equity Partner Contribution & Compensation Survey.   The survey examines current practices in relation to partner contribution and compensation management in professional firms. Over 160 respondents were comprised mainly from those who manage the contribution and compensation process in firms: managing partners, chief executives, chief operating officers, heads of finance and human resources and board members.

In episode 6 host, Ray D'Cruz, interviews Performance Leader's Partnerships Advisor, Michael Roch, about the challenges and strategies to manage partner compensation in professional services firms. Listen to this podcast to learn about: - Why partner compensation is such a challenging issue - The must have KPIs in a partner compensation model - The Intellectual Capital Model - The Performance to Reward trilogy - How partners in global firms have differing expectations about compensation  - How to get consensus on partnership compensation - Why firms need to adapt their partner compensation model to adapt to new technology in law firms

Performance Leader was delighted to collaborate with Joel Barolsky of Barolsky Advisorsto present at the 2019 Managing Partner forum in Australia. Our topic was the Profoundly Human Law Firm of 2030and our presentation sparked a lively discussion.  Given the interest in the topic, we wanted to  share our thoughts with our clients and contacts in professional services. So, following the conference, we recorded this podcast and wrote an article  The Profoundly Human Law Firm of 2030, which provides further insight, including a break down of the McKinsey 7S model. We hope you enjoy listening.

Host, Ray D'Cruz, interviews Murray Paterson from the Potential Project about mindfulness, and how it can improve performance, from productivity to engagement to well-being.  Murray led the introduction of a mindfulness program for partners of a large law firm, with stunning engagement. Listen to this podcast to learn more about what results mindfulness can generate for your firm.

Our guest in episode 3 is futurist speaker, strategy and innovation consultant and expert in disruption, Eleanor Winton. Eleanor is founder of Foresightfully, a consulting firm whose mission is to help leaders to integrate 'foresightful' thinking into their ambitions and plans for their business. That means considering the fast moving external and global environment and the impact of disruption in particular but also what it means to be a truly sustainable business. Prior to establishing Foresightfully, Eleanor led the Future Institute at KPMG in the UK. Her specialism is in bringing future trends to life in a way that energises clients around the solutions - how can they innovate to stay relevant and capitalise on change and uncertainty. She has worked with the Boards and Executive teams of organisations across almost every industry, from retail to healthcare to mining. We hope you enjoy this insightful conversation with Eleanor as much as we did.

In episode 2, host Ray D'Cruz is joined by former lawyer turned ultramarathon runner for social purpose, Samantha Gash. Samantha has run some of the most gruelling ultramarathons on earth including the 2000 kilometre Freedom Trail across Africa and Run India, a 3253 kilometre race completed in 76 days to raise money for children's education in India. Samantha shines a light on the true meaning of leadership, high performance and the importance of being connected to your purpose.

Welcome to the Performance Leader podcast. In this series, we talk to leading thinkers in the professional services sector about how to create high performance firms, or Performance Leaders, as we call them. In Episode 1, I'm joined by Founder of the VeraSage Institute, Ron Baker. For 20 years, Ron has been the foremost advocate for value-based pricing in the professions. Ron is also the co-host the brilliant podcast series, The Soul of Enterprise.