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What It Takes: Seven Secrets of Success from the World's Greatest Professional Firms
Expert insights on what sets the great professional firms apart from all the rest Having devoted a career that spans fifty years to consulting with and studying professional firms in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, author Charles Ellis learned firsthand how difficult it is for an organization to go beyond very good and attain, as well as sustain, excellence. Now, he shares his hard-won insights with you and reveals "what it takes" to be best-in-class in any industry.Enlightening and entertaining, What It Takes explores firms that are leaders in their particular field and the superior people who create and maintain them. Along the way, it identifies the secrets of their long-term success and reveals exactly how they can put your organization in a better position to excel when properly executed.Contains many stories of achieving excellence, and addresses the obstacles that top-ranking organizations face in sustaining it Includes insights on leaders in their particular field--from McKinsey & Company in consulting and Cravath, Swaine & Moore in law to the Mayo Clinic in healthcare Written by one of the most experienced and respected business consultants/advisors of our time What It Takes skillfully shows you how innovation and a commitment to excellence can drive success, while also revealing how easy it is to fall behind. With it, you'll discover what separates the great firms from the good ones and learn how to attain, and maintain, organizational success throughout the years.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 2013
28 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
Charles D. Ellis
102 books86 followersCharles “Charley” D. Ellis is an American investment consultant. In 1972, Ellis founded Greenwich Associates, an international strategy consulting firm focused on financial institutions. Ellis is known for his philosophy of passive investing through index funds, as detailed in his book Winning the Loser’s Game.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 3, 2019
One of the best book I've read in 2019. Well researched and thorough analysis done for each of the firms. Lots of great lessons to learn from it. I was immersed from the beginning to the end. What a book, if you aspire excellence in management this book is for you.
August 21, 2018
What It Takes offers a roadmap of how the premiere professional services firms in the World has distanced themselves from their competitors.
Charley Ellis is a legend. He is the founder of Greenwich Associates - a strategy consultancy focused on financial clients where he served for several decades. Ellis has authored 16 books plus countless papers and articles on investing and strategy. The 1975 article “The Loser’s Game” has made a lasting impression on many in the investment profession, me included. Among the very many assignments Ellis has had, the decade of chairing Yale University’s investment committee alongside its CIO David Swensen deserves mentioning as it makes Ellis a part of one of the most successful investment track records ever.
This book started with a number of questions: “Which are the best firms? And what makes them the best? What principles and what concrete actions bring them to the top?” The firms in question are those in professional services. A number of enquiries later a clear consensus had formed around five outstanding leaders in five segments: McKinsey in consulting, Cravath, Swaine & Moore in law, Capital Group in investment management, the Mayo Clinic in health care and Goldman Sachs in investment banking. A further 300 interviews with leaders of these firms later a few very consistent keys to success emerge:
1. Mission – a sense of purpose that motivates exceptional people,
2. Culture – values that translate the mission to practices and make colleagues a tribe,
3. Recruiting – recruiting only the most capable, motivated people,
4. Developing people – maximizing people’s development during their careers,
5. Client focus – exceeding what the most demanding clients expect,
6. Innovation – finding new ways to serve clients and reinventing the organization in times of fundamental change and
7. Leadership – bringing the above together.
The absolute bulk of the book are chapters on each of the above keys to success that start with one page of general reflections then continues with 20 – 30 pages discussing the 5 leaders from the specific aspect in question and then a half page of reflections to end the chapter. There is further a chapter on handling problems – mostly devoted to Goldman – and one on lost excellence, fully dedicated to Arthur Andersen.
Both the stories of successes and of failures show the tension between professionalism and long-term profit build-up on the one hand and short-term profit maximization as a business on the other. The firms that stay true to the professional values slowly, over time gain so much strength that they as a consequence also earn more money than others short-term. Those who look to maximizing short-term profits like Arthur Andersen are on a slippery slope where profits and employee benefits are gained at the expense of clients, eventually leading to destruction. The hard part is that at any point in time people’s incentive is to think short- term. This is why iconic - often-early - leaders and culture are so important as counterweights.
What Ellis describes is often obvious but at the same time inspiring as you realize that so few of us live up to best practice. The author’s long experience makes him appreciate the many small, subtle and hugely important nuances of asset management, investment banking and consulting. The reader get to know the five professional services firms fairly well as Ellis is analyzing them by choosing what to share with the reader. In my view Ellis could have increased the amount of general analysis and reflections somewhat. It would have been especially interesting to read some thoughts on which choices Arthur Andersen could have made to stem their demise but Ellis instead clearly prefers the reader to think for himself.
This book is an important gem. Read it.
Charley Ellis is a legend. He is the founder of Greenwich Associates - a strategy consultancy focused on financial clients where he served for several decades. Ellis has authored 16 books plus countless papers and articles on investing and strategy. The 1975 article “The Loser’s Game” has made a lasting impression on many in the investment profession, me included. Among the very many assignments Ellis has had, the decade of chairing Yale University’s investment committee alongside its CIO David Swensen deserves mentioning as it makes Ellis a part of one of the most successful investment track records ever.
This book started with a number of questions: “Which are the best firms? And what makes them the best? What principles and what concrete actions bring them to the top?” The firms in question are those in professional services. A number of enquiries later a clear consensus had formed around five outstanding leaders in five segments: McKinsey in consulting, Cravath, Swaine & Moore in law, Capital Group in investment management, the Mayo Clinic in health care and Goldman Sachs in investment banking. A further 300 interviews with leaders of these firms later a few very consistent keys to success emerge:
1. Mission – a sense of purpose that motivates exceptional people,
2. Culture – values that translate the mission to practices and make colleagues a tribe,
3. Recruiting – recruiting only the most capable, motivated people,
4. Developing people – maximizing people’s development during their careers,
5. Client focus – exceeding what the most demanding clients expect,
6. Innovation – finding new ways to serve clients and reinventing the organization in times of fundamental change and
7. Leadership – bringing the above together.
The absolute bulk of the book are chapters on each of the above keys to success that start with one page of general reflections then continues with 20 – 30 pages discussing the 5 leaders from the specific aspect in question and then a half page of reflections to end the chapter. There is further a chapter on handling problems – mostly devoted to Goldman – and one on lost excellence, fully dedicated to Arthur Andersen.
Both the stories of successes and of failures show the tension between professionalism and long-term profit build-up on the one hand and short-term profit maximization as a business on the other. The firms that stay true to the professional values slowly, over time gain so much strength that they as a consequence also earn more money than others short-term. Those who look to maximizing short-term profits like Arthur Andersen are on a slippery slope where profits and employee benefits are gained at the expense of clients, eventually leading to destruction. The hard part is that at any point in time people’s incentive is to think short- term. This is why iconic - often-early - leaders and culture are so important as counterweights.
What Ellis describes is often obvious but at the same time inspiring as you realize that so few of us live up to best practice. The author’s long experience makes him appreciate the many small, subtle and hugely important nuances of asset management, investment banking and consulting. The reader get to know the five professional services firms fairly well as Ellis is analyzing them by choosing what to share with the reader. In my view Ellis could have increased the amount of general analysis and reflections somewhat. It would have been especially interesting to read some thoughts on which choices Arthur Andersen could have made to stem their demise but Ellis instead clearly prefers the reader to think for himself.
This book is an important gem. Read it.
August 18, 2017
Excellent insights on how to recruit and build a strong culture of innovation at the tactical and strategic levels
August 21, 2013
I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in management of a professional services firm. Ellis is renowned for his knowledge of the investment management and securities industries and was managing partner of Greenwich Associates. He conveys his wisdom about management through telling fascinating stories about the histories, personalities, growth, decline, ups and downs of McKinsey, Cravath, the Mayo Clinic, Goldman Sachs and Capital Group, which he describes as "the world's greatest professional firms". He then concludes with a chapter on the rise and fall of Arthur Anderson & Co. If you've ever herded cats as a manager in such a firm, you'll both enjoy and benefit from this book.
November 20, 2014
This was an interesting read about seven excellent companies from consulting and finance to healthcare. They mention Mayo Clinic as the leader in healthcare with their mantra of the needs of the patient come first. My favorite part was the final chapter, which detailed the demise of Arthur Andersen, the auditing firm of Enron. Just because you are a leader in your field, if you don't keep doing the things that put you on top, you will soon lose your position.
November 29, 2013
This thoroughly researched analysis describes what makes professional service firms successful for the long term. Ellis explains these key points through the history of successful firms like the Mayo Clinic and McKinsey Consulting, and through the downfall of Arthur Anderson. It has a powerful moral and it's thorough, but it's a long read if you're not really into service firms.
September 14, 2013
Arthur Anderson - touching story of a failure after lots of great success !
December 22, 2014
good insight into the ingredients which have made 5 leading firms so successful - culture, excellence, hiring practices, loyalty
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews