See what the fastest growing firms are doing right now to make growth happen.
Growing a professional services firm is hard. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.
Building a growth strategy is the single most important task of any managing partner. However, growth in professional services is difficult. It’s not just about increasing revenue. It’s also about positioning your firm as a recognized expert and trusted advisor, attracting the right clients and the top talent, and developing new solutions that address both current and future client needs.
So, what sets the fastest-growing firms apart? Our research continues to point to their commitment to thought leadership and their approach to investing in it.
Thought Leadership as a Critical Growth Driver
There’s no one recipe for growing a firm. Growth is a mix of many ingredients including a clear firm strategy, relentless client focus, great people, sound processes, smart marketing approaches …
Getting the recipe and ingredients right is a little different in every firm.
Our latest research shows that thought leadership is one of these key ingredients. Our April survey of 233 professional services firms looked at the thought leadership mindsets and behaviors of firms from across the consulting, technology/SaaS, IT services, and A/E industries.
In that study, we found the average growth rate of all firms between 2023-2024 to be 19.4%. This article looks more narrowly at the top quartile of growth — those 55 firms growing at a rate of 25% or more).
These fast growers:
- Place a higher priority on thought leadership (38% see thought leadership as mission-critical to their success vs. 31% of their peers)
- Are more effective at thought leadership than their peers (they scored, on average, a 34.5 / 40.0 on our 8 dimensions of thought leadership effectiveness vs. a 31.4 / 40.0 for their peers)
This article takes a closer look at their mindsets and behaviors through 3 lenses:
- Redefining the Purpose of Thought Leadership
- Investing in Original Primary Research
- Establishing Standards
#1 – Redefining the Purpose of Thought Leadership
When it comes to thought leadership, many professional services firms are missing the mark. They view it as a downstream marketing activity, a way to fuel the marketing pipeline or close deals.
By contrast, the fast growers have cracked the code. They understand that thought leadership isn’t just about showcasing expertise—it’s about uncovering new insights. It’s about learning something about their clients no one else knows so they can create products and services no one else can.
The fastest growing firms set different goals for their thought leadership programs:
- Gain fresh perspectives on client challenges
- Identify emerging trends before competitors
- Develop new products and services that solve previously unmet needs
By re-framing the purpose of thought leadership, the fastest growing firms transform it from a marketing tactic into a growth engine. They invest in original primary research, not to fuel content creation, but to spark innovation and stay ahead of client needs.
This shift in mindset is crucial. Instead of asking, “How can we use thought leadership to market our existing services?” top firms ask, “What insights can we uncover to shape the future of our clients’ businesses?”
Creating Time and Space for Thought Leadership
Prioritizing thought leadership isn’t just about intentions—it’s about action. The fastest growing firms understand that to reap the benefits of a robust thought leadership program, they need to allocate resources smartly. This means carving out dedicated time and space for key personnel to engage in thought leadership activities.
Budgeting for Non-Billable Time
The fastest growing firms budget non-billable time for thought leadership. This isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic investment in the firm’s future. By allocating specific hours for research, analysis, and POV development, these firms send a clear message: thought leadership is a core part of our business strategy, not an afterthought.
Embedding Thought Leadership in Job Descriptions
To truly integrate thought leadership into the fabric of the organization, the best firms go further. They incorporate responsibilities into job descriptions and performance evaluations for key team members. This approach ensures that thought leadership isn’t seen as an extracurricular activity, but as an essential component of professional growth and firm success.
By making thought leadership a part of the job, these firms are fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning. They’re also creating a pipeline of future leaders who are skilled at identifying trends, analyzing complex issues, and articulating compelling insights.
Mandating Participation from the Top
Here’s where the rubber meets the road: the most successful thought leadership programs have buy-in and active participation from senior leadership. When managing partners and practice leaders roll up their sleeves and engage in thought leadership activities, it sends a powerful message throughout the organization.
This top-down approach does more than just set an example. It ensures that the firm’s thought leadership aligns with its strategic direction.
#2 – Investing in Original Primary Research
The fastest-growing firms aren’t content with rehashing industry reports or summarizing others’ findings. They conduct original primary research, at least annually.
This commitment to first-hand investigation sets top performers apart. By investing in rigorous research, these firms:
- Gain unique perspectives on client challenges
- Identify emerging trends before competitors
- Develop innovative solutions based on real-world data and stories
But let’s be clear: quality research isn’t cheap or easy. It requires time, resources, and expertise. However, the payoff can be great. Original insights form the foundation of new service offerings and thought-provoking content.
#3 – Establishing Standards
If you want your thought leadership program to truly drive sustained growth, you need to set the bar high. The most successful firms don’t leave thought leadership to chance – they establish clear standards and expectations that permeate the entire organization.
But what does this look like in practice?
Quality Over Quantity
While consistent output is important, top firms carefully weigh substance with volume. They set guidelines for the depth of insight, originality of ideas, and practical applicability of their thought leadership content. They have high standards for content quality. Yet, they hold themselves accountable to a high volume of annual activity. Standards of performance dictate how much quality thinking will flow from the organization on an annual basis.
Gaining Firm-wide Agreement on Key Topics
The fastest growing firms avoid “random acts of content.” They don’t let topics be driven solely by subject matter experts or client-facing personnel. Nor, do they develop topics solely at the practice-level.
They recognize the need to establish agreement across the entire firm on the topics it must own. The best firms operate from a topics to own strategy that cuts across practices and individuals. It keeps everyone inside a set of “guard rails” that ensure the firm develops meaningful insight on a regular basis that leads to marketplace visibility on issues that matter to clients.
Building a Thought Leadership Platform
First things first: start with your firms’ overarching worldview. No matter what you do or who you serve, everything starts with how you see the world. Your worldview should describe why your organization exists in the first place. It forms the foundation for everything else you might do.
High-priority issues emanate from your overarching worldview. And they point back to it.
Develop Consensus, Not Compromise
It’s easy to assume that building a thought leadership platform is a top-down exercise. An expert from upon high will set the direction and drive the structure. And everyone will just “toe the line.” Usually that’s not how it happens at all. Rather, it starts with robust debates around the client issues own today. The issues you’d like to own tomorrow. And, a healthy “arm wrestling” match over what it will take to get there.
This process isn’t always comfortable. It might mean saying “no” to pet projects or shifting resources away from traditional strongholds. It’s okay to over-invest resources now in new and emerging areas. It’s okay to under-invest resources in mature or commoditized offerings …. even if they’re large revenue drivers now.
Where to Start?
The best place to start is always with an honest assessment of the existing state. Take a good hard look at your firm’s thought leadership program and have an open conversation about it with your senior leaders. Some topics to get you started:
- Is our thought leadership program spurring our firms growth? If not, what needs to change so that it could?
- Have we fostered a culture that enables thought leadership to thrive? If not, why not? If so, what next?
- Have we established a clear worldview for our firm? If we asked our best clients could they quickly recall it? Could they articulate a reasonable facsimile of it if we asked?
- If we we had all the prerequisites for thought leadership to thrive (the right goals and mindset, the right resources and behaviors, etc.) how much faster might we be growing?
As always, if you have questions or need help …. reach out.
