The Producer vs The Leader

I remember sitting at my desk in Southfield, MI, thinking, "Well...what the hell do I do now?"

It was my first day as Managing Partner—and I was totally lost.

To get to that point in my career, I'd been a practitioner—a tax guy, specifically. I added value to the organization by giving clients advice, designing tax planning structures, completing tax returns, charging hours, etc.

But once I stepped into senior leadership, the game completely changed.

I didn't have defined tasks to work on each day and I didn't have set projects that needed to be completed.

I remember thinking, "If I'm not billing hours and completing projects, then what's my value to the organization?" At the time, I had no idea.

What I learned over the coming months, years, and decades was the difference between The Producer and The Leader.

If you are in a leadership role in your firm or aspire to one, understanding the difference can make or break your career and the success of your practice or firm.

The Producer

The Producer is, well, focused on production.

Specifically, THEIR production.

"How many more projects can I take on?" "How many chargeable hours can I bill?" "How much revenue can I produce?" "What can I do to grow my practice?"

Most people who are relatively new Partners operate in this mindset—and it makes sense, right? These are the things that have gotten them to this point!

Hell, some people in senior leadership positions never move beyond the mindset of The Producer. It's not that The Producer mindset is wrong, because it's not.

The Producer mindset still delivers value—but it's limiting, because your impact is capped by what you alone can do.

You're missing the opportunity for the most upside.

The Leader

The maturation of The Producer is to evolve into The Leader.

The Leader's main objective is to enable those on their team to do more.

Their value to the organization is no longer solely defined by what THEY produce as an individual, but by what their team/group/business can produce as a collective.

Guess what? Sometimes that means putting your own goals aside to enable the collective team to do more. But more on that later...

The Leader fills their week with activities like:

• Thinking strategically about their business/practice and how to enable their mission and vision

• Helping their people navigate roadblocks to enable strategy

• Enabling their team to think differently and BREAK THE MOLD™

• Meeting with people 1:1 to develop & encourage them

• Dedicating time to considering what's around the corner

The Leader knows that what they can accomplish as a collective will dwarf what they could accomplish alone.

On a more personal note, stepping into the role of The Leader is also where I've found the greatest satisfaction and meaning in my career.

There's nothing like leading a group of people toward a common vision and enabling them to grow personally and professionally. It's incredibly rewarding.

Shifting your focus from what you can do to what your team can achieve is where real leverage—and leadership—begins.

A Real-Life Shift in Mindset

A couple of weeks ago I was advising a senior leader..

We were talking about their plan to achieve their business growth goal and, in particular, they were getting hung up on achieving their personal sales goal.

Here's the thing: If they achieved their $1m in revenue growth and none of the other practice leaders met their goals, they weren't going to move the business.

So I said to them, "What if, instead, you shift your focus a little bit from what YOU can produce to how you can enable your practice leaders to elevate their numbers?"

Initially, they brushed off my suggestion because of the importance of individual sales in their firm.

Then we continued talking about it...

"Let's think about the other seven people... if you increase each of their production by 1/7, you've replaced yourself. And what if you increase one or two by 2/7? Now you're ahead—you'll accomplish MORE than you would have on your own."

After this leader took some time to think about it, they came back and said, "You know what, Alan, I think you're right. My job is to enable others." I refer to this as 1-to-many.

Then we talked about how they might go about doing it. It included dedicating consistent time to work with practice leaders on things like:

• Go-to-market strategy

• Account plans and segmentation

• Sales coaching

• Service delivery and effectiveness

By successfully enabling others to do more, the business benefits by growing in a more meaningful and sustainable way.

Where to Begin

Shifting from The Producer to The Leader hinges on the belief that you'll be able to accomplish more as a collective than as an individual.

If you can't wrap your head around that idea, then I can't help you.

From my experience, it's proven true again and again that what we accomplish as a team will dwarf what we accomplish alone. And it's a hell of a lot more fun too.

I encourage you to take a look in the mirror this week—or maybe just look at your calendar. Is a majority of your week dedicated to acting as The Producer or The Leader?

Are you focused on producing more or enabling those around you to do more?

If you've been in The Producer mindset, maybe it's time to explore what's on the other side.

That's one of the many things I facilitate as an advisor to professional services CEOs and their leadership teams.

See you next week.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman