I like your culture questions. I would just add this, “the fish stinks from the head down”. Good customer service starts with firm leaders providing good internal customer service. So often they impose change on the team without any real consequences for lack of follow through at the partner level.

I have observed that the trend to let Partners “get away with anything” is changing. I remember sitting in a session with the exec team of a firm and hearing them say, “We’ll never change Partner X – He’ll be retiring in a few more years – and just look at his billing run.” Every time firms turn a blind eye toward Partners whose behavior is inconsistent with firm imperatives, it sends a message to the team about what is really important.

The good news is that I have observed more and more firm leaders trending toward cutting loose partners that don’t manifest the firm’s values in everything they do. One firm leader told me recently, “The recession has given us the excuse we needed to prune the dead wood out of the firm.” I agree with pruning dead wood, but I just hope we don’t have to wait for a severe downturn to do it again.

Coming back around to your insights about culture I believe the actions not taken usually speak louder than any mandates for change.

Thanks for letting me get my two cents in.
Edi