Seventeen Basic Expectations of Partners

Serious-looking businessman in front of empty conference roomDevelop staff, develop business, develop yourself.

By Marc Rosenberg
How to Bring in New Partners

The following apocryphal vignette plays out at partner retreats on a regular basis: The partners brainstorm what is expected of partners at their firm. They have a spirited, productive discussion that results in a dozen items written on a flipchart.

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All of a sudden, one of the partners yells, “Oh, no!” The startled partners ask him what’s wrong. He points at the flipchart: “None of us qualify!”

There is not one firm whose policy on what a partner is reads exactly like the list below. This is a collection of what I have seen at many great firms I have had the pleasure of working with.