Professional service firms face a serious challenge. Their clients increasingly need them to solve complex problems—everything from regulatory compliance to cybersecurity, the kinds of problems that only teams of multidisciplinary experts can tackle. Yet most firms have carved up their highly specialized, professional experts into narrowly defined practice areas, and collaborating across these silos is often messy, risky, and expensive.

In Smart Collaboration, Heidi K. Gardner shows that firms earn higher margins, inspire greater client loyalty, attract and retain the best talent, and gain a competitive edge when specialists collaborate across functional boundaries. Gardner, a former McKinsey consultant and Harvard Business School professor now lecturing at Harvard Law School, has spent over a decade conducting in-depth studies of numerous global professional service firms. Her research demonstrates clearly and convincingly that collaboration pays, for both professionals and their firms. Smart Collaboration offers powerful prescriptions for how leaders can foster collaboration, move to higher-margin work, increase client satisfaction, and boost their bottom line.

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10 Must Reads Leadership Collection

HBR Press Book

It’s time to transform yourself from a good manager into a great leader. This collection from Harvard Business Review offers the ideas and strategies to help get you there. Packed with advice and inspiration, HBR’s 10 Must Reads Leadership Collection includes four popular books: HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership; HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself; HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy; and HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence. The forty articles in the collection, selected by HBR’s editors, offer insights from world-class experts on the topics most important to your success as a leader.

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