Partner 🐡: How much of the work related stuff posted in here provides you meaningful insight vs. comes across as unfounded griping?

Very helpful for me to understand what motivates some people and what bothers them. I'm a true believer that everyone has been gifted and it's our mutual responsibility to explore how we fit together to excel. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but I like to understand people before believing it's their fault something isn't working. As a long time and senior partner of the firm, these forums provide me with authentic feedback to help me be a better leader. I would rather hear your truth than your platitudes and I would hope you'd feel the same way.

I know there aren't a lot of senior partners on this forum but I'm not typical either. The fact that I had awareness and joined this forum demonstrates the diversity at the partner level as well. What I need is folks on this forum to be brave enough to stand behind your convictions and help people like me improve our firm. I can't do it without your support and I would welcome more people into these spaces to tell me what you think we need to do differently. Be honest and courageous.

M1 thank you for the strategy, now EY to execute

^Good to hear there some openminded big fish in here. I am not partner but in my late 40s, having started consulting after years in industry. The most striking thing to me in this profession is lack of honesty, to clients, to employees... and just stringing people along to milk them for their labor or sales. More transparency is desperately needed, which is why FB thrives.

There's an EY bowl, isn't there?

^I for one am thrilled that you are here. We need more partner wisdom in here. Not just silent lurking! 🦉

^You mean a burner, of course.
I hope.

EY1/Big Fish - I will give you my recommendation right here. We lack a Specialist track in Advisory. There are lots of great consultants who will never be salespeople. We need to find a path for our talented folks who do not fit the mold but can contribute rare skills and talents in other ways. My counselor was coached out this year, a respected SMR who sold small engagements. He is now a key contributor at his new firm. What a loss.

Well, I would start by reassessing what adds value to a practice besides sales. EY Advisory compared to some competitors arguably is light on thought leadership, comprehensive training and onboarding, methodology, and employee development. SMRs in a Specialist track could do a lot of practice development work that gets short shrift. This would enhance morale and retention, plus free up even more time for PPEDs to focus on sales. In my observation, too much focus is on managing politics and relationships internally to get promoted and not enough on practice development. These SMR leaders would serve as role models in a broader capacity than just selling.

I agree the lack of specialist track is disappointing. It's not so much that these folks "can't sell" - they would rather deliver. And if they have a specific skill set that's rare, why would the firm want those people to spend their time in generalist activities anyway? Seems like a win for everyone. May be at that crossroads myself some day and it makes me sad.

EY1 thanks for your great comments and attitude. Most of the TAS OTS partners and executive directors espoused these values you promote which is wonderful. In my years here I have seen that pretty consistently. Unfortunately there are some bad apples and I am working for one right now. With some of the things going on I struggle on being honest and courageous versus self preservation of my career progression at EY. In the long run it all works out and great leadership and exceptional client service win the day.

This is one of our most frustrating people issues. Folks with deep sector or industry expertise and experience make great advisors but they often lack the ability to provide solutions. They have amazing insights into root causes of a problem/issue and can help clients understand the drivers but they struggle with what to do about it at a macro level. We have lost many people to this issue. At this level, we have to produce enough revenue to cover the cost of a deep SMR so unless we can develop sellable solutions, we cannot create sustainable revenue. He would you tackle it?

@OP, actually they are slowly introducing the service delivery model, which offers a career path more specialized for those of us who don't excel in sales and is geared to be more technical. It was introduced to the DnA practice this year and will slowly be pushed to the rest of the firm. BTW, I'm a Manager in that practice and selected an IC path, which changes my title to Solutions Engineer. The only caveat is that in this path, you max out at ED.

But yet we have partners who won't approve a celebratory team lunch. Have seniors eating the cost of the lunch, pathetic

Hi guys. I'm back. I decided it's best to identify myself with an alter ego. I will go by Medusa. And I do care. I happen to be one of the partners who does this because I love solving problems and I love helping people. I also have a background in psychology and I can tell you that what motivates and attracts most people to consulting is either a deep need to give or a deep need to take, just like most professions. Those that seek affirmation, acceptance, accolades and status are sometimes the worst people to work for. Their insecurity manifests itself in selfish behavior and narcissism at the worst end of the spectrum. If you don't want to work with people like that, learn to identify them and avoid them. Either that or you have to learn to stand up to them...look for people who don't harbor resentment or entitlement. They are the naturally happy ones, not the naturally social ones. They do the job because they love it, not for the money or the title. There are people like this. You have to find them and you have to stay close to them. Watch how people behave under stress. You don't know how good the fruit is until you squeeze it. The rotten ones fall apart pretty fast. Our firm, like all others, has been in a stressful period for several years. Use that to your advantage and be the person that doesn't crumble.

Happy to provide my email if I can assure it gets to EY users only. How does that work on here?

^Yes, either an industry SMR or individual with specialized knowledge within a given practice. Icannot give you the specific example or the person would be known by some in here. Another example was a former client, an SVP of Op Ex, was let go after 20 yrs serving in his industry. He reached out to me for advice and wanted to go into consulting. He went to a competitor that would reward him for a stellar background that did not translate to PPED at EY.

No, EDs are still on the hook for sales

This has been incredibly helpful. Thank you. I need to sign off now but I will be back on soon and want to continue this dialogue. Have a nice weekend everyone.

EY OP, some regions are launching a specialist track this year. Canada just launched it this year for Advisory and has been holding information sessions. Depending on how it goes, I would expect it to be rolled out globally.