Building Trust & Service Leadership

Course Overview

David Maister's landmark insight—that effective leaders in professional services "get their fulfillment and satisfaction out of helping other people shine rather than having the ego-need to shine themselves"—forms the foundation of this course. True leadership isn't about personal achievement; it's about creating an environment where others can achieve their fullest potential.

You'll discover why technical brilliance and business development prowess are just the starting points—and what truly differentiates exceptional professional service leaders from the rest. This course addresses these fundamental challenges.

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‍About David Maister

David is widely recognized as the world's leading authority on the management of professional service firms. A former Harvard Business School professor, he spent decades consulting to law firms, consulting companies, accounting firms, and other professional partnerships across six continents before his retirement.

David is the author of several landmark books including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and The Trusted Advisor (co-authored with Charles Green and Robert Galford). His work has fundamentally shaped how professional services firms understand their economics, culture, and client relationships.

We are privileged to have been given permission by David Maister to deliver his timeless wisdom through an adaptive learning format.

Key Learning Outcomes

Master the Service-Oriented Leadership Framework

• Identify the essential qualities of effective professional service leaders
• Distinguish between individual achievement and leadership effectiveness
• Recognize how ego needs can either enable or obstruct leadership success

Build Trust Systematically

• Apply Maister's Trust Equation: (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-Orientation
• Implement daily practices that compound into trusted advisor status
• Identify and eliminate common "trust killers" in professional environments

Develop Your Leadership Capabilities

• Create systems for continuous leadership improvement
• Practice reflection techniques that accelerate leadership development
• Cultivate genuine service orientation in yourself and your team

Create Long-Term Leadership Impact

• Balance short-term efficiency with long-term capability building
• Measure success through team development and accomplishment
• Build multiplying influence through developing other leaders

Why This Course Matters

Your technical expertise gets you noticed. Your business development skills may earn you a leadership role. But your ability to build trust and develop others determines your ultimate success as a leader.

Maister's research proves that when multiple professionals offer similar expertise, the ones who thrive are those who can create environments of trust, develop capability in others, and derive genuine satisfaction from their team's success—not just their own achievements.

• Service-oriented leadership has become the primary differentiator in professional services
• Building trust creates psychological safety that enables innovation and excellence
• The professionals who advance to the highest levels understand that developing others is their most valuable contribution

When you apply Maister's principles, you'll create something increasingly rare: a professional environment where people feel safe to be vulnerable, where commitments are consistently kept, where capability continuously develops, and where everyone—including you—finds genuine fulfillment in collective achievement.

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