"Experts Who Lead Experts"
Forthcoming
Our anchor essay on the firm's founding question. Expertise comes in kinds — the law, the numbers, the rainmaking, the science, the clinical judgment patients trust — but leading the people who hold that expertise is a different capability, and it is not for everyone. The essay sets out which expert strengths transfer to leadership, which work against it, and which have to be developed; why desire is not evidence of ability; and how a firm builds succession for key roles on data rather than instinct — then supports the leader before, during, and after the promotion.
"Before Appointing the Next Leader: What Evidence Do You Have That They Can Lead Peers?"
Our executive brief for law firm leadership on partner transitions: why the appointment is the riskiest decision a partnership makes, what evidence should sit behind it, and how to build that evidence before the vote.
Download the brief
"Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential"
Jeffrey Cohn and Jay Moran's award-winning book on why organizations keep choosing the wrong leaders — and a more disciplined way to evaluate leadership potential. The argument this whole practice is built on.
Selected writing on succession and leadership
- Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators — with Jon Katzenbach (Harvard Business Review, December 2008)
- A Board's Unrealistic Hopes Can Derail a CEO Succession (Harvard Business Review)
- Growing Talent as if Your Business Depended on It (Harvard Business Review, October 2005)
- Why CEOs Should Model Vulnerability (Harvard Business Review, May 2020)
- What Boards of Public Companies Can Learn From Private Equity (Harvard Business School Publishing)
- Take Responsibility for Rising Stars (HBS Working Knowledge)
- When the CEO Reports to Private-Equity Bosses (The Wall Street Journal)
- How Yale Law School Is Becoming the Next Harvard Business School (Harvard Business Review)
Podcast
Imperfect Leaders — Jeffrey's podcast on the missteps and course corrections behind enduring leadership careers.
Featured conversation: Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School professor and the leading researcher on psychological safety — what leaders get wrong about failure, risk, and creating cultures where people speak up.
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