Firms often label themselves as “…a Leading (fill in the blank) firm.” I suspect they believe that saying as much will speak the result into being. Unfortunately, as most of us already know, being an industry leader requires more than just claiming to be one.
When I was CMO at Genworth Financial Investment Services, a former GE company, we defined market leadership in simple terms: generating growth and profitability that exceeded the industry average. In other words, we would grow faster than the competition and do it more cost-effectively.
We lived by the mantra:
Growth Rate X Profit = Higher Share Value
Many firms confuse an industry growth rate with their firm’s real growth rate and overall performance. They lose sight of the fact that a rising tide raises all boats. Growing at 20% can seem impressive until you learn that the industry is growing at 30%.
Growth is the ability to increase revenue, profits, talent, influence, and impact over time. It’s not simply about getting bigger; it’s about getting better in ways that matter to the market. The truest measure of that improvement is brand preference—when your market actively chooses you over every alternative. Preference doesn’t come from marketing spin or momentary wins; it’s the outcome of a firm’s culture consistently producing the kinds of client experiences and results the market values most. Industry leaders don’t just keep up—they set the pace, and their culture makes that possible.
Culture shows up in how a firm hires, develops, collaborates, solves problems, and serves clients. These behaviors either reinforce or erode the trust and reputation that lead to preference. The following qualities are cultural in nature—when they’re lived, not laminated—and together they form the foundation for lasting industry leadership.
READ: Why Your GTM Strategy Depends on Your People Showing Up as Their Best Selves
You may not be leading right now, but here are 14 signs that your firm has the confidence to become a leader and the brand of choice.
1. You don’t feel personally rejected when top talent leaves your firm.
Insecure firms become upset when talent voluntarily leaves. It is akin to being personally rejected by a love interest. A departing employee can be subjected to any of the following: being escorted out of the building, having intellectual property commandeered, being reminded of a punitive non-compete clause in his/her employment contract, having personal effects shipped home, having computer access immediately shut off, having his oral history/reputation rewritten, etc. Confident firms appreciate personal ambition and the long arc of professional careers. As a result, they implement positive exit practices for talent, build strong alumni networks, and avoid making unnecessary enemies. They know that today she is an employee, but tomorrow she is a senior-level buyer.
2. You walk away from deals.
Confident firms know themselves well. They are aware of their strengths, clear about the ideal client for whom those strengths add prized value, and pursue well-defined, long-term business goals. They focus. Lesser firms chase anything that has a dollar sign attached to it. Chasing deals wastes time, reduces economies of scale, adds costs, and erodes brands.
3. You are a “one-firm” firm.
There is one ownership structure and one culture across geographies. Leading firms have clear value systems that are violated at your own risk. The same behaviors get you hired, promoted or fired in any office, a line of business, or role. Madrid is no different than Chicago or Beijing. Partners and staff, new hires, veterans, big lines of business, and small are all treated the same. You are part of a firm, not a clique.
READ: 6 Beliefs of Hazardous Firm Cultures
4. You don’t waste time developing and promoting an employer brand.
Like religion, recruiting is about attraction, not promotion. High performers want to work with high performers. Ambitious people seek challenging work, growth opportunities, supportive peers and managers, and recognition for their efforts. A firm either has those qualities or it does not. Insecure firms waste time and money promoting HR platitudes, creating collateral with diversity-laden stock photography, and publicizing a narrative disconnected from employee reality. In the end, these promotion efforts damage the firm’s reputation and retard recruiting efforts more because they deliver incongruent experiences. Recruits know who the leading firms are, and the leading firms know their position.
5. Your culture encourages risk-taking and rewards learning.
The best firms understand the relationship between risk and reward. Contrary to popular belief, prudence does not mean avoiding risks or acting overly cautious—just the opposite. Prudent decision-makers act boldly because they KNOW and UNDERSTAND the risks, and they manage them intelligently. Most importantly, prudent decision-makers don’t punish failure or waste opportunities to learn for fear they will “fail.” Failure is only feedback.
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6. You share good and bad client references.
Mature buyers know that project circumstances can go awry. Potential clients want to see how a firm deals with problems. When engagements go south, do you blame, cut and run, nickel-and-dime the client, or do you dig deep and work toward mutually beneficial solutions? Leading firms are confident enough to share both positive and negative references. Sharing bad references gives top firms opportunities to explain what they have learned from the “breakdowns” and how they have strengthened their approaches to enhance performance or to mitigate future problems. In other words, they make it right.
READ: Why Top Firms Share Good, Bad & Ugly References
7. You aren’t obsessed with what your competitors are doing.
Confident firms lead (i.e., set the example for others to follow). They spend a disproportionate amount of time understanding and addressing issues/needs that align with the firm’s core value proposition. They don’t lose client focus or suffer inertia waiting for competitors to move. They are knowledgeable of competition, but never preoccupied with it.
READ: What Can You Learn From Following Clients Home?
8. Your talent comes from your farm team, not from industry trades.
The best firms create and sustain their talent pool for two reasons. Developing talent demonstrates a firm’s intellectual, managerial, and business prowess—a leader producing more leaders. Second, leading firms recognize the impact that culture has on delivering high performance. Hiring external leaders who have neither grown up in the firm, contributed to its past success, nor added to its history makes it difficult, if not impossible, to preserve cultural integrity. A leader who has lived in a firm, from a newly hired college graduate to a senior leader, possesses a unique perspective and emotional understanding of a firm’s history. Outside leadership cannot replicate this historical perspective nor appreciate its significance.
9. Your performance measures consist of more than revenue targets and utilization.
Confident firms invest heavily in intellectual capital, leadership development, innovation, and social responsibility to build endurance and strength like a professional athlete. Insecure firms focus solely on short-term revenue goals and annual bonuses. Firms that concentrate on these production“checkboxes” are not reinvesting at the appropriate level to achieve leadership. Instead, they are dieting.
10. Your culture is a development crucible.
It is overstated, but it illustrates the point that the best firms operate like the Navy Seals. Getting into the firm is challenging, and staying in it is even more so. Client assignments, special projects, training, and promotions are designed to burn off the individual impurities that are inconsistent with the top performers wanted in your firm. If your culture is not up-or-out, it lacks self-awareness, focus, discipline, confidence, and perpetuates its mediocrity.
READ: Are Your Firm’s Values Any Different Than the Local Dry Cleaner?
11. You have a differentiated POV and the IP to demonstrate it.
Does your firm express a strong, informed point of view on your industry and its clients’ most important issues, or does it echo the market’s cacophony of conventional wisdom? Top firms delve deeply into industry issues, examine them through unique lenses, and articulate singular, and often courageous, perspectives on how to address them. More importantly, leading firms have the methodologies, models, and processes to deliver this value consistently across the entire firm. Insecure firms regurgitate industry buzz, have a solitary pocket of thinking that easily evaporates, or simply declare their thinking extraordinary. Make no mistake: the market determines its thought leaders, not a firm’s marketing department.
12. You do not suffer from brand envy.
Roses do not wish to be orchids. Horses do not wish to be camels—and Wolverines do not wish to be Buckeyes. Leading firms know themselves well—their strengths and weaknesses. They accept who they are and the unique value they offer to their clients. You will never hear a leading firm define itself by using another firm as a contrast (i.e., “We are like Deloitte, but we’re not as expensive” or “We are like McKinsey, but we specialize in the middle-market”). Leading firms know themselves and take pride in it.
READ: Is Your Firm Suffering From Brand Envy? Mistake No. 4
13. You command a premium for the value you deliver.
If you lead, you set the price. You do not apologize and you do not discount. You walk away.
14. You see every human interaction and decision as meaningful in fulfilling the mission of your firm.
Leading firms think long term. Leading firms build a legacy. Leading firms are stewarded, not managed. As Arthur Andersen told his partners, “Your job is to leave the firm better than you found it for the next generation of partners.” Insecure firms are filled with people who receive a paycheck.
Take away
Industry leadership isn’t a title you declare—it’s a position the market gives you. The ultimate measure is brand preference: whether your ideal clients seek you out first, trust you most, and stay with you longest. That preference is built through years of consistently demonstrating unmatched expertise, producing results that matter, and creating relationships where clients feel understood and valued.
Firms that achieve it don’t just win more work—they define their markets. Competitors react to them, talent flocks to them, and opportunities come to them. If you want to lead, build the qualities that earn preference, and you won’t just be in the conversation—you’ll be the standard others are chasing.
