“When the changes outside the boardroom are happening faster than the changes inside the boardroom, it’s just a matter of time.” - Allan Koltin
In Part 1 of Allan Koltin’s strategic forecast, we explored the external forces pushing firms from tradition to transformation – the collision of shifting talent expectations, evolving business models, private equity influence, and AI acceleration.
Part 2 looks inside the boardroom.
If Part 1 revealed the pressures reshaping the profession from the outside, Part 2 exposes the leadership response on the inside – where intention must turn into impact, fast. The next five truths reveal how accountability replaces consensus, how culture becomes a performance driver, and how the next generation will rewrite the rules yet again.
6. Independence is a choice – stagnation is not
In Part 1, Allan showed how private equity is rewriting the playbook – faster decision-making and new ownership models. In Part 2, the focus shifts to how leaders respond.
For Allan, the real divide isn’t PE vs. independence. It’s business-minded thinking vs. traditional thinking.
And for independent firms, that means re-evaluating how they incentivize, reward, and retain talent – because the market around them has already changed.
"You don’t have to choose private equity, but you do need a strategy. If private equity firms are offering equity rewards to everyone in the business – giving people a piece of the rock – you need a counterpunch. You can’t just do nothing.
This industry has relied on the same program for 117 years, so winning those discussions in the boardroom isn’t easy — it’s chaos. And it’s not just a generational divide; it’s business-minded thinking vs. traditional thinking." - Allan Koltin
He describes a leadership fork in the road:
Traditional-minded leaders protect the legacy
Business-minded leaders build the future
In Allan's view, independence can absolutely be a winning strategy - but only if it moves.
7. Successful leaders tolerate, “the bumpy year”
When asked what traits leaders need to be successful, Allan doesn’t talk about expertise, intelligence, or even charisma.
He talks about tolerance for failure.
"The number one trait of a successful leader is to accept failure. Get into the pond. And know that to be successful you have to fail a lot.
The best CEO is not afraid to have some bumpy years, because we’re investing today for a better tomorrow." - Allan Koltin
For Allan, the leaders who drive transformation aren’t the ones who chase perfect years – they’re the ones who are willing to take a bumpy one. They make decisions that traditional-minded partners avoid because they’re thinking beyond the current fiscal year.
That shows up in choices like:
Investing in operational infrastructure
Protecting talent from burnout rather than burning them for the quarter
Saying no to low-margin work so they can say yes to higher-value opportunities
Instead of asking: “How do we hit this year’s number?”
Allan encourages leaders to ask a better question: “What do we need to build so we’re still winning five years from now?”
Successful leaders don’t fear the dip. They understand that temporary discomfort is the price of sustainable growth.
8. Great leaders don't hoard talent – they develop it
For Allan, the next era of leadership in professional services isn’t defined by control – it’s defined by coaching. Not doing the work yourself, but building capability around you.
Across the firms outperforming the market, Allan sees a decisive shift:
leaders aren’t measured by what they deliver, but by who they grow.
“The number one trait in leadership today is coaching. Taking people along. Helping develop their soft skills.” - Allan Koltin
In the legacy partnership model, success often meant holding onto the biggest clients, the most revenue, and the most control – the mentality of, “if I do it myself, it gets done right.”
But in Allan’s view, leaders who hoard work create dependency.
Leaders who develop others create scale.
“It’s not about you – it’s about making everyone around you better. When you are doing that – and doing that as a team and locking arms, you’re going to be a winning organization.” - Allan Koltin
This is the leadership response the next generation is waiting for.
They don’t want to watch from the sidelines – they want to contribute, learn, and lead. Firms don’t scale because leaders work harder. They scale because great leaders develop great leaders.
9. Resource management isn't admin – it’s a differentiator
During the discussion, Christine poses the question:
In an industry where firms sell their people's time – and labor is the biggest cost on the P&L – why isn’t resource management treated as a C-suite topic?
Allan has spent decades advising firms at the top of the market – the ones attracting private equity, scaling with confidence, and consistently outperforming their peers. And across those firms, he sees the same pattern: resource management has become a strategic lever.
"Resource management has finally become certified. It matters. It's a differentiator. If you were to ask me the five things that are different between the uber-successful… The upper 10% vs. everyone else… Resource management is in my short list of things they do that much better.” - Allan Koltin
Many leaders think they, “know” resource management, or point to initiatives tried decades ago but as Allan points out, what they tried was twenty years ago, in a completely different market. Today, the firms in the top 10% are treating resource management as strategic not administrative.
They’re not, “filling schedules.” They are:
Allocating the right people to the right work – at the right margin
Protecting talent instead of burning them for the quarter
Using resourcing insight to influence pricing and profitability
Allan leaves leaders with a clear message:
if time is the product, the art of managing it belongs at the leadership table.
10. The next generation will rewrite the rules – again
Allan is candid about the shift in expectations and capability coming from younger professionals. They aren’t rejecting hard work, they’re rejecting inefficiency. They want to specialize, be coached, and move faster than legacy processes allow.
To illustrate the difference, Allan shares one of the most vivid analogies of the conversation:
“When I was a kid and I had a question, I’d go in the family room, stand on a chair, pull down the World Book Encyclopedia or Britannica, and read a paragraph written by someone ten years earlier. The kids today – the bot or AI is already built in. It’s instantaneous.” - Allan Koltin
For Allan, this isn’t about impatience, it’s about capability. The next generation of professionals are entering the workforce with more access to information and a stronger instinct for optimization than any generation before them. The leadership response isn’t to slow them down or teach them, “how we’ve always done it” – it’s to harness their instinct to improve and optimize.
“We’re so busy being busy, no one has the time to sit down and say stop the clock – there has to be a better way to do this. They’re looking for smarter – not more.
However experience matters, experience takes unpredictable events and gives you predictability because it’s not your first rodeo - so there has to be a coming together.” - Allan Koltin
The future firm won’t look like the past because the next generation won’t allow it to. They aren’t inheriting the rules. They’re helping to rewrite them.
The first leadership response
Part 1 explored the forces reshaping the profession – the collision between tradition and transformation. Part 2 revealed the moment of truth for leadership – where pressure has to turn into progress.
Together, the two parts provide Allan’s read on the market today and an unparalleled strategic lens for leaders of this generation and the next.
A final piece of advice to leaders:
“Learn to listen so you can listen to learn.” – Allan Koltin
Listen to what the market is demanding.
Listen to what private equity is signaling.
Listen to what the next generation is asking for.
Listen to what technology is enabling – and what your legacy processes are preventing.
Listen to the signals inside your own firm – where margin, talent, and opportunity intersect.
Because listening isn’t passive – it should be the first leadership response.
Watch the full conversation with Allan Koltin for unmissable market predictions and strategic insights.