Laura Empson – Keynote Speaker

Academic, Speaker, Advisor: Leadership in Professional Service Firms

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Specialist Subjects

Collective leadership: Understanding the leadership ecosystem in professional organizations
Power of partnership: Realising organizational and individual potential
Leadership and culture: Reinvigorating professionals and their organizations
Governance of professionals: Growing and growing up
Future of professional work: Leading collectively through uncertainty

Topics

Language

English

Biography

Laura Empson is Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms at Bayes Business School, University of London, and holds Research Fellowships at both Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge.

She has dedicated 30 years to researching professionals, professionals, and the professions, and is a globally recognised expert in their leadership and governance. Her research also explores organisational and cultural change; growth and leadership transitions; mergers and acquisitions; professional careers; partner evaluation and reward systems; and the future of professional work.

Her research has been funded by a series of prestigious awards from the EU and UK government. Laura Empson has been nominated for The Thinkers 50 Leadership Award for her research on collective leadership.

In addition to dozens of publications in leading academic journals, she has published several books with Oxford University Press – her first was Managing the Modern Law Firm (2007) and her latest is Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas (reprinted in paperback, 2022). She writes regularly for Harvard Business Review and presents the podcast series, Leading Professional People.

Laura Empson advises many of the world’s leading law, accounting, and consulting firms. From 2013 to 2016 she served on the Board of KPMG LLP (becoming Chair of the Independent Non-Executives).

She was previously Associate Professor at the University of Oxford. Before becoming an academic, Laura worked as an investment banker and strategy consultant. She has a PhD and MBA from London Business School.

Recent testimonials

“Laura is one of a small handful of academics in the world who can speak with genuine authority and credibility about what makes professional service firms tick. Her ability to bring well researched insights to relatable real-life issues, and to speak about them in an inspirational way, makes her an ideal choice for audiences of ‘hard-to-impress’ professionals.”

Global Senior Partner, Law firm

“Definitely the best speech I have ever heard at our partner conference.”

Partner, Big Four firm

“All of our partners were highly impressed with your ability to quickly grasp our somewhat unique leadership dynamics, the values that bind us together and the risks that we face going forward. Thank you for your insightful work.”

CEO (EMEA), Consulting firm

“Prof Empson's speech was excellent. She understands our firm dynamics. Practical and directly applicable to the way we work with one another. I walked away with action points that will definitely change how I manage my practice and interact with colleagues and clients.”

Partner, International law firm

“I have been particularly impressed by your ability to get ‘under the skin’ of our firm, to identify some of the peculiarities of our leadership dynamics, governance structure, and organizational culture. You have brought a highly original and perceptive insight into some particularly complex problems.”

Managing Partner, Big Four firm