Angela's Thesis Coaching Company (Scenario)
Angela is finally starting to feel more at ease with her business. Six months since the launch of her Ph.D. Thesis Masters she is starting to see revenues climb and her associates are producing great work—and more importantly, her customers are happy. Ph.D. Thesis Masters (PTM) provides coaching and research services for masters and Ph.D. students working on their theses. Angela discovered that many students need help with much of the grunt work of formatting, meeting deadlines, and doing secondary research of the existing literature.
Her associates are Ph.D. graduates who have successfully completed their theses and can now guide other students and help them with the related pressures and quality guidelines. Angela has worked out a formula where she charges student clients $75 per hour and pays her associates $45, leaving her with a $30 gross profit (or gross margin) for every hour of work completed. Her customers are happy and her associates are happy.
-With approximately 10 associates serving the company's clients,Angela was challenged by the leadership duties she had to perform.Originally,she thought it would be easier because they were professionals who were working independently.But what she found was that it was a bit like doing what Max Depree says in the book-that good leadership is a lot like leading a ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Angela's experience reflects the concept that good leadership involves managing a group of professionals who, while working independently, need to be harmonized towards a common goal, much like a jazz ensemble where each member has the freedom to improvise but still needs to work in sync with the others.