"A third book I enjoyed reading this year, and also asked to blurb, is Greg Friedman's Advisory Leadership. Friedman is somewhat unique; he runs Private Ocean, an advisory firm in San Rafael, CA, and is also the founder of Junxure (and Junxure Cloud), a leading CRM software company that is at the forefront of automated practice management innovations. The book is essentially about creating a people-first culture" in your office; the premise of the book is that you, as your firm's leader, have to be somewhat remarkable in order to create a culture where everybody pulls together and is passionate about what they do. You have to exhibit patience, honesty and integrity, compassion, respect, consistency and persistence, encouragement, and courage--and each of those qualities gets its own chapter. The idea is that most of us fall short in one or more of these areas, but fortunately for us, they are not innate characteristics that you have to be born with, which means we can improve if we consciously try to become remarkable in seven dimensions. Advisory Leadership offers advice on how to hire into your firm's unique culture (with key interview questions); how to walk the walk of your firm's mission statement (including open and honest communication, but also collegiality with a sense of humor); how to truly care for your staff (Friedman calls them his most valuable clients); and the book also provides some contrasts between a 'me' culture and a heart culture. There's a chapter on promoting personal growth in the staff, and another on how, procedurally, to reward firm-wide collaboration and a team mentality."—Bob Veres, Inside Information