Heather Townsend (How to Make Partner)

I wrote the Financial Times to Business Networking over 10 years ago & it's still a pleasure to receive messages like this one today:

"I recently picked up your book: FT guides - Business Networking and I must say it has left quite an impression on me as I look to navigate through my own career"

Getting involved in business development & networking isn't a "nice to have". It's essential.

Hardly anyone gets promoted to partner without a proven ability to win business for the firm.

Don't wait til you're quiet! You need small but consistent levels of regular activity to win work.

Being commercial means spotting ways to help your client — and your firm.

🟡 How many referrals to other teams have you made in the last 6 months?
🟡 How many times have you said to a partner, “There’s more work here ”?

That’s how to show you’re ready to lead & how you show you think like a partner.

Most people wildly overestimate what they can do in a month, but massively underestimate what they can achieve through small, consistent actions over a year or 2.

Commit to doing three things that help your career progression each week. They don't need to be big!

Getting Successfully Through the Partnership Admissions Process Getting Successfully Through the Partnership Admissions Process - join Heather Townsend, author of Poised for Partnership, for this unmissable free webinar on 11 September 2025

If you're a #lawyer, #accountant or #consultant, I'd love you to join me, Heather Townsend, author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of How to Make Partner & Still Have a Life,for my next webinar
www.howtomakepartner.com/events/partn...

Plan them, schedule them, and then every 90 days or so formally review your progress and set your priorities for the next 90 days. Then let me know how your career progression is going.

Most people wildly overestimate what they can do in a month, but massively underestimate what they can achieve through small, consistent actions over a year or 2.
Commit to doing three things that help your career progression each week. They don't need to be big!

How to Make Partner Podcast by Heather Townsend Listen to the How to Make Partner Podcast by Heather Townsend and find out how to make sure you hear every episode

Have you heard my How to Make Partner podcast yet?
www.howtomakepartner.com/podcast/

Learning to delegate well will give you time to work on areas that will help your career progress in your firm.

This means, delegating the lower value tasks that you don’t need to do. Delegating authority as well as tasks (so that they don’t need to come to for decisions or for signing off).

If you can't learn to delegate properly, wave goodbye to any ambitions you ever had about making partner in your law firm, accountancy or consultancy firm.

Learning to delegate well will give you time to work on areas that will help your career progress.

Have you delegated any work this week?

How to move from Senior Associate to Partner 19 June webinar - You're a hard working senior associate who wants to make the final step up to partner But what should you be doing to get noticed as"partner material"?

Making the transition from senior associate to partner in a law firm is a tricky business! You have to create, write, & pitch your business case. Then, there’s the other stuff: the intangibles that demonstrate to your partners that you've "got it"...

www.howtomakepartner.com/events/senio...

How to move from Senior Associate to Partner 19 June webinar - You're a hard working senior associate who wants to make the final step up to partner But what should you be doing to get noticed as"partner material"?

You’re a hard working law firm senior associate who wants to make the final step up to partner in the next few years. But what will get you noticed as”partner material”?
www.howtomakepartner.com/events/senio...
#lawyers #attorneys #seniorassociates #partnertrack

Don't make this big mistake with your Business Case It's tough to make your Business Case succinct and to the point. This shows you why it is important to be brief and just put what your partners need and want to know.

Seriously…don’t do this. It’s tempting to start your Business Case for Partnership with lots of context. Perhaps you’d like to give the person reading your Business Case some context about you & your background?

Please. Start with the best stuff first.
howtomakepartner.substack.com/p/dont-make-...

Hoping to make partner in the next 12 months? Time to spend time on business development & raising your profile.

Join me 28 May at my free webinar 1 Year to Making Partner.

I wrote Poised for Partnership & am co-author of How to Make Partner (& Still Have a Life)
www.howtomakpartner.com/events

If you are going to expand the amount of time you have to build your practice, work on your career and win work for your professional service firm, you will need to learn to delegate well to more junior staff.

The critical mindset shift you need to make if you want to make partner Podcast Episode · How to make partner Podcast · 17/05/2025 · 11m

Hear why partnership isn't just another promotion & why your partners need more than a safe pair of safe hands.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I (literally) have lawyers, accountants & consultants from all over the world receiving my free weekly tips on how to make partner. That's why I run my free webinars twice on the same day, to make it as easy as possible for you to join

⁠https://www.howtomakepartner.com/events/1-year-to-partner/⁠

I started my podcast! 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗯? Clients & meetings take over.
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If you're nodding along, this episode is for you.

→ Read (or listen) on Substack: howtomakepartner.substack.com/%E2%81%A0
→ Find me on Apple & Spotify⁠⁠

To make partner you need to build a business & personal case for partner AND do your day job:

Prioritise - Make your career your most important client.

Plan your internal PR campaign, your personal development, your team’s development, your BD activities

Pace yourself - Take one step at a time.

Stop relying on your firm for your own career development. If you do this, you’re putting yourself at risk by giving the firm control of whether you progress or not. You could be left just hoping that someone will see your potential and nominate you for training!

Which camp are you? The big question of the day in the UK... will you take the full 4 days off over the bank holiday this weekend?

I've been told off for admitting to working over the weekend. 👀🙄

Which camp are you in? Catch up on some work stuff? Or take the full 4 days off?

In business development terms, there is rarely such a thing as an overnight superstar. The best business developers have BD strategies that they’ve been plugging away at for months, sometimes years before the leads start to roll in.

What better time to spend on your business development than now?

Are you your network's best kept secret?

Spend time with your network so they remember you when asked for a referral.

Get your name into the front of people’s minds to win clients via your network.

The biggest thing holding lawyers, accountants & consultants from progressing their career is knowing how to find the time for business development. ⁠
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To stand out, start nailing this process down ASAP.⁠
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You won't get on the partner track just by working harder and longer hours.

You need to start working smarter by prioritising the right tasks.

The tasks that will help you to win business and show your partners that you are 'partner-material.'

It’s my first official day back after 2 weeks on the sofa post ankle surgery and I’m delivering a global virtual online session to mid tier accounting firm leaders on how to get a stronger pipeline of partners.

Wish me luck!

Business development for lawyers: How to become a rainmaker Business development for lawyers is essential but time-consuming. This article shows you how to save time on business development but be seen as a rainmaker.

It takes more than just being a great #lawyer to make partner.

You'll need to build a solid book of business. Here's how to develop a business development mindset (even if you don't want to "do sales") so you can become a great work winner
www.howtomakepartner.com/how-to-chang...

Getting great career development habits in your daily, weekly and monthly routine will get you noticed by your firm as someone with partnership potential.

Start working consistently on your career to see the benefits later.

How to raise your profile in your firm - when you're in the office, get up& walk to see the people you need to see.

It's small thing but people will wonder who you are & will get to know who you are & what you do.

If hot-desking don’t always sit in the same place. Sit in other parts of the firm.

I talk a lot about the need to network & to start wining work for your firm

But there's something else that the partners are looking out for.

They want to see that you can build a great team.
Time spent on developing your team and your leadership skills is actually an investment in your career