You can work 60-hour weeks, say yes to every request, and still get overlooked for promotion. Why? Because it’s not about pleasing everyone, it’s about building strong relationships with the right people.
In this episode of the How to Make Partner Podcast, Heather Townsend explains why political savvy means going deep with 10–15 influential partners, not spreading yourself thin across 100 surface-level relationships.
What you’ll learn in this episode
- Practical ways to make partners look good and earn their loyalty.
- Why saying yes to every partner won’t guarantee career progress.
- How one consultant shifted her focus and went from overlooked to partner.
- The “airport test”, and why being good company matters as much as competence.
If you find this episode useful, don’t forget to like it and then subscribe so you don’t miss another episode.
You can also listen to this episode on Substack and on Apple Podcasts
Hello, and welcome!
Picture this. You’re working 60-hour weeks, trying to keep every partner happy. You say yes to everything. You deliver on time. You’re juggling like mad. But then the long list for people up for promotion comes out, you don’t make the list. Ouch
Why? Because while you were spreading yourself thin, you didn’t go deep enough with the people who really mattered.
That’s the harsh truth about building relationships in professional services. It’s not about pleasing everyone. It’s about being politically savvy enough to know which 10 or 15 people can make or break your career.
And today, I’m going to show you how to build those relationships in a way that feels authentic, and that pays off.
This is the How to Make Partner podcast with me, Heather Townsend. Author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life.
In this podcast, I share strategies to help you progress your career in practice. Don’t forget to hit subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Who really matters
Here’s a mistake I see all the time. A brilliant consultant I coached bent over backwards for every senior person in her practice. She said yes to all the side projects they wanted her involved on such as graduate recruitment, leading the committee to sort out the staff christmas party. She thought that was the route to partnership.
But when her promotion came up, not one of those partners fought her corner.
Why? Because she’d never invested deeply in the handful who actually held sway in the partnership vote. She also didn’t have the time to focus her non-chargeable time on what would really take her career forward.
The first thing we did was identify which partners she needed to be seen in a really positive light. The ones that held sway and when they spoke others listened.
Then we looked at her non-chargeable stuff and trimmed 90% of them. The stuff that was left was the stuff that kept her close to the key partners but also helped her be seen as the next potential partner.
For example, she remained as head of a sector team. Then with the time she’d freed up, she deliberately deepened her relationship with about 3-4 partners. It didn’t happen overnight. But 12 months later she got onto the firm’s Partner Track programme.
Then, as a result of the powerful relationships around her AND being on the firm’s prestigious Partner Track programme, more doors opened, she got access to better clients and got passed some great client opportunities by partners to lead.
2 years later, after tightening up her focus on key relationships, she made partner.
So here’s the truth: you don’t need 100 relationships. You need the right ones.
The “airport test”
Partners also ask themselves something really simple: If I were stuck in an airport with this person for three hours, would I enjoy it?
If the answer’s no, you wouldn’t be seen as partner potential. Remember becoming partner is being invited to an exclusive club. It’s about the relationship and reputation you build rather than how technically brilliant you are.
Being easy to work with matters. That means:
- Delivering what you say you will.
- Avoiding constant moaning or negativity.
- And being human, remembering their kids’ names, their football team, the little details that make working with you enjoyable.
- Being good to be around.
Political savvy isn’t just about competence. It’s about trust and likability.
Making them look good
One of the fastest ways to win a partner’s loyalty is to make them look good.
I’ll give you an example. A tax manager I worked with landed a chunky piece of work. She could have claimed all the sales credit. Instead, she shared it with a senior partner and did it publicly.
What happened next? That partner became her biggest advocate. When her partnership case was reviewed, he championed her harder than anyone else.
That’s the power of generosity in firms. Sometimes giving up a slice of credit buys you far more influence in the long run.
And it doesn’t always have to be about sales credit. You can make a partner look good by:
- Spotting a client issue early so they’re never blindsided.
- Turning work around faster than expected.
- Helping them win work with your expertise.
When you consistently help influential partners succeed, they’ll start pulling you into bigger opportunities.
So here’s your one action for this week:
Pick one influential partner in your firm and give them a quick win. Maybe it’s turning around a task earlier than expected. Maybe it’s sending them a client insight they can use in a meeting tomorrow. Don’t announce it. Just do it and watch how the relationship starts to shift.
And if you want more examples of how to build influence, the 30-minute political savvy video inside our Progress to Partner Academy goes into this in depth. You’ll find the link in the show notes.
That’s all for this episode of the How to Make Partner podcast. If this episode gave you a new perspective, share it with a colleague who might be trying to please everyone instead of the right few.
And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next one in this series.
Thanks for listening!
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Links
Complete my FREE Partnership Readiness Assessment – to see where you have gaps in your own development – you’ll get a personalised report with actions for what progress your career forward
Connect with me on LinkedIn
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Buy your hard copy of Poised for Partnership or buy the Ebook here
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