Presentation Calendar - inspiration for each month
Make your presentations far more effective by drawing on the fabulous ideas in this presentation calendar
Attorney at Work Delivers Daily Ideas for Lawyers
I am honoured to be in the esteemed company of the publishers and advisors of Attorney at Work that promises “One Really Good Idea Every Day”
There is no cost to subscribe and the ideas will flow starting in January.
I recommend that you subscribe now
Congratulations in particular to my long time friend, Merrilyn Tarlton who conceived this idea with Joan and Mark Feldman
Edge International Review Winter 2010
We are very proud of our latest Edge International Review. For a complete downloadable version (or just the articles you want) click on the cover or go to EdgeInternationalReview.com
If you have any questions , comments or suggestions, please shoot me a note.
(You can also check out our Edge International web site at Edge-International.com)
Great Lakes Law Firms - Legal Market Analysis Now Available
If your firm has offices in the Great Lakes Region (or is thinking of expanding into it) there is an unprecedented and unmatched comprehensive analysis available: “2010 Legal Market Analysis Great Lakes Region”
The report contains:
- 115 pages of detailed factual competitive intelligence
- 126 charts, graphs and illustrations
- 8 States and 10 Metropolitan Areas
- Information on 215 law offices
Cities included:
- Chicago
- Milwaukee
- Detroit
- Indianapolis
- Cincinnati
- Minneapolis
- Columbus
- Buffalo
- Cleveland
- Pittsburgh
I think this is a fantastic deal. If your firm tried to pull this together on your own, you’d spent months and tens of thousands worth of time doing your due diligence which would include analyzing the firms, clients and economics of the region. I expected the price would be around $7,500 but it offered at $2,995
I was also impressed by the Guarantee of Satisfaction - if your firm is disappointed (you won't be) you can pull the trigger on the guarantee.
For many leaders, the most important and imponderable question relates to the timing of the recovery — one of the elements of this report is
- “Prognosis for timing and extent of legal market economic recovery”
My enthusiasm for The “2010 Legal Market Analysis Great Lakes Region” is based on these simple premises:
- The team that created it has many decades of law firm experience
- The sources of data are impeccable
- Ed Wesemann (architect of this publication) is a truly gifted analyst and law specialist
The downloadable prospectus including full Table of Contents will give you an idea as to how well organized this work is.
At the very least, this analysis is an important reality check. Many firms have skewed views of their own markets based on prejudices or outdated data that tends to stick in the minds of firm leaders.
Here is an excerpt from the free downloadable prospectus showing the nature of the contents of the report:
A detailed competitive analysis for each city providing:
- Comparative reputation within the specific legal market
- Detailed descriptions of competitive situations
- 2010 depth counts of lawyers in the local office and firm-wide
An accurate and up-to-date economic analysis of each metro area including:
- Projections of the growth of key drivers that affect the legal market
- Prognosis for timing and extent of legal market economic recovery
- 2010 Assessment of stability of leading industries and top employers
Assessment of demographic, businesses and market data for each state and metro area including:
- Size of legal markets
- Business friendliness, job growth, cost of doing business and other important indicators
- Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) Analysis for large firm legal practice in each metro area
Download the prospectus and see for yourself.
Note: I know the people behind this initiative very well but want to make it clear that I have absolutely no financial interest in their venture — I am posting this based on receiving a review copy. I believe this is an extraordinary offering and far more valuable than its price would reflect.
Guru to the Gurus: David Maister
Nearly three decades ago, in the early days of Edge International, there was only one writer in the area of managing a professional firm that commanded our unqualified respect and attention. That was David Maister.
“Managing the Professional Services Firm” is the Bible, according to many leaders of some of the largest professional service firms in the world. “True Professionals” spoke to the firms for whom dignity and quality service were the engines of success. And he wrote so much more in collaborations and articles.
In Edge, we were lucky enough to find ourselves presenting at a few conferences in common with David, in various places around the world and one day ended up having a very private informal retreat. This led to the creation of PracticeCoach®, an extraordinarily comprehensive video-based resource to help law firm leaders around the world. It stars David. What a joy it was to create with him.
His philosophy was so in harmony with ours. For example, we loved his guarantee of satisfaction (and were proud that we offered one as well even before we knew he did).
There were some very cool things I learned from David:
- David loves his wife, Kathy, with such passion and always treats her as his trusted advisor and coach. (She's the Guru's Guru.) With Kathy, David taught my wife, Bethany, and me how to travel for weeks internationally without checking luggage. “IMPOSSIBLE!” we said standing on the curb in front of their place one morning with four huge suitcases’s while David and Kathy had their little rollers behind them. “You just need to learn how to pack properly…” they replied, and during our next visit we got the tutorial. (Actually, David and Kathy, if you wrote a book based on that tutorial….) Bethany and I owe David and Kathy the moon for that advice.
- David exemplifies passion. He loves his wife and his music collection which is of a magnitude that makes it the 8th wonder of the world…and he’ll sing till dawn. :-)
- David has energized audience after audience…forcing thought about important issues and even more importantly, sometimes with the help of voting machines, making them actually decide on things.
I am not surprised by the awards and accolades* he has received… just delighted.
The good news is that this is not a eulogy (even if it sounds like one). David and Kathy’s infectious smiles will remain available to us for many many happy years to come.
If there is a sad note in this homage, it is that David's retirement represents a loss to my beloved legal profession and all the other professions he served so well. However, his books and programs live on. As I write this, I am helping a prominent South American firm to use the study in his book, “Practice What You Preach,” to help them analyze and choose the most fruitful areas of focus for their continued improvement.
Maybe David’s and Kathy's retirements will be like some famous souls who preceded them who were coaxed back into the game for an important gig or two.
By the way, Kathy retired from one of the most incredible video enhanced blogs in history: startcooking.com where you can still experience valuable lessons - check it out ! This is not an amateur undertaking - you will find broadcast-quality production values.
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David and Kathy, Bethany and I treasure you and I know if we gathered those of like mind we’d need a mighty big arena.
Retire in good health!! Well earned - BRAVO!
What magazines (and your promotional material?) might look like
(The video is 8 minutes - watch at least the first full minute then more if it grabs you)
Law firm leaders
You don't need to embrace social media or love technology or even be a gadget freak to have a peak at how we'll all read magazines and papers soon… I thought a second reason to show you this was to have you think about the publications your firm produces from articles to brochures.
I am not suggesting you blaze the trail but you had better have your design team monitor the progress of this technology and make it available to you as soon as it is affordable.
Gerry
PS I will be asking our own team to look hard at this for future versions or our Edge International Review which will be published soon.
SOURCE: Digital Magazines: Bonnier Mag+ Prototype excerpt:
This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future, presented by our design partners at BERG.
Lawcasts by Charon QC
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I was honoured today to participate in Charon's 114th Lawcast which you can hear at the Charon QC blawg or download it from there in iTunes format:
Lawcast 114: Gerry Riskin, founder of Edge International - Law practice in these recessionary times
Access all of Charon's lawcasts by clicking on Charon's Lawcast website logo below
Charon QC is intelligent, articulate and highly entertaining. Don't miss any of his offerings!
The One Piece Of Advice You Need to Get the Fees You Deserve
RainToday.com created a special report from 12 experts in pricing professional services, including, I am honoured to say, yours truly. You can download my article:
"Think of Services in Terms of Value – Not Rates" by Gerry Riskin (author: The Successful Lawyer)
or download the entire 39 page report including all 12 articles by visiting RainToday.com here.
Here is what RainToday.com has to say about its publication:
We've read a lot of advice about fee structure, and there are a lot of people who claim to know it all. But when you boil it all down — what's really important? What do you need to know? What is the one piece of advice you need to get the fees you deserve?
The expert authors and advice includes:
1. Convince the Buyer that Value-Based Fees are Best by Alan Weiss, Author, “Million Dollar Consulting”
2. Price with Confidence! Follow These 10 Steps to Stop Leaving Money on the Table
- Mark Burton, Co-Founder and Vice President of Holden Advisors and Co-Author, “Pricing With Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table”
3. A Magic Bullet? No, a Process
- Bruce W. Marcus, Marketing and Strategic Planning Consultant and Editor, The Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing
4. The Best Kept Secret of the Selling World
- Jeff Thull, President and CEO, Prime Resource Group and Author, “Mastering the Complex Sale, The Prime Solution”
5, If You Don’t Discuss Value, Expect to Discuss Hours
- Ronald J. Baker, Founder, VeraSage Institute and Author, “The Firm of the Future: A Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Other Professional Services”
6. Take Courage: Demand Full Price (And seven steps to get you there)
- John Doehring, Senior Vice President, ZweigWhite
7. Creating Value During the Sales Process
- Tom Snyder, Former CEO, Huthwaite
8. Build the Relationship One Day at a Time
- Ron Worth, CEO, Society for Marketing Professional Services and Author, “A/E/C Marketing Fundamentals”
9. Think of Services in Terms of Value – Not Rates
- Gerry Riskin, Co-Founder, Edge International
10. Discounting Doesn’t Work
- Jeanne Urich, Managing Director, Service Performance Insight
11. Over-Serve Your Best Clients
- Neil Fauerbach, Partner and Director of Business Development and Marketing, Smith & Gesteland, LLP and President, Association for Accounting Marketing
12. Maximize the Value of Work to Your Clients and Your Firm
- Andrew Sobel, Founder, Andrew Sobel Advisors and Author, “Clients for Life” and “Making Rain”
Latest "Edge International Review" Available for Downloading
BlawgWorld 2007 Launch
Congratulations to Blawgworld 2007 on today's launch and may I express my deep gratitude for being included in the 77 featured blawgs.
Congratulations also to the other 76 included blawgers who are inspirations to me every day.
Send the downloadable Blawgworld 2007 eBook to lawyers you know who would benefit from an introduction to the legal blawgosphere. (Blawgworld 2006 saw 45,000 downloads - 2007 promises to be even bigger and better - 366 pages of indexed information - use the Blawgs, Problems, Products tabs.)
Welcome Thoughtful Blogger David Bilinsky
David Bilinsky's knowledge, experience and prolific writing make him the blogger to watch. For his blog, click on the image above; for his bio, the image below.
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Welcome, David!
"Deal or No Deal?" The Partnership Offer
ABA's Law Practice is now online
I was please to have participated in the case study: "Deal or No Deal? Advice for Evaluating the Partnership Offer."
Thank you to Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg for posting: New edition of LAW PRACTICE looks at making partner
Bruce MacEwen Interviews Peter Kalis in latest Edge International Review
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Click on Magazine cover to download article.
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In this article, Bruce Interviews Peter J. Kalis, Chairman and Global Managing Partner of K & L Gates (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP) about the race to be in the Global 100. In this article/interview, Peter discloses with refreshing candor his views from the importance of leadership to the elements that a firm must possess to compete globally. You are welcome to download the pdf.We are grateful to Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith Esq. for guest authoring in our latest
Edge International Review (Spring 2007 edition). Bruce is a lawyer and consultant to law firms on strategic and economic issues. Bruce publishes the widely-read site “Adam Smith, Esq.", was educated at Princeton University( BA magna cum laude in economics), at Stanford Law School (JD),and at NYU’s Stern School of Business (MBA candidate in finance) and is a native New Yorker.Go here for full complete Edge International Review (Spring 2007 edition)
Edge International Review Spring (2007)
Thank you to Patrick Lamb of Butler Rubin
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I am truly humbled by the praise bestowed upon my book and audio program today by Patrick Lamb in his post: Client Service Lessons And So Much More. Patrick's comments about The Successful Lawyer, published by the American Bar Association are particularly gratifying because I believe that client service is the most important client-relations imperative. I am also grateful to receive such feedback from a lawyer who is much more than a theoretician - Patrick is the marketing partner and a member of the executive of one of the most successful boutiques in the USA.
Innovaction - online publication celebrating innovation
It was a privilege to be part of the Maister/Riskin sandwich. David Maister started off with his introduction: "The Courage to Innovate" and I wrapped up with the conclusion "Death to Perfection..." Look who's in the sandwich: Bruce MacEwen, Patrick McKenna, Mark Beese, Silvia Coulter, Simon Chester, Matthew Homann, Dennis Kennedy, Dan Pinnington Sheldon Gordon, Oz Benamram, Ron Friedmann, Larry Smith and Merrilyn Astin Tarlton. Special thanks to Jordan Furlong who pulled it together.
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Download the PDF, or read it online. Enjoy (and please implement)!
First 100 Days by Patrick McKenna
At Edge International, we are very proud of Patrick McKenna's newest eBook, First 100 Days. We hope you will enjoy Patrick's solid content based on his extensive research and terrific insights. You may also appreciate the friendly graphics.
This book is an "eBook" only and available FREE as our thank you to our many existing and prospective law firm clients. You are welcome to share this with friends.
Feel free to contact Patrick with your questions and comments.
Note: First 100 Days may be read online or downloaded to your own computer. Begin by clicking on the book cover, above. Once there, to download choose "Save" on the menu bar.
Suggestica is launched - Your synergy may have just begun
As a Managing Partner (or other member of the senior management of your firm), it is extremely important that you look beyond the incestuous offerings from inside the legal profession. Internal thinking sometimes has us gazing at our own navels. If you want a glimpse of the outside world but in a way that is extremely time efficient, suggestica may be the answer.
Today at 8:00 AM PST, suggestica launched both the suggestics web site and the suggestica blog.
You can sign up for a newsletter at the web site and if you do not have an RSS aggregator you can sign up for an email alert at the blog.
Knowing the genius of the people who are behind this site, (including Rajesh Setty), I am optimistic that the "suggestions" from "suggestica" will be highly valuable to you as a thought leader in the legal profession.
You might start with Rajesh Setty's blog post called Paradox of Choice for Books which will link you to a fabulous free pdf download containing fascinating research by Barry Schwartz.
The other people you see referenced at suggestica will either be people you have heard of (like Oprah Winfrey) or people whom you should know, if you don't already (like New York Times Columnist and prolific author, Thomas L. Friedman).
Punchline: Look outside our legal profession for catalysts for thought and the learnings that can be translated back into our profession for great benefit. As a leader you want to keep it fresh and keep it powerful.
Edge International Review Summer (2006)
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Download our compete Edge International Review Magazine (Summer 2006 edition)
To view the table of contents or to obtain PDF's of individual articles, please visit our Edge International Website
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management - Downloadable PDF
Thank you for the overwhelming response to my article, The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
It is now downloadable as a pdf as it appears in our latest Edge International Review Magazine. Please feel free to download it and distribute as many copies among your management team as you like.
Continue Reading...
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Seven)
"Law Seven" and conclusion from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
7)Turn a spotlight on your initiative and leave it on
Many firms have fabulous meetings, sometimes in retreat venues where everyone participates in the creation of the master plan that will make the firm the "be all and end all". All participants leave the process feeling a sense of pride and excitement that is palpable. It is only after the passage of a few months and the absence of any visible accomplishments that the disillusionment sets in. The cynics and skeptics have a field day they might as well all buy red tee shirts with yellow words emblazoned across their chests "I told you so". Well, Managing Partner, you must not allow this outcome. It is lethal and you cannot recover from it. Instead you need the lights that were on at the retreat to remain on. This is accomplished by not allowing the insects to crawl back under the rocks (out of sight, out of mind). Instead you need to design processes that keep your people (not insects at all) in plain view. You can decide for yourself what might work best for you, but here are some of the techniques I have observed or recommended:
a) Monday Morning Memos (as referenced earlier) giving weekly status reports to showing everyone's progress on the distinct steps (actions) that have been agreed upon. This creates healthy peer pressure and allows no-one to hide.
b) MBWA (Managing by Walking Around) coined by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman in their business classic In Search of Excellence this means frequently dropping in, unannounced, to ask the right questions and to offer help "How is that list coming I see you are struggling to get this done in light of your particularly heavy case load at the moment let's explore some options to whom could you delegate some aspects of this I need you to make progress because others know you have an exceptionally heavy work load and if they see you getting your tasks done you will have effectively removed their excuses I need you to do that I will do anything to help short of doing your task for you "
c) Convene follow up meetings that exchange "learnings" that individuals have gleaned from their respective tasks, for example, how they worked with difficult people internally or how they overcame client resistance. This should not be a meeting where everyone reports progress progress meetings become meaningless exercises in seeing who can offer the most creative excuses for failing to deliver. This is a peer level training meeting where the objective is to become ever more effective at accomplishing quality non-billable tasks.
Conclusion: Fostering change in a law firm seems impossible because most Managing Partners treat the activities associated with such change as if they were component pieces of a legal transaction. Partners are so reliable when it comes to their substantive legal work that it seems unthinkable that they could not complete mundane simple tasks associated with management initiatives. Well, the real world is that the non-billable activities are not even on the same psychological map as the billable ones. Billable work means everything to a lawyer from income to professional satisfaction to garnering the respect of peers (internally and externally) to being respected in social circles. Non-billable work, no matter how important, and regardless of the value to our futures, will always take second place to billable work unless you, Managing Partner, manage for a different outcome. The score in many firms is billable work "100" and quality non-billable work "0". By following these seven immutable laws of managing change, you will change the latter score from zero and even if you only to "99 to 1", you and your firm will be the beneficiaries of the infinite improvement from "0" to "1". Further, in the legal profession, those who make continuous slight progress win the race, because most competitors are still tied to that pier.
Law #1
Law #2
Law #3
Law #4
Law #5
Law #6
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Six)
"Law Six" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
6)Tell the world
Do you know why betrothed people say their vows in front of friends and family to cement their commitment. It is the same reason a banker friend told me the bank does television commercials: "not just for our customers but for our own staff so that they can see the service promise we make to our customers and as a result they are more likely to live up to that promise".
Tell the world what you are shooting for, whatever that may be - in fact, you can say it before it is so: "striving to be the firm of choice for the wholesale industry". I am not advocating misleading or untrue advertising but I am saying it's OK to declare what you are striving for. Your current and prospective clients will hold you accountable but that's OK because it helps define the standard for your people and gives clarity to their target and therefore their everyday performance.
Law #1
Law #2
Law #3
Law #4
Law #5
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Five)
"Law Five" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
5)Ask for commitment - not agreement
One of my most successful friends (and clients from my law practice days) has a One Sentence Journal and he posted the following wisdom one day:
"Commitment and Doubt": Commitment does not require the absence of doubt; often commitment means acting despite your doubt.
(From Larry Anderson's One Sentence Journal June 17 entry.) (Larry's success is not only financial it transcends to a long-term happy marriage and philanthropy.)
Think about it. You do not need your entire firm to agree with you and should not even ask for that. What you must demand, and accept nothing less than, is that your people commit to help you achieve your objectives even if they have doubts. At worst, someone who is not pivotal to the initiative may remain neutral and that means not sabotaging the effort in any way. But for that exception, those who offer passive or active interference must be confronted. If you don't have the support to pull that off, step aside. You are allowed to lobby for that support but it must be forthcoming or else your resignation should be tendered. This is not hypothetical - this is how the well-managed firms are run. Choose your initiatives carefully because you must succeed in attempting them. They don't all have to work but you have to be allowed to try them and give them the firm's best efforts. If not, call the election.
(Law 6)
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Four)
"Law Four" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
4)Create cult-like internal promotional communications
This is where your capable support professionals can shine. They can help you create imaginative ways to keep the initiative in front of your people. The internal trainer in a major firm showed me high gloss promotional announcements that were sent internally to remind audiences about various internal workshops. I asked about the "commercial nature" of the alerts and he responded that "I have to break through the noise" to get their attention. He's right, of course. It's like paying attention to your spouse. If you take your spouse for granted, you may not end up alone but you will not reap the rewards that would have been yours had you been more attentive.
Some firms use Monday Morning Memos to catalogue progress on the action checklist, person by person. Others celebrate to congratulate for achievements (compete with cake and silly hats perhaps tee shirts adorned by appropriate slogans).
(Law 5)
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Three)
"Law Three" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
3)Paint "the first step" in vivid colours
"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is started, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance." Robert Collier (1885-1950)
As leader, you are going to have to foster the taking of the first step by every individual whose participation is essential to your change initiative. This means that the first step must be crystal clear and painted by you in vivid colours so that no individual hesitates because of lack of clarity. The simplest way to do this is to facilitate a discussion that results in "to do" lists that include actual initial steps and time lines, and if necessary, methodologies. For example, the first step might be compiling a list of prospective clients in a particular industry that would have need of a particular service. The action may involve delegating internally (or even outside the firm) the task of creating the initial list and might include identifying precisely the parameters within the list, like numbers of employees, locations etc.
The punch line is to have a first step that is clear enough that you can ask if a specific thing has been done. For example, "is the initial list ready" is only a sensible question if it is clear that the first step was to create such a list and precisely what that list would be comprised of.
(Law 4)
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law Two)
"Law Two" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management
2)Create a vivid picture (vision) of where this initiative leads
It is tempting to be vague because then you are not committing to anything. Not committing avoids scrutiny and criticism. But without certainty, your troops cannot get excited about your change initiative.
Be specific: "If we dominate the provision of X legal services to the Y industry, we will not only increase our revenues in both the A and B practice groups by at least 25% in the next two years, but we can also expect increases in the C and D practice groups of at least 10% attributable to cross selling initiatives from the A and B practice groups". Obviously the particulars are customized to the situation but the point here is to be specific. While quantifiable measures are essential to your firm's success, qualitative ones may be equally motivating to your people. For example, many of your people will work hard for the prize of having more work of a preferred nature or to do more work for preferred clients.
You will rarely be exactly right when it comes to strategy and tactics and that is OK. You will almost always do better or worse you're your forecast. Get comfortable with being wrong because that is what management is all about. If you meet your objectives all the time, you are way too conservative. You will learn from your performance and continually correct and fine-tune. This is not the practice of law it is the management of the business. In a real estate transaction, we expect to get good title for the purchaser on closing. This is not a guess or a hope or speculation. It is precise and we had better get it right it's what we're being paid for. But a percentage increase in revenues from a particular kind of work is a crap shoot. No matter how smart you are, there are some variables beyond your control and many that are beyond your capacity to predict accurately. Worse, even if serendipitously your strategy is perfect, your tactics may be quite imperfect, at least initially. Business winners constantly monitor outcomes and frequently change or at least fine-tune tactics in an effort to continuously improve results.
The punch line here is to create a vivid quantitative and qualitative description of a desirable outcome that everyone in your organization can relate to, knowing and accepting that it is not perfect.
(Law 3 - Link to Law #1 if you missed it)
( thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (Law One)
"Law One" from my article: "The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management (with thanks to Cameron Cooper of the Australian Law Journal where my article first appeared)
Managing Partners: Why is it that your intelligent (no, make that "super intelligent") lawyers seem to react to your change initiatives like you were asking them to drink a tankard of poison, even when they know full well that the brilliant changes you are proposing would be beneficial to them individually and collectively? When we get Managing Partners from various firms together, many of them want to commiserate with each other about the impossible task they have in managing the unmanageable - I suppose my Edge International co-founder Patrick McKenna, and I did not cure that perception when we named one of our books Herding Cats. Some Managing Partners with whom I have had the pleasure of working are exceptions to that rule and what follows is what I think I have learned from them over these many years.
Here are the seven immutable laws of creating change in your firm. I guarantee that if you respect these rules, you will get the cooperation you need to effect the changes that will catapult your firm forward.
1)As Managing Partner, propose imperfect change initiatives
YES, I said IMPERFECT and when you saw that word a feeling of anxiety overcame you and you were tempted to react as a lawyer and not as a change-agent for your firm. Let me be clear. As a lawyer, your job is to do "the right things, perfectly". That calls for unflawed effectiveness and efficiency. You probably hope your surgeon, if you ever need one, practices to the same standard. But face reality as the manager of your firm, you do not have the luxury of doing only "the right things" because nobody, including you, knows what the "the right things" are except in hindsight and hindsight is too late.
As a result, most good firms are paralyzed by the tedious, never-ending and totally ineffectual process of divining the perfect strategy accompanied by the perfect tactics. These firms are ships tied so firmly to the pier that no matter how well steered, they go absolutely nowhere. In fact, their biggest claim to fame is that they hit no icebergs few ships do from the pier. Such firms may do "industry-average" well, but they are not going to consistently break out of the pack. Temporary successes come from individual initiatives that the firm is likely unaware of and therefore does not impede with excessive policies and standardization.
In strategy, you must make the best decisions you can with what you know and what you can speculate about. I am not against a little market research - in fact I advocate it but I am against the notion that you can know enough to comfortably make strategic decisions with the confidence that you are most certainly right.
Most good collegial firms make the mistake of trying to convince the whole firm (at least the partners) that a decision is "right" before proceeding. There is no collection of competent lawyers exceeding one in number that can or will agree to any single course of action mainly because their training is not to find the wisdom and potential in an idea but rather to reveal the concealed risks within it. No idea will ever be good enough so looking for unanimous approval is antithetical to creating change.
You as Managing Partner and your close team (executive committee, board if necessary) must make a decision. You must choose what you think your best option is from among the available alternatives.
The punch line here is "abandon perfection in favour of action". Force the decision-making process within a reasonable time frame and then get moving. Release your ship from the peer. This will give you immediate competitive advantage. It will also contribute to the esprit de corps of your firm and that will literally add fuel to your change initiative. If you are going in the wrong direction, you can alter your course.
Please note that this is your initiative as Managing Partner not your approval of the initiative of a support professional (like the marketing director in your firm). You can work together with such support professional side by side, you can even give them most of the credit if the initiative is successful but it must be your initiative, at least in part, or you have no hope of succeeding.
(Law 2)
Introducing Harvard's Constance Bagley - your potential business development weapon
Constance E. Bagley
For your consideration:
Whether you are a Managing Partner, a Marketing Partner or a Marketing Professional working in a law firm, Constance Bagley may hold a key to your developing business, both by satisfying existing clients and attracting new ones.
What if you invited Professor Bagley to address a meeting of your clients on the subject of "Harnessing the Power of the Law". What if she could show your existing (and maybe prospective clients) the untapped value that lies in your services just awaiting harvesting by your clients.
Why Constance Bagley?
Professor Bagley graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1977, and was invited to join the Harvard Law Review. She received her A.B., with Distinction and Departmental Honors, in 1974 from Stanford University, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa her junior year. She is a member of the State Bar of New York and the State Bar of California. She was a corporate securities partner at Bingham McCutchen and now teaches at the Harvard Business School. She has also taught at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business where she received Honorable Mention for the Stanford Business School Distinguished Teaching Award. She still practices law focusing on legal aspects of entrepreneurship and cyberlaw, as well as corporate governance.
At Harvard, she teaches the MBA elective Legal Aspects of Management, as well as being on the faculty for the Entrepreneur's Tool Kit Executive Program.
Her Curriculum Vitae is 21 pages long if you care to learn more about her credentials.
What's in it for your firm?
I have noticed while working with even large, sophisticated, blue chip law firms that individual lawyers find it challenging to quantify the value that their lawyering can bring to their clients (existing and prospective). I am suggesting that Constance Bagley has the credentials, credibility, knowledge and ,by her own experience, the sensitivity to deliver that message in a way that will appeal to your most sophisticated clients.
Look at some of the editorial reviews of her recent book, Winning Legally: How Managers Can Use the Law to Create Value, Marshal Resources, and Manage Risk, which is directed to no less than aspiring CEO's:
"Winning Legally, with its clear exposition of real-world problems and solutions, is a thought-provoking resource that can only improve the performance of lawyers and laypeople alike. My best business advice to aspiring CEOs is simple: Read this book!" James W. Kinnear, former CEO and Chair of Texaco, Inc. "Professor Bagley has done a masterful job of showing how managers can work with attorneys as partners to create value and manage risk. Armed with the knowledge in this book, managers will not only be far more likely to keep their firms out of trouble, but will also have at their disposal a set of tools to manage the firm more effectively. This is an important read for managers and the lawyers who advise them." Larry Sonsini, Chairman of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati "Bagley has successfully demonstrated the value of the managerial capability that she calls 'legal astuteness.' Instead of focusing only on how law constrains managers, Winning Legally's systems approach to business regulation and the practice of strategic compliance management provides managers with a far more complete and promising way of managing the legal dimensions of business."
William E. Fruhan, Jr., George E. Bates Professor, Harvard Business School "Common sense alone is not enough to provide the ethical and legal guidelines necessary to conduct a business. Winning Legally provides the framework for maximizing profits in a manner that assures the long-term viability and growth of the corporation."
Arthur Rock, Principal, Arthur Rock & Co. "This timely book is required reading for every business manager and general counsel. Professor Bagley has provided a practical guide to harnessing corporate legal resources with sound business judgment to maximize shareholder value."
David R. Andrews, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary of PepsiCo, Inc., retired, and director of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and Union Bank Corporation
See the full Book Descripion for more of an insite on what Constance has offer:
The rash of corporate scandals in recent years underscores a fact too often ignored in the business world: flouting the law holds serious consequences. Indeed, all it takes is one rogue trader, one greedy executive, or one misinformed manager to place an entire organization at risk.But respected legal expert Constance E. Bagley argues that staying out of trouble is only part of the picture when it comes to legality in business. In Winning Legally, Bagley shows how managers can proactively harness the power of the law to maximize corporate value, marshal human and financial resources, and manage risk. Through scores of classic and contemporary examples across the business landscape, this no-nonsense guide completely reframes the relationship of law to business. Bagley explains how managers can use the law as a strategic tool to help select and work effectively with legal advisers, spot legal issues before they become problems, weigh the legal risks of specific opportunities, and more.Ultimately, the responsibility for making tough business decisions lies with managers-;not with lawyers. This timely book shows how managers can combine business audacity and vision with integrity and respect for the law to build truly great and enduring firms.
PUNCHLINE: Constance Bagley has not offered the services I suggest you may want to retain her for but in a discussion with her I learned of her willingness to utilize her unique capabilities for the purposes I hypothesize about. I will be fascinated to see whether one or two action-oriented firms actually explore this idea with her. I will certainly be discussing this with my law firm clients.
Law Management Journal Cover
Thank you to Cameron Cooper and the rest of the staff at the Law Management Journal of Australia for honouring me on the cover of their publication following my presentation at The World Masters of Law Firm Management in Sydney earlier this year. Much appreciated!
The Successful Lawyer Audio Programon makes "Reid My Blog" Gift List
Huge thank you to Reid Trautz of Reid My Blog for including my Successful Lawyer Audio Program on his gift list. Check out the other cool items there.
The Audio set can be ordered at the ABA site.
Swimming With The Sharks
Thank you to Sandra Phinney and Atlantic Business for interviewing me for their article on Swimming With The Sharks. I appreciate it.
David Maister updates his site
For you David Maister fans, and I will include myself in that category, David has given his site a lift complete with welcoming video. You can also sign up for a notification of his articles as he publishes them. There is a wealth of knowledge and materials there. Check it out!
Edge International Review (Fall 2005 Edition)
The Fall 2005 edition of our quarterly magazine, Edge International Review, is now available for downloading as a PDF. This is a full color 40 page magazine so may takle a few minutes to download. (Some browsers will display the magazine without downloading it.)
Senior management team members in law firms may request a complimentary subscription to the hard copy version by sending me an email. If you want a printable single-page-at-a-glance copy of any individual article, please email me and I will either email it to you or post it for you.
10 Myths about Innovations in Professional Service Firms
Thank you to Monica Bay of The Common Scold for writing about this article by one of my Edge International partners, Robert Millard, from our latest issue of the Edge International Review. I am posting this article (in a single page format) at Monica's request so that you can view it in your browser or download it as you see fit.
Edge International Review Winter 2005 edition
The Winter 2005 edition of our quarterly magazine, Edge International Review, is now available for downloading as a PDF.
This is a full color 40 page magazine so may takle a few minutes to download. (Some browsers will display the magazine without downloading it.)
Senior management team members in law firms may request a complimentary subscription to the hard copy version by sending me an email.
365 Marketing Meditations - Levick and Smith
365 Marketing Meditations (Daily Lessons For Marketing & Communications Professionals) by Richard S. Levick and Larry Smith (Authors)
Richard Levick and Larry Smith of Levick Strategic Communications have done something quite brilliant here -- although who would expect less from either of them.
The concept of the book is simple yet ingenious - a marketing meditation for every day of the year.
Today's is (June 21):
Get as many benefits from a single event as you can. A seminar is an opportunity to meet and impress clients. It's also a wonderful chance to publish its content in articles, invite clients, meet reporters, and leverage your online capabilities.
If the insights are simple and straight forward, is it necessary to buy it? YES!!! Because this is going to keep the subject in front of you every day.
There is room on each page for your own thoughts and ideas.
I recommend this for Marketing Partners, Chief Marketing Officers, Managing Partners, Chief Operating Officers and anyone else in a firm who thinks marketing is a state of mind.
Click on the book cover if you want to see it at Amazon. (Further to comments, see addendum below.)
STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE: Larry and Richard are dear close friends of myself and my wife, Bethany, and generously acknowledged in their book that they came to our island (Anguilla) to write this work and that we had a ball. Imagine us all at Uncle Ernie's Beach Bar with a computer plugged in behind the ice cream cooler soaking up the ambience of Shoal Bay, according to the Travel Channel recently, the nicest beach in the world.
My wife, Bethany, adds: "While most books take pages to develop a message, in this book each page is a message".
Shoal Bay:
Addendum - further to posted comments, contact Larry Smith directly to order the book.
Thank you to Tom Peters for recommending "The Successful Lawyer"
A HUGE thank you to Tom Peters for reviewing my upcoming book, The Successful Lawyer: Powerful Strategies for Transforming Your Practice and providing a commentary that will appear on the back cover. Candidly, my thank you was going to be strictly private but he generously mentioned my book in his June 9th post entitled Fall Reading Preview so I think it is quite appropriate that I express my gratitude here.
Tom Peters has been one of my serious heroes since his first masterpiece, In Search of Excellence. His work inspired my partners and me as we built Edge International into a global consultancy. It is not uncommon for us to informally discuss his ideas at our internal meetings.
I know many lawyers do not read business books, even a significant number of Managing Partners don't, but to tempt you into exploring the mind of the person who likely has had more impact on business than any other thinker of our era, read this recent short bio on Tom Peters prepared for a leaders conference in London.
Tom Peters is the world's leading management guru. His first book, In Search of Excellence, co-written with Bob Waterman, launched a management revolution and was ranked in a recent poll carried out by Bloomsbury Press as the "greatest business book of all time". Since then, he has remained at the forefront of the movement to radically change organisations and how they are led in the face of new consumer, global and technological realities. His books, including his latest work, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, have topped sales charts for over twenty years, with Peters becoming the best-selling business author of all time. Fortune calls him the Ur-guru (guru of gurus) of management, while the Economist tags him the Uber-guru. Business Week describes him as business' "best friend and worst nightmare." Tom, meanwhile, describes himself as "a prince of disorder, champion of bold failures, maestro of zest, professional loudmouth, corporate cheerleader, lover of markets and capitalist pig."
Apologies to those in the legal profession who are also business graduates and cannot comprehend the possibility that there is any literate person who is not already familiar with Tom's work. The sad truth is that far too many in the legal profession are not to their detriment, in my view. While law is first a profession and second a business, in order for a larger firm to thrive it is going to have to maintain its stellar ethical base but then compete as a business with zest and imagination.
Note the reference in his bio to the effect that "he has remained at the forefront of the movement to radically change organisations and how they are led in the face of new consumer, global and technological realities". The major law firms (as well as the not-so-major) are facing the same challenges as business after all, they serve business. I believe competitive advantage belongs to those who listen to Tom, think about what he is saying, and then creatively apply his ideas where appropriate and with courage.
If you don't have time to read all his books, check out his blog and wire service.
By the way, I am delighted to see that the content from his book Re-Imagine! has been used to create four small-format books: Leadership, Talent, Design, and Trends. They're called the Essentials Series. Trusting Tom's marketing savvy, this will get the message to a lot more people (including, I suggest, those in the legal profession for whom the larger tome seems like too big a distraction from the "billable hour").
Thank you again, Tom your taking the time means a great deal to me.
New York Times Features "What's Online" Column
Dan Mitchell of The New York Times is referencing the blogosphere in his new column, What's Online. If The New York Times is not the establishment, who is. Yes, they have had their hiccups along the way, but the blogosphere finding regular representation in The New York Times is HUGE not only because it gives an added layer of legitimacy to the blogosphere but because it will yet again "raise the game". After all, it will be an informal honor for bloggers to be referenced there. (I suppose there is a possibility that questionable blogs might be ridiculed in Dan's column, but I doubt that will be the thrust.)
What really impressed me was Dan's willingness to be objective even to the point of airing a view that is hardly favorable to the establishment journalists of The New York Times itself:
A reporter for The New York Times, she writes, "is just a blogger who happened to attend college; impress some bosses with his or her talent; get some training through experience - and possibly (though certainly not always) journalism school; and receive a podium for his or her pains."
The "she", according to Dan, is Julie Hilden of findlaw.com.
For the lawyers and law firms I serve, this New York Times initiative further legitimizes and credentializes the notion of blogging (beyond some screwy thing a few weirdoes are doing that will soon fade into oblivion). I will continue to strongly encourage my clients to consider appropriate blogs, but now with enhanced credibility for the idea.
For you folks in Australia who will be attending the World Masters in August, I intend to include in my keynote some arguments and illustrations of how competitive advantage can be the reward for getting into the blogosphere while it is still an exciting medium.
(Full credit to Steve Rubel at Micro Persuasion for posting first on this and bringing it to my attention. If you are not already subscribed to his blog, you are in the minority. His blog is a beacon.)
