Leadership for Lawyers

An Outstanding Example of Sharing Vision

2008-08-28T08:49:20-06:00

mark beese

Denver Welcomes the DNC

2008-08-24T13:57:34-06:00

The Democratic Party arrives in Denver today, along with 15,000 members of the media and countless corporate executives and lobbyists hoping to connect with the political elite during this historic week.

It seems to me that the key word for this event is party. I recently saw an unofficial party list that went on for more than 20 pages. I've been getting calls from the media for weeks now, asking, "So, what is your firm doing for the DNC? Any parties? Who's coming?"

Many of the major firms are hosting parties this week. Brownstein Hyatt has been planning their fete at the Denver Art Museum for more than a year. They expect more than 2,000 in attendance, including former Presidents and politicians of all sorts. Holland & Hart, Kamlet Shepherd, Patton Bogg and other firms are either throwing their own parties, or hosting events for clients.

Stars are everywhere. Getting tickets and access seems to be the buzz this week. As an e-town listener, I got the jump on their DNC taping at the DPAC, featuring James Taylor, David Crosby and Graham Nash, Ani DiFranco and others. Many are still scrambling to get tickets to the Green Sunday at Red Rocks concert tonight, featuring Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow. I hear there is still room to play poker at Coors Field with Ben Affleck later this week.

If you are in Denver for the convention, drop me a note and tell me about your experience. See you in Denver.

A Russian Truck Driver and the Olympics

2008-08-24T12:58:00-06:00

I once met a consultant who helps cities bid for the Olympic games. As part of the bid preparation, he conducted surveys of the general public to determine their attitudes and opinions about the Olympic Games and the prospect of them being hosted in their country.

He told me about a Russian truck driver who essentially said,"I love watching the Olympics on TV. It inpires me. I am too old to compete, and I don't have any sporting talent, but to see the Olympicans work so hard to meet their goals, it inspires me to be the best truck driver I can be."

While citizens' opinions vary about whether they want the games in their city, he found one common thread -people are attracted to the Olympics because it inspires them to reach for their goals, to be the best truck driver, the best fast order cook or the best lawyer they can be.

While the individual performances of the 2008 Olympic Games have been sensational and inspirational, I know that behind every Olympian is team of professionals all focused on maximizing performances at the games. For every gold medal swimmer or sprinter, there is a team of coaches, a national governing body that provides many levels of competition and training opportunities, sponsors and funders, family and friends, National Olympic Governing Bodies, and a host of other people and organizations that provide the structure and support for Olympic success. In fact, many sport governing bodies (like USA Swimming or USA Track and Field) have research and training departments that just focus on maximizing performance - finding the strategy or tactic that can give the athlete the split-second advantage that sometimes separates a medalist from fourth place.

What inspired you from the 2008 Olympics? One inspiration, for me, was Michael Phelps' comment, "Eat. Sleep. Swim." For a kid with ADHD, the focus on his goal and the discipline to practice inspired me to focus on my goals and the disciplines I need to reach them.

Who is your coach? What infrastructure have you developed or benefitted from to be a better leader? Have you considered starting a leadership development program in your firm, or sending your practice group leaders to the Center for Creative Leadership? Does your firm make available leadership coaches to their managing partners or other key leaders?

Who are you coaching? How are you sharing your experience, insight and encouragement with others?

How do you get to be a better leader?

2008-08-24T12:35:30-06:00

"Practice." That's what Jim Kouzes, co-author of The Leadership Challenge book and leadership development process said last weekend at the annual conference for LC facilitators and clients. Invoking Olympic tales and sports analogies, Kouzes said that leaders need to identify specific skills that they need to develop, create ways to improve those skills, and practice them daily to refine them.

"My son once asked his tennis coach how much he needs to practice to be competitive. He answered, "Two hours a day to keep your skills. Three to improve." Kouzes said. As it turns out, research on expertise indicates that the most important factor in developing top-level performance - whether it be in the boardroom or basketball court - is not innate talent, rather it is dedicated practice.

"Eat. Sleep. Swim." is how Michael Phelps describes his life.

So what can leaders do to practice leadership?

Taking the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI)is a great way to start. The LPI is a 360 degree and personal leadership skill assessment that illustrates your leadership strengths and weaknesses. Kouzes challenged the prevalent idea that leaders should focus only on leveraging their strengths, "Often, it is our weaknesses as a leader that get in the way of us being effective. We need to work on both our strengths and weaknesses to be more effective leaders."

The five practices of LC are:

- Model the way

- Inspire a shared vision

- Challenge the process

- Enable others to act

- Encourage the heart

In what area do you need practice? Communication? Sharing your vision for a practice group or firm? Giving feedback? Catching someone doing something right? Delegating? Mentoring or coaching? Modelling the firm's or your values? One on one communication?

"We're Not Going to Take It" - Association of Corporate Counsel

2008-04-05T22:47:06-06:00

You could almost hear Twisted Sister "singing" "We're not going to take it...anymore" at the Legal Marketing Association's national conference last month when Susan Hackett, General Counsel of the the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Laura Stein, Chairperson of ACC, along with two other ACC members met with hundreds of law firm marketers to explain their approach to escalating rates of outside counsel.

In a ninety minute presentation and discussion, Hackett outlined the pressures and realities facing in-house counsel, specifically, increased pressure to contain and predict legal costs and their frustration with double-digit rate increases, off-the-scale associate salaries (and corresponding hourly rates), a perceived unwillingness by law firms to discuss alternative fee arrangements and create lower-cost methods to provide lower-value (commodity) legal services.

To paraphrase, they said, "we're not going to take it anymore". Hackett and Stein have created an initiative within ACC to explore ways to re-define the relationship in-house GC's have with out-house firms. This new committee will develop a set of best practices to recommend to ACC members. ACC will sponsor seminars to teach GC's how to reduce outside attorneys costs, manage matters to budget, consolidate (or 'converge') the myriad of law firms some companies use to a small 'core counsel' cadre of firms, and stratify legal work so that only the high-end/high-value work goes to high-cost firms and commodity work is handled on a lower cost basis.

Details were short at the meeting, but emotions were high. The panel of in-house counsel differed on exactly what they wanted from their lawyers, but the agreed that lawyers and firms should work harder to understand what their clients wanted and they should create a relationship custom to those requirements.

What will come from this rebellion (and that's the word used in the LMA Conference brochure, btw)? Hard to say, but I was impressed that four big-wigs from ACC spent a day at the LMA conference, not including travel time, to clearly articulate their frustration with the community of outside counsel and fire the warning blows over the bow of the $1,000/hour battleship created by our largest law firms.

Implications for biglaw? Figure out - fast - what your clients want, including how to be billed, what work they consider high-value, what behavior they are tolerant of (and not, including associates billing $450/hour or more) and their plans their plans for convergence and changing how they manage outside counsel. And after you listen, design a new way of serving them.

For those of you who have conveniently forgot about Twisted Sister, here's a refresher:

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Naked Conversation Interview

2008-04-05T20:22:23-06:00

Richard Levick interviews Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations, a book about blogging and social media. Why is social media important?

"When we wrote the book, blogging was social media. But now, if you’re a business, or an institution, or an individual, you can blog, you can create video, you can Twitter, or you can do combinations of them all. You need to identify and utilize the tools that are right for you.

But, what’s important isn’t the tools. What’s important is the ability to have two-way conversations with your customers rather than sit around and devise marketing methods filled with adjectives and legal disclaimers and shovel them into the foreheads of people who just don’t want them."

Read the interview here.

Why is this important to law firms? Lawyers and their firms need to listen to thier clients, or their clients will find lawyers that listen. Client interviews and surveys are a good start, but firms need to find multiple channels to receive client feedback and to listen to their preferences.

BTW, Shel Israel is now moderating a video blog on Fast Company TV called Global Neighborhoods. Check it out.

While you are reading the article, check out Levick's new book, "Stop the Presses" and their prescient blog, by the same name. The book is a must-have reference about litigation public relations for the C-suite, lawyers, and marketing folks.

ABA LPM Magazine Focuses on Tech and Competitive Intelligence

2008-04-05T19:48:19-06:00

The recent issue of Law Practice Management Magazine (available online) has some great articles, including 45 Tips for Competitive Intelligence by Ann Lee Gibson, Keeping Up with Marketing -Speak, by Sally Schmidt and a Roundtable on Competitive Intelligence Tools, by a variety of panelists including David Bowerman, Cynthia Cheng Correia, Ann Lee Gibson, Mark Greene, Sabrina Pacifici, Meredith Williams and me.

Green to Speak at LMA Event

2008-04-05T19:14:37-06:00

Charles Green, co-author (with David Maister) will speak at LMA's Senior Roundtable in Washington DC in June. This is from the LMA website:

"We are excited about this year’s program. Charles Green, co-author of The Trusted Advisor and Trust-Based Selling, will kick off our meeting. Richard Friedman will share proven metrics and tactics to measure and track ROI — ripe with examples from outside the legal industry. Matt Homann, popular blogger of thenonbillablehour.typepad.com, will lead discussions on strategic issues facing the legal market, group problem solving, and more. Take advantage of the great networking opportunity provided by this powerful event for you and your peers."

More information here. Bummed I can't make it. Sounds like a great program.

Jim Collins to Speak in Denver, May 14th

2008-04-05T18:01:59-06:00

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, will make a rare speaking appearance in Denver on May 14th. The Community First Foundation is sponsoring his talk. I hear Collins speak last Fall, where he discussed new research on great companies. The mystery that puzzled him that day? Innovation seemed irrelevant to long term success of a great company. I'll ask him about it in May.

Go to http://www.communityfirstfoundation.org/goodtogreat.cfm for more information.

Diversity Call to Action Summit

2008-04-05T17:53:45-06:00

This sounds cool. Several years ago, General Counsel from several hundred companies drafted and signed the Diversity Call to Action - a statement of principals and tasks to improve diversity in law firms and legal departments. Not a lot has changed, so Rick Palmore of General Mills has called a meeting in Scottsdale on April 25 - 26 to get law firm Managing Partners and in-house GC's to come up with a plan to make a difference. According to a law.com article,

"The goal is to have a collaborative discussion between the general counsels and the managing partners about what we can do to move the needle on this issue," said Roderick Palmore, executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance and risk management officer at General Mills Inc., who wrote Call To Action in 2004.

Call To Action outlines goals for corporations to follow in order to improve diversity in their own offices and in the law firms they hire, focusing on gender, race and sexual orientation. About 90 general counsels have signed Call To Action, including those from The Boeing Co.; Prudential Financial Inc.; Microsoft Corp.; Johnson & Johnson; Tyson Foods Inc.; The Coca-Cola Co.; and Bank of America Corp.

In moving more aggressively toward specific goals, Call To Action is attempting to address a growing problem. Last year, for example, women made up less than 33 percent of lawyers employed in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Blacks made up less than 5 percent, Asians 2.6 percent and Hispanics 4.3 percent.

"The statistics speak for themselves," Palmore said. "They say our progress in the profession has been disappointing." Call To Action is the second major nationwide effort at improving diversity in the legal profession. About a decade ago, the American Bar Association worked with Charles Morgan, then-general counsel of BellSouth Corp., to come up with another initiative called, "Diversity in the Workplace: A Statement of Principle," which was signed by hundreds of general counsel executives. "

Interested? There is still time to sign up. Here is the

Download Summit_Agenda.doc

and the

Download Call_to_Action_Summit_FAQ.doc

Keynote speakers include former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Contact: Richard Tom, 626-302-4430.

Ballard hires Client Interviewer

2008-04-05T17:15:06-06:00

Did you see this article in The Legal Intelligencer (also on law.com) about how Ballard Spahr hired a "non-lawyer" to interview clients with the sub-title, "Could this new form of communicating with clients lead to the end of law firm marketing?"

A few thoughts:

Interviewing clients for fun and profit isn't new, but it is hard to do consistently. Instituting firm-wide standards and practices to gain feedback on client satisfaction and opportunity identification is contrary to most silo-based law firm cultures.
The managing partner of Ballard claims that they will focus on interviewing the top 300 of the firm's clients in the first year. Good luck. Most firms are happy to do quality interviews of a dozen or twenty clients in a year. Still, they get points for hiring someone to do interviews and orchestrate a client service initiative.
The article interviews a consultant from Altman Weil, who I truly believe was misquoted, indicating that if firms listen to their clients through feedback programs such as this AND they have a strong sales functions, then law firm marketing as we know it will not be necessary. While I agree that firms need to listen to their clients in order to provide a custom experience, and that firms need to develop a refined sales process, we will still need law firm marketers for many reasons, if only to support and direct these efforts.

Client service interviews are becoming big business. Many firms are quietly conducting top client satisfaction surveys in one form or another. In fact, a new generation of consultants - outsourced interviewers - are emerging and growing. You can now hire experienced, professional and insightful interviewer from firms such as Wicker Park Group, Zeughauser Group, as well as multi-disciplinary consultancies such as Altman Weil and Hildebrandt.

Speaking Gigs: Regional Marketing and CI

2008-04-05T16:52:42-06:00

I'll be speaking at the following events:

Regional Marketing and Business Development Strategies
Webinar sponsored by Hildebrandt
May 28, 2008 Noon EST
Click here for more information

Competitive Intelligence in the Modern Law Firm
Sponsored by Managing Partner Magazine
June 10, 2008 New York City USA
Click here for more information.

Ukila nanasi, tunda lingine basi

2008-04-05T14:49:55-06:00

Ukila nanasi, tunda lingine basi.

In Swahili, it means, "Once you taste a pineapple, you''ll never go for any other fruit"

Wouldn't it be nice for your clients to say this about your firm?

What would it take for your clients taste pineapple at your firm?

Lessons from Terminal Five

2008-04-05T14:45:06-06:00

London's Heathrow Airport opened Terminal 5 this week, reminding me of the troubled opening of Denver's International Airport more than ten years ago. Terminal 5 was slated to solve much of Heathrow's problems, including long security lines. The terminal was supposed to be the pride of London, the entry point for athletes and visitors worldwide for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the peak of airport efficiency. Instead, thousands of pieces of luggage have been lost, the terminal opened unfinished, dirty and with poorly trained staff.

The website ContinuityCentral has an interesting post on four lessons learned from the T5:

1. Don't let it ever happen in the first place.

2. Take responsibility for your actions

3. Take radical steps to show that you are in control.

4. Buy goodwill.

What? You don't plan on opening an airport in the near future? How about opening a new office, merger with another firm, acquiring a practice from a competitor, or launching a client service program. Read the article here.

Webinar on Succession Planning

2008-04-05T14:33:36-06:00

Phyllis Weiss Haserot will be conducting a webinar on succession planning on April 9th at 12:30 PM EDT. Click here for more information. Phyllis is a wonderful speaker and insightful adviser. If you have not been to her website, it is worth browsing through the hundreds of articles on practice development, career counseling, and collaborative culture.

Web 2.0 meets Legal KM at JD Supra

2008-04-05T14:19:05-06:00

Larry Bodine informed me that JD Supra is now online and firms from the AmLaw 200 to GP Solos are posting content. What is JD Supra? According to Bodine's website:

"In order to get listed, the attorney must contribute a brief, motion, article, or some other legal document. These are then indexed by area of law, jurisdiction, type of document, subject area, and contributor. Posting documents is free. A basic listing that includes a logo or photo, name, contact information, practice area description and list, honors and awards, professional associations, and education is also free. Cuyler explains that she expects to produce income by selling enhancements to the basic listing, as well as advertisements on the site. A listing with direct links to an attorney’s email, websites, and blogs, will cost $20 per month or $240/year. No doubt other enhancements, and charges, will come.

Once the site is fully operational (it is scheduled to be online by the time you read this review), it will allow searches for briefs, decisions, papers, and other documents. The search engine is designed for use both by both lawyers and the lay person. You can limit the search by jurisdiction, subject matter area, document type, and search terms. This will enable a lawyer searching for a brief on a subject to find what another lawyer has done in the past, learn from it and, hopefully, improve upon it.

The site is designed to allow potential clients to read actual documents written by the lawyer before contacting or retaining the lawyer. Cuyler indicates that the site as originally contemplated would let lawyers benefit from their colleagues’ work and connect with real people. Potential clients could search, determine which lawyer was doing work on questions similar to their case, and then contact the lawyer."

Still confused? Browse the JD Supra library, or read their blog.

Patrick McKenna Launches Leadership Advisory Board

2008-04-05T14:07:43-06:00

So, you are a managing partner facing a vexing issue and the usual advisers and articles leave you as confused as before. What's a MP to do?

Edge Group Consultant Patrick McKenna teamed up with Managing Partner Magazine to help. Patrick, along with Baker and Daniel's Chairman Emeritus Brian Burke, has corralled a small group of former law firm managing partners and other leaders including Nixon Peabody's Harry Truehart, Snell and Wilmer's John Bouma, and McGuire Woods' William Strickland.

Managing Partners can write to Patrick or MP Magazine. Patrick will convene a panel of experts, and draft a response, which will be sent to the inquiring MP. The response will be posted on McKenna's website, without identifying the inquiring managing partner.

Why the Leadership Advisory Board? Patrick responds in his press release:

“Our Leadership Advisory Board was constituted to offer a safe sounding board, especially to provide new leaders with pragmatic advice and experienced support to help them succeed.” commented Patrick McKenna of Edge. “I am so impressed and excited that every one of those whom Brian and I asked to participate in this initiative, responded enthusiastically.” For more information on the LAB, including their first article on "Preparing for the Worst",click here.

Explained one of the LAB members, “I believe that there is a dearth of good advice and mentoring available to new managing partners. It is staggering to think that corporate CEO's and other C-level people in the corporate world train their entire careers in order to be prepared when it is their turns to take the helm, but law firms put people at the helm of an enterprise whose revenue numbers have two commas in them with little or no formal training and almost no mentoring.”

Download info_release1.pdf

BTI Research Reveals Shift to BD and Client Service Priorities

2008-02-23T22:26:38-07:00

BTI Research published their annual benchmark survey of law firm marketing activities last month. You'll have to buy the survey to get all of the details, but here are some trends illustrated by the data:

The AmLaw Second Hundred (firms 101 to 200) is catching up with the AmLaw 100 in marketing spending per attorney.
Dollars dedicated to salaries climbed 22% on a per FTE basis at the largest law firms.
Marketing spending per attorney increased by 20%
Marketing staffs are expanding significantly (30%). Growth primarily in business development and client service areas.
CMO tenure declined to an average of 3.6 years. CMOs are increasingly lured away by more lucrative offers at other firms.
While firm leaders say they are open to hiring CMOs with experience outside of the legal world, 61% of top marketers are hired from other law firms.
Client Surveys and Client Teams are top priorities for law firm marketers in 2008. Both practices are now mainstream - with the vast majority of firms engaging in them.

Raindancing Expert Audio Series

2008-02-23T21:56:27-07:00

This week I met Cole Silver, the brains behind the Raindancing Expert Audio Series. Cole has interviewed dozens of brilliant authors, consultants and experts in law practice management and marketing. The 30 minute conversations are available on a subscription basis, for download or streaming audio from his website, findcareersuccess.com. Interviews include conversations with Harry Beckwith, Gerry Riskin, Larry Bodine, Sally Schmidt, Stephanie West Allen, and many others.

Worth $27 a month? I think so.

ABA Top 100 Discriminates Against Non-Lawyers?

2008-02-23T21:40:14-07:00

The December 2007 cover story on the ABA Journal featured the "Blawg 100" - the top blawgs written by attorneys, ranging from our favorite law practice management blogs to "gossip, rumor and innuendo".

Some legal 'blawgers', however, noticed that many insightful blawgs were omitted from the list not because of their content, but because they were not authored by attorneys. Harvard blogger Amy Campbell and Edge Group Founder Patrick McKenna both commented on the obvious omissions. Kevin O'Keefe summarized a number of blogger's not-so-positive reactions to the list here.

I've been a member of the ABA for seven years, and a contributor to the ABA's Law Practice Management Magazine for the past five years. I hope that next year they consider expanding their review to at least paying members of their association.

Does anyone else find this odd?

InnovAction Awards Nominations Open

2008-02-23T20:39:32-07:00

Nominations for the 2008 InnovAction Awards are now open until June 2, 2008.

The InnovAction Awards is a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms, and other deliverers of legal services who are currently engaged in some extraordinarily innovative efforts. The goal is to demonstrate to the legal community what can be created when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, are determined to make a difference. Each year, the College of Law Practice Management presents the coveted InnovAction Awards to those unsung heroes and rising stars within the legal profession who dare to think differently and succeed by doing so.

If you know of a law firm that is truly innovative, I encourage you to nominate them for a "Nova". We need to celebrate and publicize innovation in our profession in order to encourage more firms to try new things.

For more information:

More Law Firms Launch Leadership Programs

2007-11-17T15:00:09-07:00

Reporter Gina Passarella of The Legal Intelligencer reports on the law firm of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young's new Leadership Development Program in her article, Leadership Programs Born From Lack of Born Leaders . What do you think? What is the best way to provide leadership training for lawyers?

Cordell Parvin Launches BD Blog

2007-11-17T14:35:30-07:00

Cordell Parvin, a former construction lawyer for the Texas firm Jenkins & Gilchrist, has started a second career as a business development trainer and coach. His blog, www.lawconsultingblog.com, tells stories of his clients' success and gives a number of business development tips.

Leadership Development for Lawyers

2007-11-17T12:05:39-07:00

Several legal marketers have been discussing leadership development on its list serve. Here is my response to one member's question about starting a leadership development program in their firm:

Thank you for launching a discussion topic that is close to my heart. I've been working with law and architectural firms for almost 20 years. These professionals are smart, energetic, creative, insightful and mostly great people. They come up with great ideas and aggressive plans. Why, then, do so many practice groups, regional offices, and task forces struggle with getting things done? Was is just that they are compensated and rewarded for billing hours? Can it be that firms are really just lawyer-hotels with portable practices? Why is that a few groups and offices grew smartly and rapidly, but other wobbled along, struggling to replace the associates or partners that have left? Why does the conversation almost always go silent this time of year when firm leaders ask, "So, who should we choose as the next leader for XYZ practice group?"

My conclusion is that it comes down to leadership. About 5% of lawyers in firm management have developed adequate leadership skills. Their skills are often recognized and they serve in some sort of practice group, office or firm management role. Unfortunately, we need more than 5% to grow the many practice, industry and client teams prevalent in large firms. --more --

And, it's not just lawyers. As we discussed at the LMA Leadership Forum earlier this month, Marketing Directors and staff are often in the position to lead and implement change. We are asked to lead, but often without the credibility or authority needed to shift a culture. Why has CRM Software implementation been so hard to implement over the past ten years? It goes against the cultural current and requires effective leadership to navigate these waters. Most CMOs didn't have the authority or skills to 'lead from the middle", and we didn't have backing from firm leadership to make it top priority. Client teams, client visits, client surveys....same story. We need effective leadership not just within the lawyer ranks, but also among the C-level and Director level staff as well.

So, what does a firm do to grow good lawyers? How can we create a pipeline of leaders within our groups, firm, and staff departments so the question becomes, "Whom among our top three emerging leaders is right for this challenge and time in our firm?" rather than having to choose between rainmakers (who would reduce their yield by focusing on leadership) or high billable partners (who would reduce their hours by focusing on leadership).

Once I heard an introduction of poet David Whyte that sounded something like this, "Our company is facing unprecedented change. We are in uncharted waters. We don't have the vocabulary, the language, to deal with our new reality. We look to poetry and literature for new words and thoughts to help us navigate our way.'

Like the corporate world, I think law firms need a new leadership vocabulary. Most law firm leaders learned management from those who came before them - and many of them were not the pinnacle of leadership. Some firms have turned to institutions of leadership education for custom programs. Harvard University and Wharton are both working with some of the country's largest law firms to provide executive management and leadership education. The Center for Creative Leadership, who has a beautiful campus here in Colorado, is now working with the largest firm in the world to equip their top practice and office leaders. While this is hardly a trend, firms are realizing that the lack of leadership is being felt in under-productive practice areas, higher turnover of partners and associates, and an obstacle to firm goals such as healthy growth, a diverse workforce and high job satisfaction.

My firm is about to launch an attorney leadership development program in January 2008. We spent years researching our options, and a committee of attorneys, professional development professionals and a marketing guy made a set of recommendations to our management committee. Here are a few things I learned in the process:

1. There is not an outcry from lawyers for leadership development. Many partners already see themselves as either adequate leaders or they don't care. Leadership education is best sold as a privilege and a 'fast track' to other benefits. Leadership Development (LD) needs absolute buy-in from the Managing Partner and the Management Committee, including recognition that LD will take time away from admin and billable hour expectancies.

2. While it is important that the Managing Partner and Managing Committee participate in LD, the real benefit is when front-line leaders like Practice Group and Office Leaders participate. Ideally, a firm should consider levels of LD, including LD for all associates, LD for emerging leaders, LD for front line leaders, LD for top level leaders and LD for staff directors.

3. LD starts and ends with self awareness, as Jayne mentioned. The best programs include 360 evaluations for leaders that are skillfully and tactfully interpreted for lawyers. Honest feedback is tough for all of us, especially lawyers and those that work for them. You can't skip this element. Many programs use Myers Briggs, Highlands Assessment, Emergentics, or other tools for self-awareness.

4. I believe the LD is best delivered as a combination of group instruction/experience and one-on-one coaching. As a graduate of two community leadership programs (Leadership Buffalo and Leadership Denver), I am a big fan of common group experience. By creating a group experience in leadership development you are developing a common vocabulary, common expectations, common insights and energy of leadership in your firm. Collectively the group establishes the "<your firm name here> Way of Leadership" that, if practiced, becomes conscious culture. Subsequent LD classes build and expand on this vocabulary.

5. Coaching is critical too. Everyone has their leadership frontier - the edge of their experience and challenge where they grow. Insightful coaching helps the participant stay on this frontier and focus on specific activities and experiences to help her/him become a more effective leader. A personal leadership plan is developed and worked on between coach and coachee.

6. While there are many companies, consulting groups and institutions that provide LD, few have in-depth experience with the strange and unusual breed of law firms. Some have limited experience. Some law firm consultants have limited LD experience. Few have both. While I don't think that experience with law firms is a must, the LD provider needs to spend time to understand the unusual management and political structure in most law firms. Any good LD provider should propose a 'get to know you' phase where they meet in-person with a wide swath of people in the firm before they create a LD curriculum. Law firms that insist on years of experience training lawyers will be disappointed.

7. Our short-list of LD providers had three distinct organizations. We interviewed faculty from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL.ORG). CCL is recognized as the premier leader in corporate executive leadership development. They have operations worldwide and educate about 40,000 executives annually. CCL's Leadership at the Peak program is a five-day program that focuses on self-awareness, assessment, challenge and support. CCL has recently created a custom program for a very large international firm. CCL proposed a four to five day, off-site program, followed by individual coaching for a period of several months. You can learn more about them on their web site.

We also interviewed a local consulting group, NorthStone Consulting (northstonegroup.com). NorthStone's founder has a Ph.D. in Leadership Development and founded the executive leadership development program at a local university. He is currently the Chair of Leadership Studies at Northwestern University. Adam Goodman and his partners presented a multi-month program with six to eight half day or full day workshop. Each workshop would focus on a critical leadership element or skill. We would work with them to determine which skills were most appropriate for our firm. Coaching and personal leadership development plans would also be part of the 6 to 8 month program.

Finally, we met with Charles St. John of The Results Group (www.go2results.com). Charles is one of the top-ranked trainers using the "Leadership Challenge" program, based on the book by the same name by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner (www.leadershipchallenge.com). Leadership Challenge focuses on five elements: 1. Model the way, 2. Inspire a Shared Vision, 3. Challenge the Process, 4. Enable Others to Act and 5. Encourage the Heart. After reading the book (must read), I thought that this curriculum was a great match for law firms. Charles' proposal was a mix of group classes, individual coaching and at least one group project focused on a real issue that they could tackle together over an eight month period.

I won't tell you whom we chose at this point, but I will say that each group had a sound process, good content and great faculty. Our selection was based as much on chemistry with the faculty as on any other criteria (process, cost, experience, curriculum, etc.). The process was very conversational and I believe each group created a custom solution for our firm. One of the more interesting proposals was that we create several programs for different audiences. We will have some sort of leadership education next year for associates, staff directors, practice group leaders along with an intensive, 8-month course for emerging, front-line leaders.

There were also many excellent coaches and trainers that we considered, but we did not interview. I wish we could have hired several groups, but resources are limited.

Six years ago when I started thinking about leadership development programs for lawyers, the managing partners, consultants and fellow marketers looked at me, smirked, and usually said, "Great idea, but lawyers aren't ready for LD. They know there is room for improvement, but the pain is not there to effect change. Hard sell. Good luck." While I don't think LD in law firms has reached the tipping point, I do think that firms like DLA, Reed Smith, Nixon Peabody, Baker McKenzie and my firm, Holland & Hart, are seriously investing in LD on an annual basis. Other Amlaw 200 firms will follow as they realize that issues like associate satisfaction and turnover, partner mobility, increased pressure for increased hours and rates, and even staff-level turnover greatly impact their ability to compete effectively, and that the answer is not in escalating compensation, but in creating a better place to work through effective leadership.

Perhaps your firm is not quite ready for a full-blown front-line emerging leadership development program. May I make a suggestion? The Center for Creative Leadership offers an open enrollment executive program called Leadership at Peak. The program is offered at all of their campuses. We've had many of our managing partners and management committee chairs, as well as a few other leaders participate in this week-long program. It is challenging and intense, but everyone I know who has participated in it has come out with a much higher level of self-awareness, focus, and ability to lead a team. I know of one firm that sends Director-level (including CMO) management to CCL as a bonus for a successful year. I think all CMOs and marketing directors should have a chance to participate in a CCL program too. Ask about this at your next review/contract negotiation. Another alternative would be to engage Robert Fortunato as a leadership coach, for either you or one of your front-line leaders.

If you or one of your leaders is in interested in CCL, drop me a note and I'll introduce you to some of the folks that are working primarily with law firms.

Finally, it's been a while since I've updated it, but I blog on this topic at www.leadershipforlawyers.typepad.com. There you will find some other resources about how lawyers can become better leaders.

"The thing I like about leadership is that it is an on-going process. You can always learn more about how to be a better leader." - John Ryan, former Chancellor of the State University of New York, Admiral - US Navy (retired), and President and CEO of CCL.

Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast

2007-11-03T15:52:26-06:00

A few weeks ago I discussed lawyer ranking websites, along with Lawdragon.com founder Katrina Dewey and legal ethicist Ben Cowgill. The conversation was moderated by host Robert Ambrogi, co-author of Legal Blogwatch. You can listen to the show at Lawyer2Lawyer, or download the MP3 here.