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L2: Learn Lead – A New and Exciting Leadership Education Event

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141010_maxwell_L2_0464I had the pleasure of attending the first L2 leadership event, held just outside of Atlanta Georgia, about three weeks ago. Based on what I experienced this will be the first of many annual events to come. At first it seemed like the event would simply be a shortened (only a half day) copycat of Leadercast (the event held in May of each year, which I usually attend); but I was wrong. There were only three speakers, much less “show” to the event, and much more content per speaker (in my opinion). The event is held in the same facility as houses the new John C. Maxwell Leadership Center. Each presentation was 45 minutes. John Maxwell went first, and finished the event as well.

Here is what I learned and highly commend for your consideration. Instead of giving you a complete synopsis of each speaker’s content, I thought I would simply let you know a few things I learned from each speaker (three or four points I will try and apply in my own life and leadership):

John Maxwell spoke (in both of his sessions) on the topic of “Good Leaders Ask Great Questions.” Since he just wrote a book with that title, I believe all of the attendees present understood that two 45 minutes segments really did not do the topic justice. Here are my takeaways:

  1. You only get answers to questions that you ask. Some folks don’t ask questions because they do not want to look bad, or dumb, to others. I have a tendency to not ask questions, especially when there is more than one other person in the room. In a conversation the person who wins (takes away the most, or learns the most) is the person who asks the most questions, and I am therefore cheating myself by not speaking up.
  2. When we ask questions, we have the ability to direct the conversation. Dr. Maxwell gave us many questions to ask when you are in a one on one learning lunch or meeting type of situation such as: What is the greatest lesson you ever learned? What have you learned recently? How has failure shaped your life? What have you read that I should read?
  3. As a leader I need to regularly ask myself three questions:
    1. Am I investing in myself? – This is a personal growth question I need to ask myself every day – what am I doing to make myself better, to grow as a leader, realizing that it is impossible to raise and lift up others if my own life is dormant.
    2. Am I genuinely interested in others? – This is a question where I examine my own motives.
    3. Am In investing in the right people? – This is a question where I ask about return on investment. Do those who I invest my time and energy in, themselves: influence others, have a potential to grow, desire to grow, have passion and character?

Linda Kaplan Thaler, a world renowned leader and innovator in the field of marketing (having created such well known marketing campaigns as the Aflac Duck and the Toys ‘R’ Us jingle), spoke on the topic of “GRIT: How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary”. GRIT stand for Guts, Resilience, Initiative and Tenacity. Here are my takeaways to keep on track in working to achieve success in my life:

  1. Solve small problems – people tend to freeze up when it appears obstacles are too large. When it seems so, I need to focus on small accomplishments and keep moving forward.
  2. Make my Bed – start every day by accomplishing something small. This will create a positive tone to build on during the day.
  3. Finish what I start – stay focused and accomplish. Avoid starting too many things and finishing nothing.
  4. Forget will power – put myself in situations where I am not tempted to mess up, waste time, or do something which is not beneficial to my life goals and objectives.

Tim Sanders, a maverick CEO of a tech start-up, who is the former Yahoo Chief Solutions Officer, spoke on the topic of “People Centric Tools for Success”. He has recently authored an excellent book titled “Today We are Rich” which I highly recommend. Here are my takeaways from his three imperatives to maintain balance and progress in life:

  1. Clear Mind – If my mind is filled with garbage, then my life is going to be negative. He stressed the importance of getting a good start to the day, which means not checking email while I lie in bed, and not inundating myself with negative media, but instead having a time of learning and reflection before I do anything else.
  2. Creative tendency – We need to leave time in life for creativity. The creative things I do in my free time will make me more creative at work.
  3. Compassionate Way – I need to be more loving to the people I lead, and work with. I simply cannot lead people if I do not care for them. The most compassionate thing I can do as a leader is to listen without power (or exerting power).

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Tim Sanders presenting at L2: Learn Lead

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John Maxwell speaking to small group at exclusive L2: Learn Lead breakfast

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Linda Kaplan Thayer presenting at L2: Learn Lead

What I learned at Leadercast 2014

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   Simon Sinek

 

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Bishop Desmond Tutu

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Leadercast is an event held in Atlanta, Georgia each spring. It is simulcast live to locations all over the world (and this year the portion with Bishop Desmond Tutu was simulcast back to Atlanta from South Africa).  Unless I have an ABA meeting to attend during the week of Leadercast, I attend the live event. Over the years I have met several of the leadership experts that I count as mentors (even though I have only, very briefly, personally met two or three of them, much of my leadership learning has come from study of resources they have created).  The event was held on May 9th 2014.  I highly recommend this event to anyone interested in “lifting the lid” on their leadership (i.e. developing their leadership skills).  You can find out more about the event at www.leadercast.com. The belief of Leadercast is that leading and being led by people who inspire and enlighten us, gives us strength and allows us to grow. Leadercast was built on a belief that the world needs better leaders—leaders worth following.  For lawyer friends that follow me for leadership advice, remember that leadership principles apply not only to the non-legal world, but to the leadership of our profession as well; leadership of other lawyers, leadership of law firms and leadership of clients.

Here are a few tidbits of what I learned at Leadercast this year:

Andy Stanley, a local pastor from Atlanta opened the day up (as he has done several times).  He truly is an expert on organizational visioning and leadership.  He shared the theme of the day with us, which was: Becoming a ‘Beyond You” Leader. He taught that being a Beyond You leader is about fearlessly and selflessly empowering others to lead – those by our side, as well as those coming up behind us.  Stanley taught that the value of our lives is measured in how much we give away.  He used the example of a funeral and what is honored or remembered about a deceased.  It is usually not how much a person made, but instead generosity and selfless acts of kindness.  In life we celebrate generosity, but tend to envy accumulation.  

Dr. Henry Cloud, a clinical psychologist and business consultant, furthered the topic of Beyond You Leadership.  Most people are control freaks.  Being a “Beyond You” leader, one who achieves both results and relationships, is about three things to understand: 1) that you will only really understand those you desire to lead when they understand that you understand them, 2) that there has to be something in you, some motivation or reason for leading, which is beyond you, and 3) that as leader we must be willing to give up control. 

Award winning author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell, as he is famous for, made his leadership point by telling a story.  He told the story of a leader in Northern Ireland after World War II.  The story is beyond this blog, but the point he made was that followers will only follow rules, laws or policies of a leader when they see the leadership of the leader as legitimate.  To be viewed as legitimate, followers must feel: 1) respect – the kind where they feel that leadership respects them as persons, 2) fairness – that leaders do not play favoritism but treat every individual fairly, and 3) reliability- that leaders are  not arbitrary in their decision making.

Leadership Expert and Best Selling Author Simon Sinek spoke to the attendees about the environment that we create as leaders.  He mentioned that with so much uncertainty in the world the one area where leaders have some control is the internal environment of the organization.  He called it the “Circle of Certainty”. We must on a daily basis work to make the environment in our organizations positive.  We must make progress on a daily basis.  He used (as does many a leadership speaker) Southwest Airlines as an example.  That company always comes up in studies as one of the best places to work.  Is it really because they hire better, happier people?  Sinek says that it is because of the environment the people are in – one created by great leaders who understand that environment is crucial.   

These were just four of many speakers throughout a full day.  Other speakers included Bishop Desmond Tutu, Former First Lady Laura Bush, former advertising sales executive and author, Laura Schroff, screenwriter and producer Randall Wallace and current CEO of SAP (the world’s leading producer of software) Bill McDermott.

 

Five Things I Learned at Managing Partner Forum 2014

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I had the opportunity to attend the Managing Partner Forum in Atlanta Georgia on Thursday May 8, 2014.  This event is the one event that I know of, held each year, where law firm managing and executive committee partners from all over the country come together and primarily learn from each other, and from experts, about leading and managing law firms.  The day starts with a keynote speaker, followed by a panel of experts who respond to real time electronic voting by attendees (who are responding to questions on issues of firm management, leadership and finance such as “What is your Firm’s revenue per lawyer compared to a year ago?” and “Do you think law firms should have a firm-wide strategic plan?”) . The remaining 3/4ths of the day is broken into segments referred to as MPIE’s (“Managing Partner Idea Exchanges”) – 20 to 25 managing members of firms sit around a table and discuss topics of interest and importance in management and leadership of law firms, facilitated by two or three law firm leadership experts. Kudos to my friend, and founder of Managing Partner Forum, John Remsen, for coming up with such a great learning experience for law firm leaders, and sustaining it over so many years. 

Given the high value of content during this one day of programming, I decided that this blog post should give you a tidbit of what I learned:

1.       Keynote speaker Tim Corcoran, President of the Legal Marketing Association began the day by discussing 5 obstacles to law firm success, indicating that the greatest obstacle is our own reluctance to embrace proven business principles.  He stated his belief that the reason for this is that lawyers continue to see the law as solely a profession, and not a business.

Tim discussed 5 more specific obstacles to law firm success. A comprehensive review of his whole keynote is beyond the scope of this blog post, but here is a short list:

     a.       Governance is an obstacle, where law firms allow all lawyers to be involved in management.  Leaders need to be allowed to lead!

     b.      Law firms do not understand clients and their needs.  Lawyers need to deliver what client’s want, at what they are willing to pay.

     c.        Law firm pricing needs to be rethought.  Discounting without rhyme or reason is a problem.  If you discount all the time, you send the signal that either you do not value your own work, or you know your client does not value your work.

     d.      Compensation plans continue to be a huge obstacle.  Most encourage turf building, as opposed to collaboration.

     e.      The typical formula for deriving profit simply encourages more time keepers and actually less profit.

Tim did not leave us hanging with just the bad news, but had a numerous suggestions as well – here are a few:

     a.       Adopt new operating models to law firm structure – there are other ways to succeed than what we currently use.  We need to look at what works in other businesses and professions and innovate.

     b.      Make client satisfaction your primary focus – make sure that all clients are “Firm” clients

     c.       Compensate for retention and long term profit – quit encouraging folks in the firm to focus merely on their own short term personal gain

2.       Firms need to do be more strategic in their hiring practices.  Cultural compatibility needs to be a priority, including: 1) structured hiring process and 2) psychological testing /personality testing. It makes sense that each party, employer and new hire, should be interested in assuring that they are a good match for each other.

3.       Succession planning, in all areas of law firm future planning is of utmost importance.  As a leader your job is to reduce uncertainty, and succession planning is all about reducing uncertainty of the future.

4.       The key to successfully adopting alternative fee arrangements in a law firm is client trust – including a belief by the client that the relationship is of utmost importance to the lawyer.

5.       Dr. Larry Richard, another expert helping in facilitation of the conference, pointed out that we should change the name of the position of a leader of a law firm to “Leading Partner” instead of “Managing Partner”.  Leaders need to delegate management tasks to managers instead of giving in to the temptation to micromanage. This is difficult because lawyer skill sets are more conducive to management than leadership.

For anyone in law firm leadership, I recommend that you make time for this annual event.

Helping Lawyers Lead Others Effectively and Strategically

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Welcome to the Strategic Legal Leadership Blog.  My hope is that I can help lawyers to be better leaders in the practice of law, and in their professional lives.  Being a lawyer is about leading others in a positive way.  It is primarily about influence.  One of the most basic definitions of leadership is simply “influence”.  Being a lawyer is therefore very much about being a leader. 

Over twelve years of leading my law firm as managing partner, as well as many more years in leadership positions within my law firm and other professional organizations, I have come to realize that theories of leadership are very easy to understand, but not as easy to apply.  I hope that through this blog I might help others understand my views on the application of basic leadership laws and principles to leadership of a law firm and the clients the firm says it serves.      

I hope you will check back at least weekly.  I hope you will find my insight and experience of leading lawyers helpful in your own law practice, professional organization or business.