Thinking About Success...Again
I will be speaking to groups of associates in two law firms in the next week. The topics generally will cover the secret of being a successful lawyer and having a fulfilling and active family life.
When I was billing 2000 hours I did not have time to study or understand why some lawyers are successful and have a great family life and why others are not. I also did my client development instinctively and some things worked very effectively, while other things did not work quite as well. I didn't have time then to sit down and analyze why.
Now, that I am coaching and working with lawyers, and researching and writing, I have a much better idea of the attributes of the most successful lawyers who also have a family life and I understand better why certain client development efforts work more effectively than others. While each lawyer I know has unique talents, weaknesses, ambitions and practices, and there is no magic pill or formula, there are principles that I urge you to think about and try.
I have written about those principles in previous Blog postings and on my web page you will find two articles I wrote that were published this year. The first was published by the New York State Bar Association YLD publication "Perspective" and the second was published by "Marketing the Law Firm." It is kind of a shorter version of the first. They both address some of the principles I mentioned.
As I have outlined on this page before, it all begins with our attitude. When we talk to our self do we say: "Yes, but..." or "Sure. How...?" do we say; "My problem is..." or "my opportunity is..." Next, we must have clarity on what we want in our career and life. Our time and energy are our most important assets. If we do not have clarity by having a written plan and written goals we waste precious time. Next, we need to focus on what our clients need. They do not want to be sold. They do not care about what we do. They hire us to solve problems, help them achieve opportunities or deal with internal or external changes. If what we do does not address those issues, the client will not hire us, no matter how good we are.
We need to build our profile. Over time it really helps to focus on a niche and become the "go to lawyer" in that niche. It should be something clients need and you are passionate about. One lawyer I am coaching sent me her revised plan. She identified clients and potential clients, what she could do for them, two specific areas she wanted to focus on and become the "go to lawyer" and a game plan to become recognized by the clients she wants to serve.
Building our profile gives us the opportunity to build relationships with clients and potential clients. At the end of the day, we get the opportunity to be considered based on our reputation and recommendations, we ultimately get hired based on how well we connect with our clients and build trust and rapport. Assuming we do high quality work, we keep those clients by understanding their industry, their business and their personal needs. I also say that I want my clients to be friends and I want my friends to be clients. So, the personal relationship we develop really does matter.
When we become more successful we need to build a team. Young lawyers who will later work with you will be thinking "what is in this for me to work with...?" We need to treat them as if they are as important as our most important client because without their help we will not retain our most important client. We need to align their goals with our own and our client's goals, provide sufficient information in a timely way for them to do their work and then constantly give feedback.
Finally, we need to plan our personal time at the very least as well as we plan our work time. For me, Saturday afternoon starting with lunch has always been Jill's time. It is more challenging now that she is married, but we still try to spend that time together, now usually with her husband and my wife, Nancy, included. When we are with our family, we need to be in the moment, not answering blackberry emails. You will see in this Boston Globe article that my grown daughter brought that point home to me well. http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2006/07/02/businesss_new_task_turning_off/
I recently came across a report titled: How Superachievers Outperform Others by Dr. Donald J. Moine. I found it very supportive of what I have learned and written about how super lawyers outperform others. You can find it on the Selling Power webpage http://www.sellingpower.com. If you have trouble finding it or downloading it, send me an email and I will get it to you.
