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http://www.patrickmckenna.com/blog
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Post #202 - Thursday, May 31, 2007
Conference Feedback
I was in Chicago last week participating in the Managing Partner Magazine's 2nd Annual Practice Group Leadership Forum - a two-day event which I was honored to Chair, participate on a panel and deliver a brief presentation . . . the last one on the second day! The attendance was great, the presentations stimulating and the speakers all managing partners or practice leaders at some of the countries most prestigious law firms.
Today, I received feedback on my performance from Andrea Finken, the Director of Administration for Ark Group USA, the conference producers:
Dear Patrick, please find below a brief summary of your performance as based on the feedback forms we collected from those attending the event.
Average Score: 6.6 out of possible 7
Critiques:
- “This is the type of subject matter I came for!”
- “Outstanding”
- “Workable strategy to implement - looking forward to trying the 4 question model”
- “Wanted to hear more from him on the panel; should have been more questions.”
Thanks Andrea.
Post #201 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Are You A Trusted Advisor?
Charles Green (who together with my good friend David Maister authored The Trusted Advisor) says “Far too many people are calling themselves trusted advisors", and he's got some advice for you if you are considering joining them:
The two most trust-destroying words you can say are, "trust me." Never say you're someone's trusted advisor, much less say you want to be, much less build an ad campaign around it. It is inherently non-credible and insincere. (I try on my own website-- which of course uses the term - - to say "helping people become trusted advisors" - - and not to claim that I are one).
Post #200 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we cannot control . . . and find life waiting there for us.
Racheo Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings
Post #199 - Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Losing the Battle for Global Capital
Wall Street seems to be quickly losing ground on the world stage of high finance. And the way things are going, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) may soon elbow out it trans-Atlantic rival -- the New York Stock Exchange -- for the title of top dog in global finance. That's because European exchanges, led by listings on the LSE, are siphoning off Wall Street's bread-and-butter business of initial public offerings (IPOs).
Last year, a flurry of new IPOs in both London and Hong Kong stole the show from Wall Street for the first time. In fact, IPOs in Europe raised US$86 billion in 2006, compared with just US$48 billion raised in the United States. And Bloomberg reports that so far this year, Wall Street's competitors from across the pond are once again leading the IPO race. In fact, offerings in Europe have raised US$37.8 billion so far this year. That's well ahead of the US$21.2 billion of IPOs sold on U.S. exchanges. According to one European banker, "The move towards favoring London is here to stay."
Tighter U.S. securities regulation is partly to blame, thanks to the Sarbanes-Oxley anti-fraud legislation, and other measures designed to clamp down on Wall Street excesses in recent years. And London also enjoys a competitive advantage in terms of costs, with IPO underwriting fees that are much cheaper than in the United States. But the London stock exchange also has financial innovation on its side. It was the LSE that was the first to list a wide array of commodity-backed ETF-like products designed to track individual physical commodities. In London, you can invest in these products which track the price of everything from Aluminum to Zinc. This offers you a much bigger variety of commodity investments than are currently available from Wall Street ETF sponsors.
London also dominates the US$2.7 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, accounting for nearly one-third of all trades, compared with a market share of just 18% for Wall Street. And recently the LSE announced yet another financial first: Islamic bonds. In fact, the U.K. may become the first to issue bonds that comply with Islamic, or "Sharia law," which potentially means another capital market windfall coming London's way.
These developments underscore the fact that the U.S. is loosing its preeminence in global financial markets.
Post #198 - Monday, May 21, 2007
A New Week's Contemplation
Where are you today, compared to where you'd like to be? What's the stretch you need to get to the next milepost? How will you attain it? It won't occur magically by itself.
Learn to rest. Whether taking a nap, allowing time to reflect, or staring at the horizon . . . recharging your batteries is important. I've never seen anyone be a better decision maker or performer when fatigued.
Develop perspective. Don't overreact to trivial setbacks and inconveniences. Save your indignation for major issues concerning values, ethics, safety, health, and urgency. If every slight issue sets you off, you'll soon run out of fuel.
Treat yourself. Do something for yourself this week that constitutes a reward, or fun, or a break. There's nothing selfish about that. Life is short, and some things—a child's soccer game, a new movie, watching the sunset—can only be enjoyed in the moment.
Post #197 - Saturday, May 12, 2007
A Client Inquiry
I received the following inquiry earlier this week: "I found your article, The Changing of the Guard: Selecting Your Next Managing Partner very informative. Our firm is in the process of developing a selection process for the next managing partner. Our current MP will step down after his current term expires in December 2009. Do you have any resources to which you could refer me. Thank you very much."
Thank you for your gracious comments on the article and for your note. I take it that the managing partner you are referring to is the name partner and so that is going to make for a particularly interesting transition - especially if Bill is going to stay on and practice for a few more years following the completion of his current term as Chairman.
 We have had experience in working with Selection Committees in helping the group facilitate the process of selecting a new firm leader. To that end, we have developed:
(1) a "Managing Partner Responsibilities and Essential Functions" outline comprised of over 50 tasks that needs to be reviewed by the Selection Committee in order to develop a clear and comprehensive job description;
(2) an "Evaluation" questionnaire for the Selection Committee members to very specifically identify the background (prior experience), skill mix, authority, and their expectations of the ideal candidate;
(3) a listing of 51 performance traits (covering management, leadership, decision-making, problem solving, interpersonal skills, and personal attributes) from which the Committee members might identify those that they feel most important to being an effective Managing partner;
(4) a draft application form - to symbolize to the partnership that this is an important job that the firm is looking to fill;
(5) a comprehensive interview guide, containing some 68 sample interview questions, together with a specific and disciplined process for interviewing each candidate; and
(6) a worksheet and evaluation template for the Selection Committee to use in their final deliberations and recommendations - depending on whether the Committee makes the final selection, whether it goes to a partnership vote, or some other variation.
We have further had experience working with the outgoing and incoming managing partners to ensure a smooth transition - and are currently conducting an ongoing series of hands-on Master Classes for brand new managing partners.
If as this unfolds within your firm, you believe the attorneys comprising your Selection Committee might benefit from a brief conference call, may I invite you to suggest my availability. I would be pleased to talk to them without any charge or obligation.
Post #196 - Saturday, May 12, 2007
What Are You Studying?
Seth Godin (a prolific writer, author of Purple Cow and other commendable works) wrote recently about business books and pondered why most business people (and professionals) don't read them. Here is his killer question . . . I think especially relevant to anyone who professes to hold themselves out as being a consultant:
"If you went to a doctor who told you that she hadn't read a scholarly article or taken any training since med school, would you stick around?"
You might want to ask the next consultant you meet with to tell you about the last business book he or she read. Their answer should prove highly revealing.
Post #195 - Wednesday, May 9, 2007
 Can You Handle The Truth?
Bob Sutton just took his latest book The No Asshole Rule to a new level. According to Bob, many of us just don’t realize that we are suffering from the affliction that he so articulately writes about in his book.
Working with fellow best-selling author, Guy Kawasaki (How To Drive Your Competition Crazy) they have developed an online version of the test that appears in Bob’s book.
After some discussion, apparently they decided to call it ARSE (Asshole Rating Self-Exam). Give it a try -- see how you do!
Post #194 - Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Stop Being A Victim
I received an e-mail the other day from Joe Grenny and it reminded me of a sound communications principle that is all too easy to forget . . .
The next time you find yourself telling a story where you're making yourself out to be an innocent sufferer, rethink the situation. It could be that this story is keeping you from truly being effective.
Very often in these stories, we leave out facts about the role we may have played in the problem. For instance, we complain about some partner in our practice group who takes no initiative: "I assign him a project, check in with him during the month between meetings, and he still fails to deliver exactly what I’m looking for." What we don't include is that we forced this partner to take on some project that he wasn’t really interested in doing and then wonder why he is not exactly jumping up and down with enthusiasm, or implemented the task the way we might have wanted him to.
When you find yourself telling victim stories, tell the rest of the story, and transform yourself from being a victim by asking, "What am I pretending not to know about the role I played in the problem?"
If an objective observer were watching what just took place, would they partially blame you? It takes courage to examine your own role. It also transforms you from being a helpless victim into being a responsible leader who can take charge of being part of the solution.
Joseph Grenny is coauthor of Crucial Conversations, a book well worth reading.
Post #193 - Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Invest to Gain
The national intellectual property boutique, Fish & Richardson has just adopted a novel marketing strategy – they have decided to lose money today in hopes of winning law firm clients tomorrow.
The firm unveiled three bundles of legal services available to startup companies for a fixed fee. Clients can choose any or all of the bundles, which are priced at $2500 each – a deep discount from what partners at the firm could charge for this work. The initiative is intended to help Fish & Richardson build up its corporate practice. The partners are anticipating that if clients continue to use the firm, eventually they can recoup their investment when those companies need patent litigation or other intellectual property work.
The legal work the firm includes in the new program: corporate formation and assessment of intellectual property, employment matters, and trademark protection.
It is not unusual for firms to discount fees or make alternate billing arrangements. But it is rare for a firm to formalize cut-rate pricing like items on a menu. Lawyers at Fish & Richardson said that they decided to formalize this deep-discount, flat-fee program so that it would be easy for clients to understand and uniform across the firm’s 10 offices. It will now be interesting to see how many other firms copy this initative.
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