Firm Leadership

Rants, Raves, Rebuttals, Reflections, Revelations & Ruminations

If a gorilla walked into your office, would you notice? Researchers at the Visual Cognition Laboratory at the University of Illinois decided to ask the same question and were shocked at the results. Playing a one-minute video clip of a basketball game in progress, the researchers asked the study subjects to watch the game and to try to determine who scored the most points during the one-minute clip. Halfway through the clip, a man in a gorilla suit walked onto the court, beat his chest, and walked away.

The researchers asked the study subjects to describe what they saw on the video. Most described the basketball game and who appeared to be winning. Asked about the 'gorilla', fully half of the research participants responded by asking, 'what gorilla?" Told about the gorilla in the video, the "unseeing" participants were replayed the video. Most went on to insist that the videos had been switched.

The researchers called this "non-seeing", "inattentional blindness". In other words, these participants didn't see the gorilla because they thought they were watching a basketball game. If we don't notice the gorillas in our basketball games, what are the chances we won't notice the disruptive and competitive strategies that are changing the underlying tectonics of our professions?

A friend's daughter is only 25, but she just bought a house in Northern Virginia. He said, "Of course, she mortgaged most of it. But can you belie ve that they lent her $275,000? Is that crazy, or what? She works as a bartender, part time. She's very responsible and is good for the money, I'm sure. But how do they think she will pay it back?"

Meanwhile, The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that the average hourly worker earned $521.73 per week in 2003, (the 12 months ending in June). During the same period a year later, he earned an average of $524.37. Immediately, we notice that there is not a lot of difference between the two numbers. Which is too bad for the poor schlep, because the cost of living - the CPI - rose by more than 3% during the same period; meaning he actually has less spendable income this year than he did the last.

"How much do places like these go for?" We posed the question to a colleague as we drove through a section of Baltimore known as Federal Hill. The houses are hardly fancy. Instead, they are neat, modest places . . . tiny and simple. We discover that twenty-five years ago, so many of these houses had been abandoned that the mayor started giving them away for $1 each. But the area has changed, and so has the nation. Twenty-five years ago, America was at the bottom of a confidence cycle. Nothing seemed to go right. Interest rates were high, stocks were low - and Federal Hill was a derelict, abandoned, forgotten, trashy slum.

Today, America has never been more sure of herself. And Federal Hill is booming. There are bars, cafes, even restaurants good enough to entertain a group of expensive Washington lawyers. And the houses? " You can buy them for about $300,000." And what about the first-time house buyer, like our colleague's daughter? She puts down $25,000 . . . and borrows $275,000 to buy the $300,000 house. The same place she could have gotten for a buck in the year she was born. Is she any richer? Not really. Instead, without realizing it, these people have become speculators - leveraged ones - betting heavily that interest rates don't rise and house prices don't fall. Woe t o them if they're wrong.

Let's face it: advertisers don't have a clue. I've had this belief reaffirmed time and time again. Despite the abundance of case studies, market research, testing and the like, most companies have no tangible means of determining the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Even in the more easily tracked online world, ad campaign analysis is murky at best. No matter what can be learned from research and analysis, in the end, questions abound. Did the ad actually prompt sales?

But . . . someone must have asked . . . what if we feature an elephant hang gliding over the ocean? Isn't that likely to at least turn heads?

That's what the smart marketers at Bingham McCutchen must have asked when they began running an advertisement featuring a flying elephant. But at least one in-house counsel thinks the ad is "nutty." At a recent meeting of law firm marketers, Robert Bordon, deputy general counsel at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., poked fun at the ad and the notion that such eye-catching images can help firms attract clients. "A group of lawyers was sitting around talking about who to hire," Bordon quipped at a recent meeting. "They said, 'The firm with the flying elephant -- we need to hire them.'"

Bordon added a touch of levity to the meeting, scoffing at some marketing efforts. The problem, he said, is that firms put so much emphasis on getting new business and less on keeping a client happy. "My biggest pet peeve is how poorly firms do in keeping business," Bordon said. "I've had firms refuse to give me a budget, not return calls, and not provide in formation I've asked for."

So . . . I ask myself . . . why can't we get whomever taught this elephant to hang glide, now teach it to answer the phone?

This great tip was in the Winning at Work newsletter.

Get three pieces of flip chart paper and label them "Stop" "Start" "Continue" -- then ask your staff to work in groups of 3. Your first group brainstorms answers to the question: "In order to (raise revenue by XX dollars, solve this issue, etc.), what do we need to stop doing?"

Your second group does it with "In order to (raise revenue by XX dollars, solve this issue, or whatever), what do we need to start doing?

The third group brainstorms this one: "To (raise revenue, cut costs, solve this issue, or whatever) what do we need to continue doing? Hint: Brainstorm about what's working really well.

Then rotate everybody around so that everyone gets a chance to give each question their best shot. Now you summarize all the points, assign a financial impact to each point that's been raised, make it all into a report that says exactly what you will do (lay someone off? cut a program?) if your stuff doesn't work.

So, what would your firm's three questions be?

If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say I wish you would do things more often my way. If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say I don't like that new partner that calls everyday.

If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say I'd like you to bill me in an alternative way. If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say We have four new matters that came in just today.

If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say Being responsive to me means you call back the same day. If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say There are three other firms we're considering today.

If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say I expect your budget to reflect what I'll pay. If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say When you go over budget, I see my career slip away.

If only you'd ask, I'd be happy to say I wish you would do things more often my way.

Kudos to Felice Wagner for this little piece of poetry.

We all love a good list: the best this, the most frequent that. Problem is, there are more lists than grains of sand on the beach. How to find that certain list you need?

Leave it to a librarian, Gary Price, to come up with the answer: A list of lists. Price started his extremely useful "LOL" in 1998, before turning over maintenance chores to specialissues.com in 2002. (See: http://www.specialissues.com/lol)

LOL aggregates a large number of lists on companies, people, and resources that are freely available on the Internet. The lists range in content from the Top 100 Health Clubs to the Top Ceramic Companies by Segment. One drawback: The content is grouped by U.S. NAICS Codes but lacks a formal search capability. There is a master list of periodicals that the list uses as sources, complete with lists provided by those publications. So click on The American Lawyer link and you'll see the five lists put out by that publication over the last two years. Very handy.

Now, if someone could direct us to where we could buy the best single malt scotch at Wal Mart prices . . . stay tuned.

According to a news item earlier this week, Dickson Minto, a prestigious Edinburgh law firm, had a little trouble at a recent weekend retreat getaway for staff . . . and CLIENTS.

The trouble included employees being verbally abused and having drinks poured over them. A Dickson Minto staffer passing out in an ornamental pond after overindulging in libation, and a brawl reportedly led to the suspension of at least two senior lawyers.

Total tally for the weekend mayhem includes: one male headbutted; another punched; and a female employee slapped in the face.

And, for reasons that will probably become clear very soon, and as soon as they do, please let me know what it means because you know how-thickheaded I am, and I will need to have it explained to me over and over, about a dozen times or so, but . . . a Dickson Minto spokesman said: "We are making no comment whatsoever."

A British communications consulting firm has discovered a new demographic group known as the TIREDs - an acronym for Thirty-something Independent Radical Educated Drop-outs.

They tend to be young professionals, some of the most valuable talent sought by organizations - usually in their early 30s, with jobs in the media, law, finance, or technology - who are suffering from "aspiration deficit." Fed up with the rat race, they are quitting their high-powered jobs and opting for less demanding, more fulfilling lifestyles.

The phenomenon has led to the creation of an accurate, if inelegant term, the verb to "protire" - i.e., proactively retire, or drop out of one's career to pursue a new life centered on self-development, personal growth, and fulfillment. The research shows that of those surveyed (in the UK), two-thirds of all 18 to 35-year-olds are unhappy at work - and so are no less than 83% of 30 to 35-year-olds. One in fifteen has already quit the rat race, while 45% are seriously contemplating a career change in favor of something less demanding. Chief reasons for wishing to drop out are stress (58%), boredom / lack of fulfillment (26% ), and the desire to spend less time working (11%).

Researchers believe that while concerns about personal debt and poor health and retirement protection have encouraged the latest generation of professionals to become highly career-oriented, this has, in many cases, led to burnout.

I found this reference on http://thenonbillablehour.typepad.com talking about a position paper (PDF) on the web from an architecture firm Van Mell Associates entitled "Why We Don't Bill By The Hour". . . and it is the reason that my eyes are opened wide in astonishment and my mouth is hanging open in stunned stupefaction. Here are some excerpts:

"To value each hour of work equally and to price and manage each hour is as corrosive a policy as any creative group of professionals could devise. To pretend that each hour is worth the same as every other is ridiculous. A brilliant insight can come in a flash, and save a client from disaster or find him millions. Other hours are dull or wasted and lead nowhere. It's clear that billing by the hour is unfair to everyone.

Of course, professionals, like everyone, must track their time and their staff's time. But tracking each hour draws the professional's eyes away from the client's needs and toward the professional's own reward. Whether measured by the hour or minute, the client completely depends on the advisor's honesty to price and record their work effort fairly. Of course, professionals, like everyone, must track their time and their staff's time. But tracking each hour draws the professional's eyes away from the client's needs and toward the professional's own reward. Whether measured by the hour or minute, the client completely depends on the advisor's honesty to price and record their work effort fairly.

Of course, we still need a way to manage our time, both for efficiency and for estimating the work needed in a new assignment. Our solution: a Go od Day's Work. This unit avoids false precision and is based on our honest judgment of worth using even increments of 10%. If we honestly feel we put in 10% of the day working hard on a client's problem, that's what we record. If we honestly felt we worked hard, but only for a few minutes, we don't record it. If we see we've helped the client enormously, frankly, we round up."

Read the whole PDF to learn more about the Good Day's Work and the innovative ways this firm treats its relationship with its clients.

This is perhaps the most poignant site I have seen displayed on the Internet.

This incredible young Russian woman takes high-speed rides on her motorcycle through Chernobyl and has taken a series of photographs of the decaying city and the vacant villages surrounding it, the "dead zone." The devastation, the emptiness, the barrenness is beyond comprehension.

This you MUST go and see. It is poignant . . . it is strong . . . it is compelling . . . it may bring tears to your eyes. Chernobyl was far more horrific and horrible than we, who are so far away from it, could ever imagine. You have never seen anything like this in your entire life, I guarantee it. Take this chilling, mind-boggling tour.

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/