Meeting Client Expectations… Or Not.
One of the top client complaints received by bar associations across the country has to do with lawyers’ failure to return telephone calls. I haven’t seen statistics, but I suspect that clients also complain about lawyers who fail to answer email. Clients expect that their lawyer will communicate with them in a timely manner, and […]
How committed are you?
Be committed. What’s the first thing you think when you think of commitment in the context of your business? Without commitment in three particular areas of business, success is unlikely. Commitment to succeeding in the business. What’s your backup plan if your business doesn’t prosper? Some professionals (especially the risk-averse, like lawyers) need to have […]
I did the work… Now what?
You’ve put in your dues. You’ve worked hard to become the accomplished professional you are now, and you have all manner of credentials that demonstrate your expertise. You’ve worked with (and probably even held leadership roles with) a variety of organizations, you’ve written articles and book chapters, and you may even have served a turn […]
4 Steps to Growing Your Leadership Presence
When you talk, you want others to listen, right? Whether it’s a now-or-never event (making a key point in an oral argument, for instance) or one in a long stream of communications (talking with a colleague about some aspect of a representation), getting your point across and making some sort of advance in what you’re […]
Do you have the right rainmaking mix?
Before engaging in any rainmaking activity, you must determine the investment to payoff ratio. Simply put, what results will your investment of time and energy buy you? Is there another activity that likely has a better yield? Your goal is to determine whether a given activity is likely to move you closer to your rainmaking […]
Top 10 Tips to Overcome Overwhelm
Overwhelm can tank a day faster than just about anything else. When you have more email than you can handle, an out-of-control task list, and phone calls that just won’t stop, it’s almost impossible to operate effectively. Even if you manage to limp along, you may find that you’re distracted and that things are falling […]
Is It Too Late?
I gave a 1-hour presentation about rainmaking in the Chicago office of a large law firm, and following the presentation, a lawyer approached with a question: Is it ever too late to rebuild professional relationships that have languished? The short answer is that it depends on the relationship. The deeper the relationship, the more likely […]