Cost vs. Investment: Making Wise Decisions on New Opportunities

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Last week, I talked with a client who was distressed at having to pay about $1,000 for some equipment necessary for making a presentation to a group of her ideal clients.  After listening for a few minutes and confirming my expectation that she’d be able to use the equipment over and over for similar presentations, I suggested that she think of the financial outlay as an investment rather than a cost.

“What’s the difference,” she sighed, “call it cost or investment, that money is just plain gone.”  I understand the pain of having to pay a hefty unexpected expense, but you have to recognize the distinction between a cost and an investment in the business context.

A cost is “the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something;” an investment is “the outlay of money usually for income or profit.”  The difference?  No matter how beneficial, a cost is money paid or time spent that doesn’t produce further profit or income.  An investment, however, is intended to be recouped and, if the investment is well chosen, to bring in more money than you originally paid.

This distinction matters because you can use it to position the services you offer your clients.  A photographer who offers headshots, for example, can legitimately refer to the expense as an investment, because a headshot is so important for website and other marketing purposes.  A good headshot helps to develop the “know, like, and trust” factors, and even if it isn’t traceable, we know that a good headshot will be a factor in landing new business.

Equally critically, you must understand this distinction so that you can evaluate opportunities that come your way.  When you are presented with a chance to do something, whether it’s sponsoring some sort of event, speaking to a group, or enhancing your own professional development through training or coaching, you need to be able to discern whether you’ll be paying a cost or making an investment.

For example, in the last few years, I’ve made an annual 5-figure investment in joining marketing mastermind groups, and those investments have paid off handsomely.  The feedback I’ve received and the ideas generated have brought in substantially more than the sums I paid.  I decided to make those investments after following the mentors and carefully evaluating what was offered.  I would not pay the same amount as a cost that I didn’t expect to recover — but I’ll happily invest any amount of money when I know that it will produce a multiplied return in new income.

When you’re making a decision about an investment (including whether the opportunity is an investment and whether it’s the right one for you), consider these questions:

  1. What benefit can I reasonably expect from taking part in this opportunity?  Consider not just financial or business benefit but also the ancillary relationship benefits that may accrue.  For example, if attending a meeting holds little direct benefit to you, but one of your best clients has asked that you attend, you might find that the benefit of meeting your client’s request will merit the investment.  If the only benefit is emotional and unlikely to lead to a business benefit — your own enjoyment or development of a social relationship — then you should consider the opportunity to be a cost rather than an investment and make your decision accordingly.
  2. What’s the likelihood of reaping that benefit?  You may not be able to predict with mathematical certainty how probable it is that you’ll attain the benefit that you’re seeking, so a qualitative estimate is all you need here.  Look for a threefold return on your investment.
  3. What will I need to put into this opportunity to increase the likelihood of getting the benefit?  Especially when an investment is primarily financial, it’s important to recognize that you may need to put in additional time and energy — and perhaps additional money — to get the results that you want.  That isn’t necessarily an indication that you shouldn’t make the investment, but you need to know what you’ll need to do before you commit.
  4. Am I able to make the necessary investment of money, time, and energy?  When you know what else you’ll need to do to get the benefit you’re seeking, determine whether you can make that investment.
  5. Am I willing to make that investment?  As I often tell my coaching clients, if you want things to change, you will need to change.  Even if an opportunity carries no financial cost, be sure you’re willing to invest your time and energy, since no benefit flows without some sort of investment.

Use these questions in making your own decisions, and use them to help your clients see the benefits of investing in working with you on financial and other levels.  For lawyers, a clear need often precedes an engagement, and convincing is unnecessary.  When your work is characterized as planning or arranging something (estate planning, for example), you may get more business when you’re able to demonstrate how investing will pay off, in reduced taxes for your client’s estate (financial benefit) and in reduced stress for your client’s survivors (emotional benefit).  Consultants may discuss their engagements as investments that improve effective business operations.  Photographers may cast their family portraits as an investment in creating a family history.

How do you use the language of cost vs. investment in your own business and in making your own decisions?  Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to notice the ways you think about the outlay of money, time, and energy.  Are you making the right investments?

Will You Give To Grow?

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The Go-Giver (Bob Burg and John David Mann)
and
The Referral of a Lifetime (Tim Templeton)

I’ve never reviewed two books in a single review before, but these two are such neat parallels in both style and message that I just can’t resist the temptation.  The message of both of these short, quick reads is simple:  if you genuinely care about other people and helping them to succeed, your business will grow well and authentically.

Both books are written as parables, using the story of a struggling business person’s meeting with a kind and mysterious, all-knowing mentor to illustrate how exactly to go about creating meaningful business relationships.  I don’t care for the parable style of business book, simply because it typically rings a little hollow and sometimes permits the teaching to stay at a superficial level, never getting the specifics.  Both The Go-Giver and The Referral of a Lifetime avoid these problems.  The Referral of a Lifetime excels particularly, because it includes an appendix with templates and samples that the reader can adapt for his or her own needs.  The parable style is also handy to convey a great deal of information without pedantic repetition, and it ends up being quite effective in both books.

Each book is based in just a few simple principles.  The four principles offered in The Referral of a Lifetime are:

  1. The 250 by 250 Rule:  It’s not only who you know that counts, it’s who your clients know that is important.
  2. Build a database [of your contacts] and ABC it.
  3. Just Let Me Know:  Educate your clients about how you work and your value to them through regular, tangible actions performed without fail.
  4. Keep in touch consistently, personally, and systematically.

The Go-Giver shares what it calls The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success:

  1. The Law of Value:  Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
  2. The Law of Compensation:  Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
  3. The Law of Influence:  Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
  4. The Law of Authenticity:  The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
  5. The Law of Receptivity:  The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

The principles set out in these two books are consistent and mutually supportive, yet the two books are quite distinctive.  The Referral of a Lifetime teaches you a system for defining and harnessing your already existing network of clients and other contacts, whereas The Go-Giver offers more of a general approach to living and doing business and less of a step-by-step system.

As I was reading these books, I saw them in action with a friend and colleague.  Late on Friday afternoon, I received an email from this person, looking for help because a shipper had failed to pick up a pallet of her product from a manufacturing facility in a small town.  She was facing two separate time crunches:  her product would expire if not shipped promptly, and she needed it to be delivered to her customer more than a thousand miles away no later than Tuesday at noon.  Her shipper couldn’t help, and she sent out a request for help after all of the obvious solutions proved unworkable.

A note about this person:  in addition to having a fabulous product, she genuinely seeks to help everyone she meets.  She’s one of these “never met a stranger” types of people who loves nothing more than sharing her contacts and resources.

Within just a few minutes of sending out her SOS, my friend has received a bunch of ideas and suggestions.  Within a couple of hours, one of her contacts arranged for the product to be shipped at a price less than 1/3 of the price that other shippers had quoted for slower service, and that same contact had introduced her to a potential joint venture partner.  Good luck that this contact saw my friend’s email?  Sure.  But it was their relationship (and his adherence to the values behind The Go-Giver and The Referral of a Lifetime, whether he’s actually read those books or not) that prompted him to swing into action.

If you read only one of these books, I’d encourage you to start with The Go-Giver.  It’s a very fast read, and the principles it shares will affect the way you see and do business.  Once you’re convinced that giving to others is not just the right thing to do but the smart business move, then read The Referral of a Lifetime to get specific ideas on how to implement the principles into your day-to-day life.  Even if it takes you some time to figure out how to build your own system, I almost guarantee that the books will change how you approach others in business — for the better, for you and for them.

Marketing Don’ts

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Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that some lawyers are making mistakes that will undermine their efforts.  These mistakes go beyond the five foundational business development efforts decsribed in The Reluctant Rainmaker that are so insidious.  These are short-sighted decisions that may seem smart in the short-run but will cause great damage over time.

Marketing Don’t #1:  “It’s all about me” newsletters.  A lawyer I don’t know subscribed me to his mailing list, using two of my email addresses.  That’s bad form (and probably illegal) in itself.  Absent a business relationship, all newsletter subscribers should be subscribers by their request.  (And just in case anyone reading this article is worried, the offending lawyer does not subscribe to my newsletter.  I checked.)

The newsletter is short and well-written, but it only recounts what honors and accolades this lawyer has received since last he wrote.  Since I don’t know this person, I have no interest in what he’s done, especially since I see no connection with his activity and my business.  Even if he were an acquaintance, an entire email about “me, me, me” is unlikely to hold my interest.  I’ve received this newsletter two or three times over the last year (I didn’t unsubscribe because I wanted to see whether and how the newsletter would change over time — but it hasn’t) and I have yet to read a substantive article or even comments that are directed to the reader.

The take-home message for you who send newsletters:  Make sure there’s something that’s designed to be helpful for the reader.  Yes, share your news, and let your readers know that you’re up to good things, but don’t let that be the sole focus (or even the primary emphasis) of your newsletter.  Write for your readers, not at them.

Marketing Don’t #2:  Skipping relationship-building on Facebook and Twitter.  This week, I’ve seen the same mistake repeated on both Facebook and Twitter:  making a connection and immediately asking for business.  (I’ve also been subscribed to a lawyer’s newsletter simply by virtue of having made the online connection — see mistake #1 above.)  Would you walk into a networking meeting, meet someone for the first time, and ask for business while you’re still shaking that person’s hand?  I seriously doubt it.  Don’t do the equivalent online.

Relationship-building online should follow a similar trajectory as relationship-building in the “real” world.  Meet (or make the connection online), explore areas of mutual interest to discover what you have in common, whether you like each other, and whether you’d like to have a business relationship.  That process can take minutes or months.  But it’s only when that process is concluded (or well underway) that it becomes appropriate to look for referral opportunities.

Even better, of course, is bringing the process to culmination by asking how you might help the person you’re getting to know.  One of the best, and most under-utilized, questions you might ask a new contact (virtual or in-person) is, “How would I recognize someone I should send to you?”  If you ask this question of someone who is likely to be a good referral source, you will almost certainly have the question returned to you.

The take-home message for you who network online:  Make connections online, but don’t skip the relationship-building phase.

Marketing Don’t #3:  Don’t forget that you must invest in your practice to see it grow.  In talking with some lawyers recently, I’ve observed a perception that this is not the time to be spending money on business development.  I’ve heard that it’s time for a shoestring budget, that it would be foolish to spend money on client entertainment or sponsorships or attending conferences, and so on.  Some lawyers are holding the purse strings so tight that their metaphorical hands must be going numb.

I’m certainly not going to suggest spending money willy-nilly, nor would I ever recommend a lawyer extend him- or herself beyond the bounds of sound financial decisions.  However, choosing not to spend money can be a short-sighted decision made from fear.  Growing a practice does require making smart investments.  Just like no wise lawyer would choose to go with a typewriter to save on the costs of using a computer, no wise lawyer would reject a practice-building opportunity simply because of a financial investment.

That doesn’t mean that you need to make the Bentley-level investment every time; sometimes the used Chevy is perfectly adequate and perhaps even a better choice.  If you notice yourself thinking that an opportunity is just right except for the cost, ask yourself these questions:

  1. What’s the financial outlay?
  2. What outcome might I see?
  3. What’s the likelihood of that outcome?
  4. What’s the financial investment-to-payoff ratio?
  5. What are the non-financial benefits that would likely accrue?

The take-home for lawyers considering a practice-enriching investment:  Consider not just what an opportunity costs but also what results it is likely to offer.  Not all opportunities will be right for you, but don’t allow yourself to miss out on something that offers an advantage simply becaues it comes with a price tag.

Sway

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Sway:  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman

Nobody likes to lose.  With our self-selection to be competitive and to be risk-averse, lawyers perhaps tolerate loss even less than others.  According to the Brafman brothers, authors of Sway:  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, the more meaningful a potential loss is, the further we will go to avoid that loss, and the more likely it becomes that we’ll be swept into an irrational decision.

This irrational tendency is well illustrated by the story of a wealthy stockholder who held the great majority of his assets in a single stock.  His financial advisor recommended selling a set percentage of the stock every month “to take the emotion out of the decision” and to create increasing diversification, but the stockholder declined.  He did sell about 10% of the stock at $47, but he held as the stock dipped to $42, having decided that he would sell when it hit $47 again.  Of course, it slipped lower — to $38, and the stockholder decided he would sell when it hit $44.  Alas, the stock continued to drop until it ended at 12 cents per share, and the once-wealthy stockholder had lost nearly his entire investment.

The cause of the loss is no surprise:  loss aversion plus commitment.  The same cause is responsible for irrational bidding in an acution designed by Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman.  He auctions a $20 bill in class with two rules:  the bids must be in $1 increments, and the runner up must pay his bid even though she receives nothing for it.

The bidding goes quickly to the $12-to-$16 range, at which point bidders realize that everyone is bidding for the same outcome and drops out, leaving only two bidders.  These two continue long past the point of reason, neither wanting to be the sucker who pays close to (or more than) $20 for nothing.  The record bid?  $204 for a $20 bill.  Each bidder’s commitment to the effort plus the desire to avoid loss brings on irrational behavior.

The authors identify irrational behavior at hand when we’re able to make a diagnosis, such as choosing the best job applicant or selecting high  potential leaders.  The Brafmans show that when we brand or label individuals, they tend to become “psychological chameleons” who take on the charateristics of the label.  For example, a study that followed Israeli soldiers through training arbitrarily assigned the soldiers as having high, regular, or unknown “command potential.”

The officers were required to learn each soldier’s “command potential” ranking, and in testing after the 15-week training course, the randomly assigned high “command potential” soldiers outperformed the others by 22.7%.  (We’ve all heard of similar examples of students underperforming when labeled as “slow learners” or “troublemakers” and excelling under the tutelage of a teacher who refuses to recognize those labels.)  The moral?  When we label others, they pick up on our subtle messages and cues and, as a result, they take on the characteristics of the label.

What’s in it for lawyers?  Sway illustrates that even when we fully believe we’re operating entirely from logic and reason, irrational psychological influences can undermine the logical perspective we believe we hold.  This recognition is critical for lawyers who may be swayed by these irrational influences in practice, whether while representing clients or while managing their own businesses.  Even more, lawyers must be aware of their clients’ illogical, irrational emotions and perceptions that can undermine rational decision making.

Rainmaker Renaissance!

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April Showers Bring May Flowers

Becoming an effective networker is mission critical to growing and sustaining your practice.  Business development is not typically a “quick fix” activity; you can’t expect to meet someone today and get new business from that person tomorrow.  (Exceptions do, of course, exist — but don’t count on them when the survival of your practice is at stake.)  You must build relationships with your clients, with potential clients, and with referral sources since the majority of your business will likely come from those sources.

Beyond maintaining and growing existing relationships, you’ll also want to expand your circle of contacts.  Your business development plan will help you to identify where your ideal clients and referral sources gather, and that in turn will tell you which meetings and gatherings to attend.  As you look at invitations you receive or announcements of meetings, ask yourself whether the kind of people you want to meet will likely be there.  You must identify the groups that are most likely to include the people you want to meet, and you need to be prepared to start conversations and then to develop and maintain the relationships over time.

Is it better to attend every possible event where your ideal clients and referral sources are likely to gather or to focus on developing relationships that seem more likely to yield business?  There’s a place for both.  Sometimes it’s helpful to investigate new groups and to see who goes to what kinds of meetings.  But be aware that it always takes more than one or two meetings to get established and to start developing relationships that may lead to business; if you just attend once or twice and then move on to another group, chances are that you won’t see any results.  I recommend that you identify no more than two or three groups (potentially only one, depending on your other commitments) that appear to be a good fit for your objectives.  Commit to attending regularly and participating in the group activities for six months, and then evaluate your results.

At the end of the day, building solid relationships will always be more effective because people generally prefer to hire and work with those they know, like, and trust.  You don’t get to know, like, and trust someone immediately, so it’s important to invest time in growing relationships.  That comes through repeated exposure and through consistent follow-up.  If you fail to follow up with people you meet and develop relationships with them, you might as well not bother networking.

The more consistent you can be in your networking, the more successful you will likely find yourself to be.  Most of the time, relationship-building and business development is much like farming — you’ll find that you have to do the equivalent of preparing your field, planting your seeds, nurturing them as they sprout, and then harvesting.

Want to enhance your business relationships quickly, starting right now?  Make a list of top contacts.  This list should include clients and former clients, referral sources, and warm contacts with whom you haven’t done business yet.  Then choose your top 3 to 5 from this list, perhaps the people who’ve been instrumental to growing your practice and those with whom you haven’t been in close contact recently.  Take those people to lunch or dinner, or at a minimum, have a telephone call to catch up with them.  Find out what’s going on with them, how business is going this year, and what you can do to help them, whether that’s legal work or something else.

These conversations are concentrated and intentional, and they can lead directly to additional business.  Why?  Two key reasons:  first, you’re enhancing or delving back into a relationship that already exists.  Your contact already knows, likes, and trusts you, so you’re not starting from ground zero.  And second, you’re opening conversation in a way that allows you to focus on what your contact needs, and then you’re doing your best to meet that need.  If the need is legal and within the scope of your practice, you have an opportunity to land the business.  Even if not, you’ve shown yourself to be a helpful resource.

Tending to your relationships will certainly pay off for you in the long-term, if not immediately.  Review your business development plan to ensure that you have a systematic approach to connecting with your contacts on a regular basis and make sure to block out time on your calendar to make it happen.

Lessons From A Sommelier

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Take Control of The Wine List
Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach®

Imagine this — You are seated at an upscale restaurant with one of your best clients and then handed a wine list thicker than a college textbook.  You want to pick out the “perfect” wine to impress your client but everything looks like it is written in a foreign language.  After only a few minutes the server asks if you have made your selection so you decide to order the most familiar thing on the menu.  You are not sure your selection will coordinate with your meals and it costs more than your boss will tolerate for a client dinner.  By the time the bottle arrives you have broken out in a cold sweat and are ready to take a big gulp!  The good news is that understanding the three main ways wine lists are organized is the first step to preventing this from ever happening to you.

There are three primary types of wine lists:  those organized by the grape varietal, by geography or where it is made, by flavor profile.  Keep in mind that some lists blend several of these methods.  Let’s explore each of these three types of wine lists:

By Grape Varietal.  Organized by the main grape variety used to prodice the wine, this type of list definitely appeals to our varietally conscious culture.  It may be further organized by country or state.  Thinking of the grape varietal first and the origin second is an American trend.  Many European countries are trying to focus on the grape varieties despite regulations that ban the top rated wine from listing them on the label.  Sections for the popular varietals, e.g., Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, are usually listed, as well as an “other varietals” category for white and red.  These lesser known varietal sections can often be more interesting, and is where many bargains can be found!

By Geography.  This wine list is organized by countries of origin and ofen has the more specific subcategories, like the regions or state, which is the traditional type of win list.  If you love French wines, this type of list makes it easy.  Flip to the French section and then look at what regions or wines are offered.  The grape varietal used may (or may not) be listed next to the wines in this type of list.  This is not an issue for most wine from the US since the wine is usually labeled by grape varietal, e.g., Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.  The European wine industry, however, tends to focus on the region and assume we know what grapes are grown.  Even though the principal grapes of Burgundy are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, they won’t appear on the bottle of Burgundy’s finest wines.

Progressive.  This type of list is a relatively new approach that is organized by the flavor and body profile.  A typical category might be dry-light-bodied whites and the wines in that category may be ordered from mildest to fullest.  This allows diners to look for the type of wine they enjoy and then order options in the same flavor and body category.  Your favorite grapes or countries may be located in many different categories.  Once you get the hang of these lists, they are tons of fun.  They don’t require any special knowledge of geography or grapes — just a knowledge what you like.

Knowing these categories will give you a better understanding of the three most common ways restaurants will organize their lists.  The geographic and grape varietal lists will account for 80% of the lists encountered, but the progressive list may be a growing trend for the future.

Secrets to Ordering a Great Bottle of Wine Every Time!

  • Ask the sommelier or server for suggestions.  Most are eager to help and have tasted most (if not all) of the wines on their list.  Those of us who have chosen wine as a career enjoy drinking wine every night but don’t necessarily have large budgets.  Sommeliers and servers will know the best bargains because that is what we are drinking at home!
  • If you are on a budget but don’t want the client to know that, point out a wine in your price range and then for ask for an alternate suggestion.  Any good server will recommend something within $10 of the wine you pointed out.  Don’t go for the least expensive bottle however; look for the second or third level wines.  The lowest priced wines are actually marked up the most (sometimes 4 or 5 times ccost) whereas higher priced wines might only be marked up 2 times cost.
  • Let’s face it, we are not experts in French, Spanish or Italian, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the wine, right?  If you find a great wine you want to order but are afraid to pronounce it, look for the Bin Number listed to the left of the wine.  Many restaurants use these as a method to organize their wine inventory.  If the list does not use bin numbers then point to the wine in question and any astute server will get the message.
  • Resist the temptation to order the cult favorites like Opus One or other highly sought after wines with name recognition.  These wines are expensive because, like Gucci or Cartier, the brand’s status is part of what you are paying for.  Many times you can find wines that are similar in quality for much less, especially if you are willing to try lesser known grape varietals or regions.  Ask your sommelier or server — they will be able to recommend the best buys.
  • Try to taste as much as you can at home or at free in-store tastings.  Retail wines are usually only marked up 30-50% over cost as opposed to the standard 2-3 times markup at a restaurant.  Experimenting at home will give you the experience to order great wine you’ll love when you are out!

And now, the next time you take an important client (or that special someone) to dinner, they will be impressed with your ability to find the right wine in no time!

About Laurie:
Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach® is a wine educator, dynamic speaker and author of the award winning book The Sipping Point:  A Crash Course in Wine.  Laurie’s specialty is creating unique corporate keynotes, team building events and group tasting seminars where she can deliver on her mission to demystify wine one glass at a time.  Laurie is a regular contributor to several magazines and a sought after guest expert on radio stations across the country, including most recently Martha Stewart radio.

To receive Laurie’s FREE audio CD “The 7 Secrets to Flawlessly Ordering Wine” visit:  www.thewinecoachsecrets.com.

Master The Simple

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A relatively new client who hired me to work on business development asked me this week about using Twitter and mobile marketing to push blog and newsletter content.  Interesting idea, except that this client doesn’t yet have a blog or a newsletter!  When I pointed that out, she  pushed back at first, telling me that she wants to make the best use possible of technology. Fine, I said, but once you know what that is, what will you be able to do with it?  She was quiet for a few seconds, then she chuckled and said yes, but it’s much easier to think about how to distribute articles than to write them.  So true, isn’t it?

That reminded me of one of the keys to any kind of development:  build the foundation first.  As any of you who have heard me talk about business development (or who have read The Reluctant Rainmaker) know, I’m in favor of repurposing your work in as many ways as possible and getting it out to the widest effective audience possible.  With today’s technology, that can mean using so many different avenues.

A slight diversion — but stay with me, because it does relate.  This weekend, I decided to look for a fairly simple white bookcase.  I checked the Ikea website, and I found 16 pages of white bookcases.  Tall, short, with glass doors and without, with narrow shelves or deep shelves, and on and on and on.  I had so many options that I felt paralyzed.  How could I possibly decide among that many white bookcases?  All told, I probably spent 20 or 30 minutes browsing bookcases and comparing them, and that time was basically wasted because the choices were too numerous for me to get anywhere.  Without more context, the various styles meant nothing to me.

That’s what happens to some lawyers as they think about business development:  the options are so numerous that it’s easy to get paralyzed.  Should you focus on writing or speaking or networking?  If it’s writing, should it be in traditional journals or on a blog?  If networking, should it be with lawyers or in an industry group, or should you focus on social online?  Creating a business development plan is the first step I recommend, because it will help you to cut through all of those options without getting overwhelmed.

As you plan, though, I recommend simplifying and doing first things first.  Do you want to focus on building interpersonal relationships, which will lead to new business if built strategically and mined appropriately?  Or should you focus first on building your substantive knowledge, skills, and credibility?  Whichever you answered, what’s  the most important thing for you to do right now to reach that goal?  Do that.

In other words, before you spend hours on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, meet face-to-face with a group of people who are your ideal clients or who can refer you to your ideal clients.  As fabulous as online networking can be, it rarely if ever will replace face-to-face conversation.  Before you explore how to use video to get your presentations online for the world to see, make some presentations in real-time in front of the right audience.  Build your foundation, and then expand it.

Am I encouraging you to forego technology?  Absolutely not.  But you must have a firm foundation built before you begin to exploit the wonders of technology.  Simplify, and master the simplest step before you expand to more complicated steps.

The No [Censored] Rule

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The No [Censored] Rule
By Robert Sutton, Ph.D.

Note:  To avoid triggering filters, I’m substituting the word “jerk” for the censored word in the title.  You can see the original in the image.

Dr. Robert I. Sutton is a champion of the civilized workplace, created and maintained through careful enforcement of the no “jerk” rule.  Expanding and deepending his 2004 Harvard Business Review article entitled “More Trouble Then They’re Worth,” Sutton’s 2007 book The No [Censored] Rule offers valuable tips for eliminating or avoiding nasty people in business.  As its tag line promises, this truly is “the definitive guide to working with — and surviving — workplace bullies, creeps, jerks, tyrants, tormentors, despots, and egomaniacs.”

In less than 200 entertaining pages, Sutton explains how to identify a workplace jerk (even how to tell if you’re the jerk) and describes the damage these jerks wreak on the organizations in which they work and the clients and colleagues with whom they come into contact.  He also addresses how to handle a workplace jerk, while warning of the dangers of “jerk poisoning.”  According to Sutton, a jerk is one who oppresses, humiliates, de-energizes, or belittles his target (generally someone less powerful than himself), causing the target to feel worse about herself following an interaction with the jerk.   (And, as his numerous examples prove, this behavior is not by any means limited to male perpetrators or female victims.)

These jerks use tactics such as personal insults, sarcasm and teasing as vehicles for insults, shaming, and treating people as if they’re invisible to deman others.  This behavior is sometimes hard to distinguish from routine bad behavior, but (like obscenity) you’re likely to know it when you see it.  Sutton distinguishes temporary jerks (because, as he notes, we all have the potential to act like jerks at times, particularly when we’re stressed) from certified jerks, who routinely show themselves to be nasty people.  The latter, he argues, must go.  He also carefully distinguishes constructive, even noisy, arguments about ideas from behavior that descends into a nasty personal attack and disavows any hint that spineless or obsequious people are the preferred alternative to jerks.

Having diagnosed the problem, Sutton then recommends how to implement and enforce a “no jerk rule,” how a jerk may reform himself/herself, and how to survive working in nasty environments or with nasty people.  Survival mechanisms include looking for small wins that allow you to sustain (or regain) confidence and a sense of control, reframing the situation and detaching from it, limiting exposure to the jerk, building situations of “safety, support, and sanity,” fighting and winning the right small battles, and leaving the job that’s put you in contact with the jerk.

Sutton also discusses the dangerous topic of the benefits of the jerk’s behavior, such as motivating fear-driven performance and perfectionism.  Though he is careful to note that these benefits don’t justify bad behavior, the “virtues of nastiness” are as real as the damage nastiness causes.  Sutton includes five key tips for those who want to be effective jerks, while noting that even these tips are inherently dangerous:

  1. Expressing anger, even nastiness, can be an effective method for grabbing and keeping power.
  2. Nastiness and intimidation are especially effective for vanquishing competitors.
  3. If you demean your people to motivate them, alternate it with (at least occasional) encouragement and praise.
  4. Create a “toxic tandem” with someone who will play good cop to your bad cop.
  5. Being all jerk, all the time, won’t work.

Although the jerk partner (or senior associate or paralegal or…) is, unfortunately, almost an archetype in law firm life, it’s just as important to identify nasty clients — or better yet, nasty potential clients.  Those are the clients who will demand and demean, who will push good lawyers to make bad arguments, who will cause their lawyers untold stress.  Lawyers must know when to refuse a case, and evaluating the cost of representing a jerk is a critical underlying skill.  Check this previous blog post for tips on identifying red flags for potentially difficult or nasty clients.

4 Steps To Growing Your Leadership Presence

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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 doing is probably at the top of your list every time you open your mouth.

How you present yourself, how you communicate, how you listen, how you connect, and how you respond to feedback you receive creates leadership presence.  Think about stage presence, that indefinable something that makes magic as soon as an actor steps onto a stage.  Leadership presence is the business version of stage presence.

Leadership presence can be cultivated.  Belle Linda Halpern and Kathe Lubar of The Ariel Group wrote a book titled Leadership Presence, in which they outline the PRES model.  To develop your own presence, consider these aspects:

P – Being Present.  Being “present” means being fully focused on what’s going on in the time and space you’re occupying, so that you’re able to respond to whatever happens, however, unexpected it may be.

R – Reaching Out.  Leaders must listen to others and build authentic relationships.  Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in reaching out to others in a genuine and effective way.

E – Expressiveness.  Use your words, your body language, and the tone and rate of your speech to express your message, and ensure that each of these routes for communication is congruent with the others.  We’ve probably all seen someone who shakes his head in a “no” gesture while saying, “What a great idea,” or a manager who stands in front of a group to announce an “exciting new initiative with lots of opportunities for us to do well,” while her body is slumped and her voice is halting and quiet.  Harness the power of communication and express your message clearly.

S – Self-knowing.  Effective leaders tend to be self-aware, authentic regardless of situation or circumstance, and guided by core values and priorities.  Bill George uses the analogy of True North in his book of the same title.  A leader who knows her True North and acts accordingly will exhibit a stronger presence than one who shifts based on context.

Practice using “PRES” when you speak over the next few days or weeks.  Notice how you feel and how others respond to you.  Notice where you feel comfortable and where perhaps you need additional practice.  And notice, most importantly, the effect your presence has on your leadership.

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