Lessons In Leadership

Take your lessons in leadership where you can find them.

Recently, on assignment with a large, Midwestern law firm, I spoke with an attorney who had thought through the question of his own effectiveness as a leader without disconnecting that evaluation from his values as a human being. He had, in the process of his reflections on leadership, precisely identified the tension point for individuals asked to take on formal leadership responsibilities in a law firm.

The attorney in question is a prominent corporate attorney and practice group leader. He has a reputation for being a remarkably talented entertainer, orator and a gifted intellect, not to mention a highly respect litigator and a formidable presence in a courtroom. As he walked me down the hall from his office after doing an initial interview, he asked if I knew the story of Yertle the Turtle. When I laughed and said I'd often read the story to my children, he wasn't sure that by simply reading this classic to my children as a prelude to sleep that I'd actually understood what I'd read, and began to recite from Yertle. At the finish of his recitation, he quickly cupped my shoulder, looked me directly in the eye and said, “I am not nor ever will be Yertle.”

For those of you not familiar with the Dr. Seuss classic, the message intended is clear: No turtle's individual pursuit of grandiose ends should come at the expense of the greater good. This attorney knew, in spades, that his leadership could not be predicated on the assumption that those who worked under him would simply support self-aggrandizing efforts designed to feather only his own nest. He knew that it was his responsibility to keep the greater good in front of him, not use their backs as stepping-stones toward his own unparalleled success. Not all attorneys are so clear thinking or reflective when examining their own effectiveness; more important, not many will admit to the temptations of Yertling to the top.

Law firms are a natural breeding ground for developing strong, effective leaders. Most often though, when selecting an attorney to assume leadership responsibilities for their practice group, office or as managing partner, the nod goes to the most financially successful attorney who has established a baseline of trust as a knowledge-based expert with clients. The attorney's obvious expertise, experience and wisdom in their practice of law allows them vaunted positional power, control and strong influence in client decisions. The role of the attorney in this client relationship is one of acting decisively, producing results, and often taking extraordinary efforts to achieve client expectations. Is it any wonder that when these very successful attorneys who are superb at maintaining client relationships by keeping their nose to the grindstone and practicing law without interference from the firm, often stumble when thrown into leadership roles where expectations dramatically shift to the care and feeding of others within the firm?

The most recent research on what makes for effective leadership suggests that a leader's success depends less on intelligence, charisma or scope of vision than it does on a leader's ability to navigate her own and others … (I cringe as I type the words …) emotional waters. Mention the words emotions or emotional intelligence to most able minded attorneys and prepare for the cynical scorn reserved for the segment of the population enamored with reality television. But the truth is simple. Give intelligence, charisma and strategic focus their due, but in the end, leaders ask people to follow, and few will follow the narcissist, the opportunist or the tyrant.

Successful attorneys who make the transition into leadership roles quickly learn that the care and support of a firm's employees and culture, not to speak of the endless task of ensuring that there is an alignment of the day-to-day activity of the firm's actions with the firm strategy, are daunting tasks. And while intelligence and judgment are obviously needed to make good decisions, it is a leader's ability to read and interpret theirs and others emotions that determine how effective they'll be in the clinches of tough interpersonal matters. This shift in focus from independent problem solving to addressing conflict, building consensus, using influence and initiating change depends on their willingness to reflect on and understand their own emotional contours before rushing to make external changes in the firm. The question most firms face is not whether an attorney can increase her emotional competencies (almost anyone can) but can and will she shift her focus from self to building something greater than herself?

No one I know who works in the profession of developing leadership talent endorses a one-size-fits-all approach, but the better practitioners do know this: without a willingness on the part of an aspiring leader to suspend self-interested recipes for individual success and recognition, it is nearly impossible to focus on building the key emotional competencies – namely, self-awareness, self-management and empathy – necessary for guiding, coaching, and leading others. Only then, when leaders begin to acknowledge that the best corrective action is not another employee survey, management restructuring or massage of the compensation system, but an internal look at their own values and behavior, can effective leadership begin to emerge.

The firm, if it is vested with strong leaders, has an opportunity to shape and nurture that belief if it too understands and believes in the power of many versus the individual. Law firms are places that become immeasurably better and easier to work in when there is a shared value around building a sustainable firm. Without that commitment around the shared value of building something greater than individual practices, the Yertles of the world begin scaling the backs of the very people they depend upon to establish independent fiefdoms. And as Dr. Seuss noted: “And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he/Is King of the Mud/That is all he can see.”

Take your lessons in leadership where you can find them.

Recently, on assignment with a large, Midwestern law firm, I spoke with an attorney who had thought through the question of his own effectiveness as a leader without disconnecting that evaluation from his values as a human being. He had, in the process of his reflections on leadership, precisely identified the tension point for individuals asked to take on formal leadership responsibilities in a law firm.

The attorney in question is a prominent corporate attorney and practice group leader. He has a reputation for being a remarkably talented entertainer, orator and a gifted intellect, not to mention a highly respect litigator and a formidable presence in a courtroom. As he walked me down the hall from his office after doing an initial interview, he asked if I knew the story of Yertle the Turtle. When I laughed and said I'd often read the story to my children, he wasn't sure that by simply reading this classic to my children as a prelude to sleep that I'd actually understood what I'd read, and began to recite from Yertle. At the finish of his recitation, he quickly cupped my shoulder, looked me directly in the eye and said, “I am not nor ever will be Yertle.”

For those of you not familiar with the Dr. Seuss classic, the message intended is clear: No turtle's individual pursuit of grandiose ends should come at the expense of the greater good. This attorney knew, in spades, that his leadership could not be predicated on the assumption that those who worked under him would simply support self-aggrandizing efforts designed to feather only his own nest. He knew that it was his responsibility to keep the greater good in front of him, not use their backs as stepping-stones toward his own unparalleled success. Not all attorneys are so clear thinking or reflective when examining their own effectiveness; more important, not many will admit to the temptations of Yertling to the top.

Law firms are a natural breeding ground for developing strong, effective leaders. Most often though, when selecting an attorney to assume leadership responsibilities for their practice group, office or as managing partner, the nod goes to the most financially successful attorney who has established a baseline of trust as a knowledge-based expert with clients. The attorney's obvious expertise, experience and wisdom in their practice of law allows them vaunted positional power, control and strong influence in client decisions. The role of the attorney in this client relationship is one of acting decisively, producing results, and often taking extraordinary efforts to achieve client expectations. Is it any wonder that when these very successful attorneys who are superb at maintaining client relationships by keeping their nose to the grindstone and practicing law without interference from the firm, often stumble when thrown into leadership roles where expectations dramatically shift to the care and feeding of others within the firm?

The most recent research on what makes for effective leadership suggests that a leader's success depends less on intelligence, charisma or scope of vision than it does on a leader's ability to navigate her own and others … (I cringe as I type the words …) emotional waters. Mention the words emotions or emotional intelligence to most able minded attorneys and prepare for the cynical scorn reserved for the segment of the population enamored with reality television. But the truth is simple. Give intelligence, charisma and strategic focus their due, but in the end, leaders ask people to follow, and few will follow the narcissist, the opportunist or the tyrant.

Successful attorneys who make the transition into leadership roles quickly learn that the care and support of a firm's employees and culture, not to speak of the endless task of ensuring that there is an alignment of the day-to-day activity of the firm's actions with the firm strategy, are daunting tasks. And while intelligence and judgment are obviously needed to make good decisions, it is a leader's ability to read and interpret theirs and others emotions that determine how effective they'll be in the clinches of tough interpersonal matters. This shift in focus from independent problem solving to addressing conflict, building consensus, using influence and initiating change depends on their willingness to reflect on and understand their own emotional contours before rushing to make external changes in the firm. The question most firms face is not whether an attorney can increase her emotional competencies (almost anyone can) but can and will she shift her focus from self to building something greater than herself?

No one I know who works in the profession of developing leadership talent endorses a one-size-fits-all approach, but the better practitioners do know this: without a willingness on the part of an aspiring leader to suspend self-interested recipes for individual success and recognition, it is nearly impossible to focus on building the key emotional competencies – namely, self-awareness, self-management and empathy – necessary for guiding, coaching, and leading others. Only then, when leaders begin to acknowledge that the best corrective action is not another employee survey, management restructuring or massage of the compensation system, but an internal look at their own values and behavior, can effective leadership begin to emerge.

The firm, if it is vested with strong leaders, has an opportunity to shape and nurture that belief if it too understands and believes in the power of many versus the individual. Law firms are places that become immeasurably better and easier to work in when there is a shared value around building a sustainable firm. Without that commitment around the shared value of building something greater than individual practices, the Yertles of the world begin scaling the backs of the very people they depend upon to establish independent fiefdoms. And as Dr. Seuss noted: “And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he/Is King of the Mud/That is all he can see.”