Career Journal: Greater Impact -- Deciding Between an In-House or a Freelance Marketing Role

Confidentially, I've heard from many consultants that they are ' well ' lonely. They may not use that exact word, but there is little doubt that loneliness is what they are feeling. They admit to missing the camaraderie of working with a team. Even if they join a larger consulting firm, they are still, in essence, on their own. To be sure, there are more resources, more collaboration, and a bit less risk, but the burden to be successful ' to hunt what you eat ' is still theirs and theirs alone. Moreover, they can face sharp elbows when it comes to client relationships. It's not to say that every consulting firm is heavy-handed, but the model is simple; one must build his or her own sustainable book of business. Perhaps the greatest loss, however is the true ownership that comes with running a function or driving a business initiative from within. Consultants live in a world of vicarious influence with no guarantees that their ideas and advice will be heeded. It can be a forlorn feeling.

Pioneers on the Last Frontier

While today's legal marketing executives should feel no sense of indebtedness to a profession that has too often underappreciated the function and its contributions, each should recognize his or her responsibilities as pioneers. Law firm marketing leaders are breaking down barriers and loosening legacy practices in the last bastion of the professional services sector to embrace the merits of marketing and business development. Moreover, these executives are serving as mentors to a new wave of young talent entering the profession much earlier in their careers than they did. They are evolving lawyers' thinking and attitudes.

As an observer of the industry, I have been impressed with the progress law firms have made over the last decade. Marketing has been integrated effectively into a matrix-managed platform serving practice, geographies and other constituents simultaneously. In so doing, it has moved effectively out of a purely support function to one that is aligned more strategically to business decisions and innovation. Legal marketing has shed its use of euphemistic terminologies such as external relations and client management to describe the function and now identify it more clearly and concisely as of business development. And recently, I've observed perhaps one of the strongest indications of an industry transforming. In the wake of the Wall Street implosion, several firms launched restructuring or crisis management practices to help their clients in the floundering economy. As many as 13 firms did so in recent weeks. [Chadbourne the Latest to Hop on 'Crisis' Bandwagon. National Law Journal: Oct. 9, 2008.] Some are quick to dismiss this as “window dressing” or suggest it's just a redeployment of existing resources. So what if it is? Minimally, it gets their name in the press. But more importantly, it could actually garner new business. The hallmark of any good professional services firm is to be of the cusp of the “new-new thing” and to package a service offering around that. There's nothing cheap about it; it demonstrates nimbleness and market reactiveness. And CMOs and their teams deserve the credit for changing the way lawyers think about all of these things. They are making impact.

Keeping Perspective About the Journey

It is important to maintain some perspective on the progress that has been made ' something that can be easily lost when one is in the midst of the daily grind. Even though it has been 30 years since the Bates decision, the industry's institutional acceptance of marketing is only in its adolescence stage. For example, very few firms embrace the term “sales” while still others have been reluctant to develop measurable performance metrics for their partners. They, of course, do so at their own peril.

Pioneers, by definition, sacrifice a lot. They tend to be stage setters for those who come after them. Clearly, the legal industry needs its pioneers. Consultants are talented executives often providing sage advice to their clients. They getting paid good money for that advice ' deservedly so. Yet advice alone does not constitute change. Making that change happens, and making new ideas actionable takes leadership ' often from within.

Both professions, in-house marketing and consulting, are noble ones. Neither is superior to the other and therefore, one need not look with envy at how the other half lives. Yet, before making the switch, a little self-decoding of one's executive DNA will go along way in not only determining success, but deciding what will ultimately make one happy and satisfied with his or her career platform.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. Michael is a member of the firm's professional services and legal specialty practices. He focuses on search assignments for management and IT consulting, accounting and law firms. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or via e-mail at
[email protected].

With the average tenure of a law firm Chief Marketing Officer hovering around three years, business development and marketing executives might wonder if the profession offers a healthy career platform for them long term. Often, those 36 months can be filled with false starts, strategic redirection, and an ample dose of angst to go with it. The temptation to go it alone and consult back to the industry can be strong. In the past, I have sympathized with those in in-house roles who have contemplated such a career change. I have encouraged them in a previous column to “hang a shingle” if they are so inclined. Consulting certainly has its merits. Often, it means greater income, increased flexibility, and certainly it can offer an inoculation from the political affray that comes with a firm role.

Alone Is Lonely

Yet, for all the frustration of the internal battleground and all the attractive aspects of “going it alone,” consultants do so with little support and little in the way of income security.
I have heard from many an executive who has underestimated the commitment that consulting requires. It is hardly liberating. Those who choose to be an independent consultant are, in essence, launching their own enterprise. They are the Chief Executive Officer and the secretary and every role in between. They are the profit center and the cost center, the employer and the employee. Get the picture? Trying to balance it all, from delivering quality services to their clients to concurrently developing new business, is exhaustive. It is very hard to perform both functions at peak performance.

Confidentially, I've heard from many consultants that they are ' well ' lonely. They may not use that exact word, but there is little doubt that loneliness is what they are feeling. They admit to missing the camaraderie of working with a team. Even if they join a larger consulting firm, they are still, in essence, on their own. To be sure, there are more resources, more collaboration, and a bit less risk, but the burden to be successful ' to hunt what you eat ' is still theirs and theirs alone. Moreover, they can face sharp elbows when it comes to client relationships. It's not to say that every consulting firm is heavy-handed, but the model is simple; one must build his or her own sustainable book of business. Perhaps the greatest loss, however is the true ownership that comes with running a function or driving a business initiative from within. Consultants live in a world of vicarious influence with no guarantees that their ideas and advice will be heeded. It can be a forlorn feeling.

Pioneers on the Last Frontier

While today's legal marketing executives should feel no sense of indebtedness to a profession that has too often underappreciated the function and its contributions, each should recognize his or her responsibilities as pioneers. Law firm marketing leaders are breaking down barriers and loosening legacy practices in the last bastion of the professional services sector to embrace the merits of marketing and business development. Moreover, these executives are serving as mentors to a new wave of young talent entering the profession much earlier in their careers than they did. They are evolving lawyers' thinking and attitudes.

As an observer of the industry, I have been impressed with the progress law firms have made over the last decade. Marketing has been integrated effectively into a matrix-managed platform serving practice, geographies and other constituents simultaneously. In so doing, it has moved effectively out of a purely support function to one that is aligned more strategically to business decisions and innovation. Legal marketing has shed its use of euphemistic terminologies such as external relations and client management to describe the function and now identify it more clearly and concisely as of business development. And recently, I've observed perhaps one of the strongest indications of an industry transforming. In the wake of the Wall Street implosion, several firms launched restructuring or crisis management practices to help their clients in the floundering economy. As many as 13 firms did so in recent weeks. [Chadbourne the Latest to Hop on 'Crisis' Bandwagon. National Law Journal: Oct. 9, 2008.] Some are quick to dismiss this as “window dressing” or suggest it's just a redeployment of existing resources. So what if it is? Minimally, it gets their name in the press. But more importantly, it could actually garner new business. The hallmark of any good professional services firm is to be of the cusp of the “new-new thing” and to package a service offering around that. There's nothing cheap about it; it demonstrates nimbleness and market reactiveness. And CMOs and their teams deserve the credit for changing the way lawyers think about all of these things. They are making impact.

Keeping Perspective About the Journey

It is important to maintain some perspective on the progress that has been made ' something that can be easily lost when one is in the midst of the daily grind. Even though it has been 30 years since the Bates decision, the industry's institutional acceptance of marketing is only in its adolescence stage. For example, very few firms embrace the term “sales” while still others have been reluctant to develop measurable performance metrics for their partners. They, of course, do so at their own peril.

Pioneers, by definition, sacrifice a lot. They tend to be stage setters for those who come after them. Clearly, the legal industry needs its pioneers. Consultants are talented executives often providing sage advice to their clients. They getting paid good money for that advice ' deservedly so. Yet advice alone does not constitute change. Making that change happens, and making new ideas actionable takes leadership ' often from within.

Both professions, in-house marketing and consulting, are noble ones. Neither is superior to the other and therefore, one need not look with envy at how the other half lives. Yet, before making the switch, a little self-decoding of one's executive DNA will go along way in not only determining success, but deciding what will ultimately make one happy and satisfied with his or her career platform.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. Michael is a member of the firm's professional services and legal specialty practices. He focuses on search assignments for management and IT consulting, accounting and law firms. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or via e-mail at
[email protected].