Got an interesting phone call from a reporter the other day.
The young lady -- associated with a major business magazine -- was working on what she described as a "fun piece." It had to do with New Year's resolutions (for 2007) and she wanted to know whether we had any for the coming year.
After an initial pause, I responded, "We'd like to grow our business another 20-25%."
"Nah, that's not what I'm looking for." She continued, "Every business would like to make more money. Do you have anything else for me?"
Lost in thought, I offered to her call her back later in the day with some ideas. Fortuitously, we had a partners' meeting scheduled for that afternoon and, after discussing the reporter's inquiry, we concluded that our lives are rather mundane and relatively humorless.
The best we could come up with for 2007 -- as far as a resolution was concerned -- was to encourage our attorneys to pursue a non-legal endeavor in the coming year.
While New York State already requires us to complete a delineated number of continuing legal education classes every two years, we wanted our attorneys to "broaden their horizons" with a non-legal course or activity -- like wine-making, cooking class, and creative writing -- so that their lives will be more "balanced."
As litigators, we tend to get a bit myopic and overly focused on our practice and are not readily exposed to people outside our professional circle. In some respects, that can be quite limiting. So, in addition to learning something new, and fostering a sense of personal fulfillment, we thought this "exercise" would expand our associates' social network and thereby increase our client base. Happier associates would yield greater loyalty, generate better work-product, and, increase our business generation considerably.
As I pitched that concept to the reporter, I detected immediate resistance to the idea.
"Nah. Boring." She candidly confirmed."Do you have anything else for me?"
Stumped, I impulsively offered this idea, "How about mandatory sky-diving courses for some of our lowest billing associates?"
The call ended with an abrupt "click." Apparently, the reporter didn't appreciate my sense of humor.
Here's to no more hang-ups!
Happy New Year!
