Does the implosion of Dewey & LeBoeuf foretell the future of the law firm and practice as we have known it for generations (and possibly the accounting firm as well)?
Does it expose the need for – and possibly the…more
There is no library in the world, I think, large enough to contain all the books written about leadership – and how to do it. Even songs. And speeches and seminars and training courses. What more can be said?
Plenty…more
Every election campaign produces, among other things, media myths and bad language. During the elections of the last decade, the language was infected by a new myth called spin control. The phrase, which broke a speed record in…more
My old philosophy professor, Sidney Hook, asked the question, “If you could have a magic carpet that took you anyplace you wanted to go, would you want it?” Of course. “But if the price were a million lives a year, would you…more
How strange that, for a group that so vehemently espouses change – the professional services marketers – we ourselves are so reluctant to change.
We are the imaginers, the thoughtful ones, the thought leaders, the…more
What with all the difficulties that graduates of law schools are having finding jobs, and the difficult economy, and the turmoil in the professions, a lot of people in the profession are raising the question of whether law…more
There are too many words we marketers use too easily, without thinking too hard about meaning or substance. One of my favorites is the most important word in marketing. It’s competition. We use it all the time – and then tend to…more
There is no great mystique to the marketing concept of positioning. While it's not as simple as some would make it seem, nor as complex as others would have you believe, it's still very real.
Like so many words used in…more
There are messages that are hard to impart, however true or important they are. There are messages that run counter to conventional wisdom, despite their validity. There are messages that are so important that you want to grab…more
In the early, primitive days of marketing professional services, there weren't enough people doing marketing for law, accounting, and consulting firms to think much about departmental management. The exceptions, of course, were…more
Picture this.
A narrow foot bridge across a great chasm, wide enough for only one person at a time to pass.
Two men of equal size meet in the middle, each intending to get to the other side.
“Let me pass,”…more
Talk about entropy – random movement of molecules in motion. Just look at what happens in the law recruiting market. Law school graduates scrambling to find a firm that might hire them, much less grant an interview. Law firms…more
I’ve gone and written another book. Professional Services Marketing 3.0.
People who know my writing will be shocked that I, who have vocally abhorred gimmicks and clichés, are using 3.0, but it really is the best way to…more
It seems that while we were looking the other way, these past few decades, law and accounting firms have gotten more complex. In the old days, it was simple. A managing partner, an executive committee, and maybe a bookkeeper…more
After writing – and rereading – the foregoing article, I got to thinking about some of the things I learned in my old days at Ruder & Finn. I had the privilege of working with and for Bill Ruder and Dick Weiner in the 1960s…more
