First 100 Days - Transitioning a New Managing Partner - (Page 14)

As soon as possible, spend as much time as necessary with your CFO learning what the key p e r f o r m a n c e indicators are for the financial success of your Firm. If you Firm is coming off of a p a r t i c u l a r l y good or bad year, understand what the drivers were for that year. Understand what m a k e s the Firm tick financially and communicate those key performance indicators to your man- a g e m e n t team / Executive Committee. N e i l H . W a s s e r Managing Member Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLC Atlanta I n the first hundred days I believe you should be spending a fair amount of your time listen- i n g , as opposed to coming in and making a lot of changes right off the bat. There's plenty of time f o r that, and it's simply foolish to make changes assuming things are going well until you're c o n f i d e n t you've got a relatively good feel for the lay of the land, including the politics. Avoid letting yourself be sucked into a lot of administrivia. There will always be lots of people w h o want their minor issues decided by the chair or the managing partner, and if you give early s i g n a l s that you are available for that, the administrivia will soon overwhelm you and prevent y o u from doing the important and strategic things that really should be your focus. Give your non-lawyer chiefs at our firm, the COO, CFO and CMO the benefit of the doubt. Get to k n o w them, trust them, and be sure to back their decisions unless they are plainly wrong which w o n ' t be often . These are experienced professionals who can save you enormous amounts of t i m e and give you extremely valuable perspective if you work properly with them. A long time a g o , when I was a young lieutenant in the Army reporting to a new post and a new position, my p r i n c i p a l sergeant said to me, I hope we can work well together, sir. Just remember, I can make y o u look very good or very bad. Sound advice, which I have never forgotten. J o h n A . M a c l e o d former Chairman Crowell & Moring LLP Washington DC B e quick to give credit to others, both as to the source of ideas and successes. Your con- s t i t u e n t s will be watching to see whether you are the type of person to claim credit for every suc- c e s s and lay blame for failure on others. Ensure that they see the reverse. Think about the best listener that you know and become that person. Becoming a great listener h a s several benefits. Everyone likes to be listened to and when they are listened to by the new 14 

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First 100 Days - Transitioning a New Managing Partner

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