LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 14

Perspective: Vision, Direction and
Communication
If a group is lost in the forest, they can try
a few different methods to get out. They
could rely on a few key individuals who
have survival skills. Someone could take
charge and come up with the most efficient
way to conserve resources. Or, they could
ask a leader to climb a tree and communicate the right direction.
Leadership is not a position. It is a perspective. It is different from management,
which John Kotter famously described as
coping with complexity. Leaders, on the
other hand, set the right direction and exhibit situational awareness.
Captain Christopher Cassidy is a former
Navy SEAL and current chief astronaut at
NASA. He has traveled to space twice and

sharks were the other SEALs in the platoon,
and all I really did was point the sharks in the
right direction and keep them in the lane lines
every now and then." When leaders get too
close to the front, they are obstructing their
performers. They need to be in a place to
have perspective, and that view is not from
the ground. It is from up high.

Preparing for Change: Expect and
Embrace the Inevitable
No firm manages themselves through
change. Management may help a law firm
cope temporarily or deal with disruptions,
but organizations must be led through
change. Therefore, the creative and artful
leader becomes critical to success.
A recent survey conducted by IBM of
1,500 CEOs found that the ability to in-

It is the job of [the leader] to scan the horizon
and use experience and perspective to
communicate a vision that motivates and inspires
others to perform.
knows from all his experiences the importance of perspective for a leader. He stated,
"Situational awareness is one of the most
critical functions of a leader. People can be
highly talented and highly skilled, but if they
can't prioritize and make decisions about
what's important and what's urgent, they
can't execute efficiently."
It is not the job of a leader to be in the
daily mix of activities, trying to manage how
things get done. It is the job of this individual
to scan the horizon and use experience and
perspective to communicate a vision that
motivates and inspires others to perform.
As both an astronaut and a SEAL, Cassidy
knows the power of being a great leader also
depends on staying out of the way. He shared,
"As a platoon leader in Afghanistan, I thought
of it as if I was swimming with sharks. The
14

novate, adapt and see things in new ways
is paramount to success. In today's accelerated market, leaders must not only be
comfortable with change and experimentation. They must seek it out. The job of a
manager is to create efficiencies of scale
and eliminate waste. The job of a leader is
to knock the scales over when they see the
world changing. The art of leadership and
its embrace of change outmaneuvers all
other leadership characteristics.
Cathy Lanier was the first female chief
of police for Washington, D.C. She led a
department of over 6,000
officers in a city with
rapidly changing relations between police and
its citizens. As Chief Lanier
said, "Rules of engagement are

STRATEGIES / THE JOURNAL OF LEGAL MARKETING ◾ MAY / JUNE 2017

not static. They're different with the society
and the people you deal with. They're different with the scenarios that you deal with.
You can't revise policies every five to seven
years and think they're going to keep pace
with the environment that your operators
have to engage in every single day."
Lanier moved on from her role and is now
the Chief Security Officer for the National
Football League. However, her perspective
on effective leaders embracing change
remains the same. "You need to have a different perspective every single day, because
every single day there are subtle changes
in your environment," she says. "If you miss
them, and you keep following the same
script, you're going to fail."
Every case, deal and matter can be different, requiring professionals to see things
in new ways. Precedent has its place, but
it is not standing still. Likewise, the leader
within a law firm must look for change
from an industry and client perspective.
They must frequently disrupt the training,
coaching and policies in place to make sure
everyone is reacting to today's challenges
and not those of a now outdated plan.
Leadership is the ultimate art form.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LMA Strategies - May/June 2017

Contents
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - Cover1
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - Cover2
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - Contents
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 4
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 5
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 6
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 7
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 8
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LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 11
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LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 13
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 14
LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - 15
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LMA Strategies - May/June 2017 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/lma/strategies_20150304
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/lma/strategies_20140910
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