LMA Strategies - March/April 2013 - (Page 20)
Movies, Marketing and
Professional Development
Beat the Competition and Put the Odds in Your Favor
By Stacy A. Smith
I
s it possible to take lessons from a movie and correlate them
to your career? Is there an effective way to use pop culture
to help a young generation of lawyers perfect their everyday
practice skills and build their marketing prowess at the same time?
After recently watching The Hunger Games, my answer is yes.
In The Hunger Games, I watched the characters leverage family
issues, make hard and fast decisions, weave their way through a
war zone and handle the repercussions of their decisions. All the
while I kept thinking: “Those kids really know how to work
things to their advantage.” I just can’t seem to do anything or
go anywhere these days without relating what I see and hear to
my work.
After some research, I found that colleges and universities are
using movies, including The Hunger Games, as lessons to students
in everything from English to sociology. So I decided to make
my idea a reality — taking lessons from pop culture to create
practice skills, professional development and marketing lessons
for attorneys.
What is The Hunger Games?
For those unversed in the ways of The Hunger Games (apparently there are a few of you left), let me fill you in (warning:
spoiler alert). The movie takes place in the future in a country
known as Panem. The country is divided into 12 districts run by
a tyrannical government in the Capitol. Each year, the districts
are forced to send one boy and one girl, called Tributes, to the
Capitol to participate in a battle to the death called The Hunger
Games, a symbolic system of justice established as a lesson to the
12 districts after an unsuccessful rebellion by District 13 some 74
years earlier.
The storyline revolves around Katniss, a teenage girl from District
12, who volunteers for The Hunger Games in place of her younger
sister, and Peeta, who is Katniss’s male ally from District 12.
Lessons to Success from Panem
Lesson 1: Be Likeable
All successful attorneys need sales skills. You will sell yourself to your
fellow attorneys, opposing attorneys, your clients, your experts, the
courts, your staff, the press, etc. Your likeability factor can directly
correlate to your level of success. Are you respected? Will your client rehire you? Will your staff recommend you? Will you get that
extension you need? The old saying holds true: You get more from
honey than you do from vinegar. Likeability is a tool to get you what
you want, keep your clients and garner the interest of new prospects.
Katniss and Peeta are successful for many reasons — the first being their likeability. In pre-game, they smile, wave, are polite,
engaging, etc. During the Games, they are supportive of each
other and of others. They play the Games not just with brute
strength but with creative skills and analytic decisions that draw
respect from those in the Capitol.
Lesson 2: Craft Your Skill Set
Be sure to sharpen your practical skills and represent your clients
to the best of your ability. The easy lesson here is it doesn’t matter if you are likeable if you’re not a good attorney because you
won’t land clients and the clients you do land will not stay.
Take Katniss for instance. She is likeable but also has a skill set beyond her personality that helps her survive and ultimately win. Many
of her opponents are bigger, faster and stronger, but ultimately they
are all defeated because Katniss’s overall skill set is superior.
Lesson 3: Be Ethical, Honorable, Trustworthy
If you don’t have ethics, you don’t have anything. As a professional, remember to respect your profession and those in your
profession. Do not verbally attack another attorney; do not
disparage your peers; refrain from being disrespectful; and learn
to separate your personal feelings from the business you are conducting. Be the pillar that your profession needs.
In the arena, Katniss befriends Rue, a small Tribute from District
11 who is ultimately killed by another Tribute. Katniss was honorable with Rue in her last moments, earning her the respect of
Rue’s ally in District 11 who ultimately spared Katniss’s life as a
sign of respect of her honor.
Lesson 4: Be Patient
The proverbial phrase tells us that “Patience is a Virtue,” but
the art of patience is underrated and underused by lawyers who
are looking for instant gratification. A patient, prepared lawyer
with polished verbal and written skills will oftentimes succeed
when the guns-blazing attorney will not. Know your adversaries,
their skills, their strengths and weaknesses, because the more you
know about your adversary the better prepared you can be to
strategize your case against them.
There are many times in The Hunger Games when Katniss uses
patience to her advantage. She remains in a tree an entire night
formulating a plan to kill or escape Tributes that have her cornered. Her patience allows her the necessary time to formulate a
strategy, distract her adversaries and accomplish her plan.
20 | Strategies: The Journal of Legal Marketing, March/April 2013, V15.N02
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LMA Strategies - March/April 2013
LMA Strategies - March/April 2013
Contents
President’s Podium
About This Issue
Competing on Intelligence
Online Competition Is Brutal: Enhance Your Results with SEO
The War for Lateral Attorney Talent Within Law Firms
First-place Media Pitching
Starting on a Shoestring: How to Build a Robust Social Media Program
Law Firm Websites for the iPad Generation
Friendly Competition Sets One AmLaw200 Firm Apart
Movies, Marketing and Professional Development
Ask the Authorities
Dicta: Marketers on the Move
From the Desk of the Executive Director
LMA Strategies - March/April 2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/lma/strategies_20130910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/smithbucklin/lma_strategies_20130708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/smithbucklin/lma_strategies_20130506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/smithbucklin/lma_strategies_20130304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/smithbucklin/lma_strategies_20110506
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