August 24, 2005
Level 5 Leadership in the Law Firm
The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference that I am attending does not just deal with technology. There is a heavy leadership component to the sessions. There is more and more evidence that leadership skills influence the bottom line—per-partner income. The Hay Group found that the most effective lawyers use six styles of leadership. Their news release, issued yesterday, included the following: “Clearly leadership makes a difference to the bottom line. The partners Hay Group studied were not in the outstanding group because of their popularity, but because their results were better”. To read the complete news release go to http://haygroup.com/press_room/press_releases/Lawyers_Who_Lead.asp.
Leadership comes in many forms, but what makes a truly great leader great? What leadership style will make a law firm truly great?
The current issue of the Harvard Business Review answers that question in an article by Jim Collins, no relation that I know of. His answer based on research, is a Level 5 leader. A Level Five leader has all of the prerequisite capabilities of leadership but in addition they have two dominant characteristics that separate the extraordinary from the good. Those two characteristics may appear to contradict each other but when present they put those leaders in a class all their own. What are the characteristics?
They are humility plus professional will. These extraordinary leaders are at the same time modest and willful, shy and fearless. They do not have egos that get in the way. They understand three things and they are consistent with it:
1. What their company can be the best at in the world
2. How its economics work best
3. What best ignites the passions of its people
Consistency creates organizational momentum¾something the author refers to as the "flywheel”. When you push an organization in one direction consistently, it creates its own momentum toward that objective. Merely good (or lesser) organizations in the author’s study never achieved the flywheel effect; “instead, they lurched back and forth with radical change programs, reactionary moves and restructurings”.
My own view is that while we cannot all be great leaders, we can emulate them for better results. Their humility can be summed up by the saying, “All I did was hire the right people”. Their will is a reflection of their experience and the determination to learn from it. They have acquired a strong belief in the right way to do things and through their own commitment to and promotion of those beliefs, their beliefs become the framework for the organization’s culture. It becomes what they are.
The result is an organization or law firm with top-notch people with a common culture pursuing a unified vision of their mission. When those things come together, you will have one powerful law firm.
Jim Collins’ article appeared in the July—August 2005 Harvard Business Review. (www.hbr.org).
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