My Lawyer Leadership Playbook
I recently wrote an article on Linkedin to share my Lawyer Leadership Playbook. It was based S1 Episode 10 of my Podcast - Lawyer on Air. The Article is shared below for convenience.
🔗 Click to link to the published article on Linkedin
🔗 Click to link to S1 Episode 10
In Episode 10 of the Lawyer on Air podcast, I talked about this idea of “not falling back into the wallpaper” during COVID-19, and instead moving further forward and trying to be a lawyer leader in the community and in my work.
That meant not pressing pause but continuing to press play differently on the reel of my life, in what was a surreal pandemic situation.
“I drew a line in the sand and I just said, I'm going to go out there. I'm going to be seen, I'm going to be visible. I'm going to help people. And so doing that meant, I actually made 10 times more effort. To have a smile on screen to have a really nice background in my Zoom that showed energy”
🎧Link to listen to the whole episode: https://www.catherineoconnelllaw.com/podcast/episode-ten-season-one-final
That got me thinking about what my new Lawyer Leadership Playbook looks like now, compared to pre-pandemic. I am still working on my own Lawyers Leadership Playbook for how the Covid-19 Pandemic has modified my approach to work and life pandemic but here are 4 lessons to live by that have come up for me over the last 18 months:
“Personal is the new Professional” - This is my newly-coined mantra. Does being professional mean we can’t be informal with clients or stakeholders? Or that we can’t take an interest in small-talk and chit-chat with clients? I believe we can, and more often than not, our interactions allow us to do this. We just have to try. And I would make a bet that the success of my client and community relationships have started from this basis. I teach this “n-icebreaker” approach in my professional mentorship programs and programs I collaborate with Scott Warren in the ACCJ, and I firmly believe taking time to show kindness is a core value for lawyer leaders. Taking a real interest in clients is the first port of call on any journey to be a successful and trusted advisor and leader lawyer.
Lawyer leaders empathize with those who are suffering - Another’s suffering is not something to relish and not a time to think about how much money we can make from their dilemma, or turning them away because maybe they can’t pay us for the advice they need in that moment. In order to be a good lawyer leader, I think we have to understand the challenges clients are facing, more than we did pre-pandemic and yes, sometimes that means not invoicing for time spent and just being there for them. Having empathy in the way we listen, our tone of voice, and what expressions we show on our faces especially is leadership in action. That doesn’t mean always having the right or appropriate response but it does mean having a helpful ear, not being dismissive and showing interest in the other person.
The pandemic was/is a gift to upgrade our Personal Operating System as a Lawyer Leader - By “upgrade” I don’t mean we have a fancy new website for the sake of it, or talking about the next lead magnets, or intake funnels. A lawyer leader upgrade happens when we improve and polish what is already there to step up our leadership at a higher deliberate level. In this way my theme of the year “intentional” is my compass and the pandemic got me thinking way more intentionally about how to step up both globally and locally. For example, by volunteering to run law and other-themed webinars - and even pulling together a webinar to help others how to do webinars (!) and teach others how to use Zoom effectively – these small things enabled me to show up in a unified local and global way so that I could have impact as a leader lawyer within Japan and also help people overseas stuck with how they could doing business with Japan even through a pandemic.
Engage with all groups in a community, not just clients or potential targets - I firmly believe communities are at the foundation of leadership roles for lawyers. Sometimes the speaking platform was not enough to help people in the community. What sticks with me most is the hour and a half-long conversation I had on the telephone with members of the business community, who were not my clients or would probably never be my clients, but it was taking the time to have a dive in deep to really understand the impact of a crisis for them that could inform the way I could respond effectively be a lawyer leader to help others.
Not falling into the wallpaper was one of my strategies that helped me get through this time.
How have you handled the challenges that Covid has brought over the last 18 months?
What woud you add to your Leader Playbook?
Do share as I’d love to hear!
#lawyeronair #LegalEagle #LegalEagles #catherineoconnell #lawpodcast#japanpodcast #careers #womenlawyers #lawyers #entrepreneur#business #motivation #success #japan #entrepreneurlife #businesslife#lawyerstyle #lawyerslife #lawyerpodcast #womenwhopodcast#womenempowerment #womeninbusiness #lawyersinjapan #lawyerleadership #lawyerleaderplaybook #playbookforlifeandwork