"Is the 'China Problem' going to get bigger?"
That's what I called Bill Marler of Seattle-based Marler Clark Law Firm about three months ago. For me, that talk got packaged as an interview on this blog. For Bill, it landed juicier prey. He configured that ball of complexity into his new niche in thought leadership. Right now, he's in China hosting a conference on food safety and quality at the Landmark Hotel & Towers in Beijing. [Marler Clark PowerPoint presentation on "China Problem" available free from mgenova981@aol.com].
Bill's firm, which specializes in food-borne diseases, is very small. Paul Michael "Mickey" Pohl's Jones Day isn't. But still Mickey has been able to create his own little thought-leadership branding in product liability and all its mutations like public nuisance. That's what his brilliant thought-leadership brochure "Practice Perspectives: Product Liability & Tort Litigation" is a testament to. [Copy available from pmpohl@jonesday.com or 412-394-7900] Mickey, as most of you know, is the lead attorney for Sherwin-Williams in the infamous lead paint public nuisance saga.
But Bill's sponsoring a seminar in Beijing and Mickey's brochure are just one among an infinite number tactics in establishing thought-brand leadership. That's the beauty of this marketing strategy - anything goes. That's because it's the leader who sets the rules! As a result Marler Clark and Mickey's group at Jones Day can put their services out there more easily, with more class, and more effectively than non-leaders.
My hunch is that's exactly what Motley Rice is trying for. One of their tactics, I believe, was creating the novel theory of public nuisance. However, Motley Rice, even if it captures the lion's share of the lead paint public nuisance market, probably won't be able to take on the mantle of being a thought leader - not in any category of law. That strategy is an art. It has nothing to do with market share. It's share of influence and power.
As thought leader, what you're doing, says marketing expert Steven Van Yoder in his book "Get Slightly Famous," is "earning your company the role of trusted advisor by demonstrating that you know your business deeply, shape your industry, and understand and anticipate the needs of your target market." This is the antithesis, observes Van Yoder, of "the current dine of self-promotion." Strip away all that noble rhetoric and what thought leadership boils down to is a form of consultative marketing and gaining influence and power. Your reach is extraordinary, often all the way to the U.S. Supreme court and into the chambers of the Ohio legislature.
So, how can a law firm, no matter how small or large, establish and nurture branding as a thought leader? Here is what we seem to know about its dynamics in professional services.
- Both the organizational culture and the front lines of that specialty have to embrace those old-fashioned values of service, integrity and ability to be wrong, admit it and do course correction. In medicine, incidentally, that very ethos is preventing malpractice suits. Erring healthcare providers own up to mistakes, for instance. Call this the magic of trust that lifts prospects and clients out of the usual defaults of capitalism.
- Communication is other-directed. The in lingo for this is "client-centric." Whether it's a website, white paper, keynote speech at a conference, webinar, blog, podcast, special event, brochure, it has to engage the audience. This is rare. Surf the websites of most firms and it is a pile-on of credentials, bordering on gush. Typical self-promotion. Then there are the thought leaders' sites which contain detailed non-legalese transparent case studies and information. The client needed this. Here is the situation. Here are the options. Here are the ones we tried. Here's what panned out. Here's what we learned in time to help you. An independent survey done with clients of Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson found that 93% had responsiveness as the number-one reason for choosing and staying with a firm. That's also why your clients, peers et al. make you the thought leader.
- The ability to function in ambiguity, uncertainty and chaos. The rollercoaster lead paint public nuisance litigation is probably going to become standard. And,I believe the defense teams in this saga are setting the new standard on how to navigate all this to the advantage of the client, the legal system and society. The principle isn't new. During the early 1980s when globalization was starting to impact U.S. business, "In Search of Excellence" was a best-seller. That's because it pointed the way to leaders accustomed to trusty success formulas and reconfiguring realities like earnings and expenditures so that they appeared predictable. Thought leaders will show the industry how to lose battles in a way that helps win the war. Some contend Robert E. Lee lost the war because he ignored the lessons in temporary defeat.
- Telling a great story or narrative so that prospects, clients, influentials, media et al. will open up and tell you their story. James M. Wootton of Mayer Brown is a born story-teller, on his feet and on paper. That's why his narratives such as "How We Lost Our Way: The Road to Civil Justice Reform" for the Washington Legal Foundation are useful tools in tort reform. On Overlawyered.com, Walter Olson uses a very different tone but content is always packaged as narratives. Cross-culturally children demand, "Tell me a story." We don't outgrown that craving, do we.
- Making guesses about what's next. If you don't take this risk, we won't take you seriously. I take Bill Marler seriously and so do the Congressional committees who invite him to speculate because he scans what is for what might be and tells us about that, in great stories.
Thought leadership does sometimes become paradise lost. Think Milberg Weiss. That's a case study for a thought leader's website.
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