Dodging Stealth Layoffs - Grow Up & Learn to Develop New Biz

The Shinyung Oh firing story brought out of the closet alleged stealth layoffs in BigLaw.  No coincidence, as this story dominated the legal media, mainstream and blogosphere, Oh's former employer Paul Hastings formally denied "layoffs."  Whatever. 

The real story is: Survival is impossible in BigLaw  without bringing in new business.  That's the game.  So how do busy-bee attorneys, focused only on their work, learn to hook some new fish?

The first part is to grow up professionally and realize this goes with the territory.  And it's not only in law but all professional services that job security, status, and perks come with being a rainmaker.  Doing good work is and always will be a defensive strategy. More accurately, work of any quality counts less than business development.  I know. 

When I started making referrals to BigPR, I got treated like a member of the Establishment vs. "just" an excellent writer.  That new biz I brought BigPR came from my blogging.

That brings me to part two of developing biz. That's putting oneself out there. Professional services firms promote a few stars.  I was never one of them so I got an early intro to continuous self-promotion.

Relax: The self-promotion game today is easier.  That's because, thanks to technology which makes the "long tail" possible, we only need to be niche players.  Marketing expert Steven Van Yoder calls that becoming "slightly famous" or a "mini celebrity."  Let Alan D publish all those books and defend all those high-profile clients. 

We only have to get known to the right groups of people.  We can do that through blogs, digital networking, getting elected to a part-time office such as state senator in Pennsylvania, worming our way on a few boards, and hanging out just enough with the philanthropy crowd. The challenge is to keep doing this. Rainmaking is totally dynamic.  That means if we stop the platform we built falls over.

Part three is more Machiavellian. It's manipulating situations so that we become associated with everything good and nothing bad.  Those with more power or cunning in organizations and in the industry will be attempting the exact same things.  That's why they don't get canned for performance reasons [e.g. stealth layoffs], keep getting promoted, and seem so smooth.  How to do this better and more often than they? 

• Don't accept their favors.  They will offer to run this by the client or deliver this report or whatever.  Most careers are slaughtered on the altar of favors accepted.

• Be rude.  Hang where and when we're not wanted and abruptly decouple ourselves from radioactive people and situations.

• Make it a personal mission to pick up intelligence about everyone and everything. You bet, that opens doors.

• Choose the right assignments at the right times.  Not all work can be leveraged into opportunities for new biz.

Part four is to bail out of organizations, networks, and even friendships which are blocking access to potential new biz.  Yeah, it's a question of a good fit. Bad fits not only are not productive.  They make us appear inept.

Part five is to pray.  It doesn't matter to what.  What praying or turning the challenge over to a higher power, the universe or an ancestor who passed over to the other side does is lift the pressure off us.  We surrender.  That seems to do the trick, all the time.  Don't ask me how or why.  A tip: This kicks in faster if we get on our knees.