One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from my Old Man was to use my time as an undergraduate to earn degrees in Business Management.
His logic was simple: the lawyer thing might not work out, but people will always need managers.
What I didn’t expect was how well that degree would serve me once this whole “lawyer” thing did, in fact, work out.
As any attorney will tell you, law school prepares you for a lot - and one of my favorite things was how it taught me to think differently.
But what many legal institutions don’t teach their students is how the whole “business” side of a law practice actually functions.
When I first opened The Bassett Firm, one of the few things I was confident in was that as long as we could get clients, I could step up and manage the business.
Over time, I’ve been able to delegate most of those responsibilities to our amazing team of leaders, including a recent and major transition of turning the duties of Managing Partner over to Michael Noordsy, my law partner of over a decade.
And in doing this I can now spend my time leading instead of managing, because as my guest this week, Eric Fletcher, will tell you: Leaders should not be managers. Leaders should be guiding the vision of a given operation.
For more than three decades he has gone on an quest that has seen him work for international non-profits, Fortune 100 companies, and of course, major law firms including McGlinchey Stafford and Hughes & Luce.
Eric is a TEDx Speaker and the co-author of two books - the recently released Decisions That Matter: Tales of Law Firm Leadership In Moments of Consequence and the 2013 groundbreaking social media book,8 Mandates For Social Media Marketing Success.
Eric serves on the speakers program of the Advertising Education Foundation as well as the Advisory Board for Southern New Hampshire University Masters in Marketing program.
And in 2013 he founded Eric Fletcher Consulting which assists clients in strategic planning, growth, and marketing and communication.
Eric and I talk about what it takes to be a rainmaker, how relationships are the core of building a business, and what young lawyers can do to plan for their future while also learning to adapt to what life throws at them.
It was a great conversation full of small gems and big laughs, so as always...
Enjoy the Show!
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