A recent article in WSJ suggests that "Women in Finance Shrink." It’s clear that women up for reelection may not all win their elections, thus reducing the number of women in Congress. And law firms have difficulty retaining women as they become more senior…and, proportionately, women are not advancing in the ranks of management as high or as quickly.
Are we losing gains made in earlier years? Were those gains only superficial? Or have we arrived at the point where gender is irrelevant?
We are approaching the end of our vacation. We left Albuquerque’s Balloon Festival (its 39th year) and then went to Canyon de Chelly in AZ. A unique experience. On our way out, we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post, operated in the Navajo Nation by the Hubbell family until about 1964. From there, we traveled toward Flagstaff on Hwy 40 with the intent to go to Williams (for an outstanding chocolate malted milk) and then to Prescott , AZ to spend time with friends.
En route, however, we heard that there had been 3 tornadoes between Flagstaff and Williams. We got off the highway, waited for an hour … and after we were told that the DOT could not predict the weather for the balance of the day, we decided to go south instead of west.
I had to sacrifice my malted milk … oh well. I had two in Williams the week before. As we traveled south, we bordered the tornado path but missed it. The rain was heavy and we hoped we could also escape hail. We lucked out, although we did stop under some underpasses when the rain was so heavy we could not see.
We’re safe and o.k. And tomorrow, we start our last stage en route home.
Stuff happens when you’re planning. Success is the intersection of preparation and luck. And preparation must include flexibility, the ability to change as circumstances change. Perhaps we can think of such changes as "change orders" in the construction industry. There are many paths to achieve our goals.
At the recent California State Bar conference, held in Monterey, CA, Ed stopped into the Expo booth of the Legal Secretaries. Most lawyers fail to appreciate how important a good secretary is to their success. Creating a good team best serves our clients… and they know it when they see it. That’s the way to create a loyal bond between law firm and client.
After a very busy September … and a very exciting month, indeed … we’re (me, my wife and Bandit) on vacation, traveling in the Airstream en route to the Balloon Festival in NM … Today, we’re in Williams, AZ. Last night, here, we stopped in to Twisters. This is a throwback diner to the 50’s … on Route 66.
The pricing on the menu ends in 66 as in $5.66. And an old Ford Fairlane sits in front. This place is a hoot, creating all kinds of memories for me.
But, the best is their chocolate malted milk shakes … make with chocolate ice cream and served in a tall glass … and with the stainless steal canister in which it’s made. This means 2 1/2 glasses of a great tasting malt. A friend told us of this place and it’s one of the best recommendations I’ve received. It was so good that I intend to return for one more …. Of course, that will mean the need for a longer bike ride to burn off the calories … Hey, you only go around once, right?
This month has been chock-filled with activity, capped off today with an incredible honor.
First, I was the keynote presenter at the Lexis-Nexis customer conference; second, I chaired the West LegalEdcenter Midwest Law Firm Management Conference. And, today, I was surprised and very honored to received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from The California Bar’s Law Practice Management & Technology Section! Wow, what an honor to have this new award named after me, and given to me as the first honoree.
Nerino Petro is the Practice Management Advisor for the State Bar of Wisconsin. In that position, Nerino helps attorneys throughout the State of Wisconsin to deal with process questions like: “What technology should I be using in my practice?”, “How can I improve my collections?”, “My client did X, what should my response be?” and a host of other issues which confront a bar practice management adviser on a daily basis. Our discussion today will focus on the issue of cloud based applications. What are they? How do they differ from traditional applications? And are they ready for the big time? Join Ed and Norino for this interesting discussion.
What are you doing to create a wow experience for your clients? And I don’t mean winning the case. Have you ever had the experience of walking out of the court room only to hear your client say something like, "Why didn’t we get xxxx?" Of course, you respond by saying you/we got everything we asked for .. everything that the law permits? You didn’t educate you client along the road from the beginning of the engagement to the point of conclusion.
What can you do to create a wow experience of dealing with you?
I am now in Las Vegas to give their customer law practice management conference keynote presentation. The conference is being held in the Aria Hotel. The hotel is new (December 2009) in their City Center. Wow! What a facility. Green. Electronics all over the place. Large, bigger than life. This is not just Las Vegas. This is Las Vegas on steroids. And, tomorrow evening, we’ll go to the Cirque show, Elvis, that is playing here. I’ve been to Las Vegas before. But, I’ve never been so impressed … This is not just big, it is beautiful and much more.
Time for me to go .. I get to take my wife to dinner at one of the fine restaurants in LV.
