Should the merger take place between Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Pillbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, there will be a reordering of the top U.S. law firms. The BCS rankings reorder every week after the Saturday college football results are known. So, too, do the BigLaw rankings change every time there is a major merger.
Will this merger succeed where others have failed? Quite possibly. The positives are that both are West Coast based. That means their cultures are more closely aligned than if they had routes on opposite parts of the country. And, I suspect that the top management of both firms, each of which are very capable, understand that integration of the two firms is essential to their success … and thus more likely to pay attention to this process. And, from a marketing perspective, the new firm will have a dominant position in Silicon Valley, a major source of future revenue.
But there are still risks. Power struggles and cultural clashes are not unknown for combining large organizations. Aligning their compensation systems, always a key element, may or may not present a hurdle. Even if they succeed, there are likely to be some break-offs or departures of significance. Despite “advanced merger talks,” the deal is not done until done … Much can happen between now and then.
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When I was in my undergraduate studies, I realized that there were two types of learning. There were those who were naturally brilliant and could play during the semester, “cramming” or studying only before exams; they did quite well. Then, there were those of us who required continuous study throughout the year in addition to focused study at the end, before exams. I used to call the latter type of learning “seat power.” They, likewise, did quite well; they just required more effort.
Daniel Goleman (author of the best-selling Emotional Intelligence) has written a new book entitled Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. Goleman’s “focus” is the equivalent of my “seat power.” In other words, when you remain in your seat, focused on the task in front of you, you are more likely to succeed in accomplishing that particular goal or task then you would otherwise be.
His premise is that our ability to block out the massive digital distractions is reduced by the “cognitive exhaustion” those distractions cause. Now I know why I am fatigued when I all-too- frequently review the hundreds of email (most of which have to be deleted) that enter into my system on a daily basis.
In other words, we must focus our energies, ignore the many digital images that distract us, and complete one task at a time. This reminds me of an earlier blog post I wrote concerning multitasking. The reality is that we cannot multitask although we do many things sequentially. When we allow ourselves to “multitask” (or think we are), we are allowing ourselves to be digitally distracted and cognitively exhausted.
It is my intent to focus more specifically on the tasks at hand, in line with my priorities list, without so much reference to email and other digital distractions; by taking greater control of myself, I look forward to accomplishing more – being more successful – with less fatigue.
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