The Game Changing Attorney Podcast with Michael Mogill

97. Liz Wiseman — Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact

Mar 1, 2022

53:57

"If you've got problems in your organization, almost always, you've created them. You get the employees you deserve, and you get the culture you deserve.” - Liz Wiseman

What is a high-impact player?
What sets these peak performers apart?
How can organizations adopt the mindsets and behaviors of high-impact players?
How can law firms cultivate an agile and fluid team of leaders?
Should leaders do dry-runs of problems in preparation for actual disaster?
How can law firms recruit dream teams of high-impact players?

Challenge a Team and Watch Them Grow

People are hard-wired for contribution. An underutilized team is an exhausted, underperforming team. Challenge that same team and ask them to stretch in a safe, supportive environment and they will contribute everything they have — feeling exhilarated in the process. This is what Liz Wiseman found after a decade of researching the best (and the worst) leaders in the world.

In her latest book, “Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Pay Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact,” Liz answers the question: Why do some people play at their full potential while others remain underutilized? Her comprehensive research of 170 companies decodes the mindset and behavior of high-impact performers and explains how peak performance is available to everyone.

Teaching Leadership to the World’s Top Business Leaders

Liz Wiseman is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author, CEO of the Wiseman Group, and masterful researcher. Liz’s work — anchored in leadership and collective intelligence — has earned her recognition as a top leadership thinker in the world. A frequent guest lecturer at BYU and Stanford University, she often writes for Harvard Business Review and Fortune. An executive advisor who teaches leadership, her recent clients include Apple, AT&T, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Salesforce, Tesla, and Twitter.

In this episode, Liz discusses the five situations that set high-impact players apart and how teams can adopt the behavior. We also cover what law firms can do to attract an all-star team of top-performing talent.

Attract Talent from Within

For Liz, attracting and retaining the best talent for your law firm begins with great leadership, best described in two and a half words:

“Safety and Stretch. The ‘and’ is the half. The best leaders create an environment of safety where people can speak the truth. They have the permission to step up and lead. Even when nobody has anointed them a leader, they feel safe.” - Liz Wiseman

Great contributors want to work with great leaders. But what should a firm look for in a potential high-performing candidate? Liz recommends hiring people with the least coachable essentials: a sense of agency, willingness to learn, and informal orientation toward hierarchy. The rest can be developed.

Key Takeaways:

Communicate priorities. Successful leaders share the company agenda so that team members feel empowered to step beyond their role and do the job that needs to be done.
Tap into empathy. We all serve someone. Lawyers serve clients. Ask how you can make their lives easier.
Anticipate problems. Permissive leaders create equity in their firm when teams are allowed to take ownership of a problem.

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