Ep. 31 - How to Think Like a Leader

As a leader in your firm, you are not paid to get bogged down in the day-to-day tasks of your practice –you are paid to think. This can be difficult for many of us, because thinking is amorphous and unstructured. However, Paid to Think: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future by David Goldsmith gives a structure for your thinking. Learn how you can think and plan more effectively, how to project the future, and how to broaden your perspective to benefit your firm.

For detailed show notes, navigate using the time stamps below:

[1:16] Today, Marc and Diana will be discussing Paid to Think: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future by David Goldsmith. The book’s thesis is that thinking is the hardest work there is, which is part of why so few engage in it. 

[4:05] The leader of your firm should be spending around 90% of their time thinking and around 10% executing. Leaders are paid to think about the big picture, not to get bogged down in day-to-day tasks.

[7:04] Part of the firm leader’s job is forecasting the future. You need to make plans for different potential futures and responses.

[11:06] Goldsmith identifies four categories for how you think. They include strategizing, learning, performing, and forecasting. Strategizing involves planning – determining your niche, and coming up with a plan to beat your competition in that niche. 

[15:17] Strategizing involves developing a plan, choosing your service, establishing alliances, and leveraging technology. 

[17:50] Establishing alliances as a firm looks like finding firms that you do not compete with who have some relation to what you do. For Marc Whitehead & Associates, this involves partnerships with lots of personal injury firms.

[24:30] The next step is learning, and you do not necessarily have to learn with a specific goal in mind. This helps you expand your perspective to come up with better strategy.

[29:50] The political landscape determines the economic landscape that you will have to operate in. Understanding the political landscape will help you adapt and adjust before major changes catch you off guard.

[32:28] Moving onto performing and leading, you need to empower your organization to execute on your ideas by getting them to buy in to their ideas.

[35:30] Diana points out that one aspect of getting buy-in is making sure your team understands and agrees on the problem before trying to implement a solution. Marc explains that meetings can contribute to buy-in because meetings are group thinking exercises. 

[38:19] Part of performance is learning how to sell continuously. This involves self-promotion and marketing your firm to new clients.

[42:08] None of us can predict the future, but we can make contingency plans. This is how your firm can prepare for the future – by preparing for the three most likely possible outcomes of a decision.

[47:10] Trying to forecast what the future will look like in law involves forecasting the decisions of lawmakers, which requires you to understand the political landscape. Marc Whitehead & Associates has to think about what it might look like if the Social Security Administration being defunded could look for the firm.

Buy Paid to Think: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future by David Goldsmith: https://www.amazon.com/Paid-Think-Leaders-Toolkit-Redefining/dp/1480527637 

Listen to Paid to Think: A Leader’s Toolkit for Redefining Your Future by David Goldsmith: https://www.audible.com/pd/Paid-to-Think-Audiobook/B00AYJY1K2 

Visit the Successful Barrister website: https://www.successfulbarrister.com/ 

Visit the Marc Whitehead & Associates website: https://disabilitydenials.com/ 

Email Marc Whitehead: marc@marcwhitehead.com