Ep. 17 - Necessary Endings: The Art of Breaking Up

In this episode, Marc Whitehead and Diana Berry discuss the book Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward is a book by Dr. Henry Cloud. Necessary Endings, or “breakups” as Marc calls them, are extremely important to running a successful firm. They allow you to free up resources to spend on better opportunities. Necessary endings can encompass vendors, staff, clients, and services. Learn which necessary endings you may be missing on this episode of the Successful Barrister Podcast. 

[1:11] The topic of this episode is breakups, also known as necessary endings. Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward is a book by Dr. Henry Cloud on things that you should stop doing. The book is ultimately about the allocation of resources – where to invest, and where not to.

[4:09] It is difficult for people to say no. For example, denying cases from referral sources can be difficult, but learning how to do so is a necessary part of being successful.

[6:25] Sunk-costs make these decisions particularly difficult, but they are ultimately irrelevant. If a project is failing, you need to learn how to let it go.

[8:41] What are examples of necessary endings? In Diana’s first year, the firm “broke up” with their IT provider. The provider was a financial burden to the firm, and they were replaced with a much more effective provider.

[11:17] Vendors often try to hook you with a low rate and price you up over time, which can be understandable to an extent but often gets out of hand. Other times, vendors start to prioritize a market that you are not a part of and they become a burden.

[14:49] Necessary Endings are difficult. However, if you do not learn how to end things, you are missing better opportunities.

[16:59] Sometimes, things work well initially but become irrelevant over time. Marc Whitehead & Associates had initial success from LSAs, but over time they became less effective and more expensive. 

[19:04] Another type of Necessary Ending is with practice areas. Some practice areas are interesting but do not pay well enough to justify working on them. Marc had to stop working in criminal law and personal injury law to grow his disability law firm. 

[23:20] Letting people go can be particularly difficult. Marc refers to this as “emotional cost” because the emotions around letting people go make removing people who are not pulling their weight painful.

[27:52] Difficult relationships are like a hurricane. If a Necessary Ending between two people is being avoided, the “fan” can be more damaging to the people around them than to the people involved in the “eye.”

[32:57] Marc Whitehead & Associates is normalizing necessary endings in its culture. Marc looks at the plan for each year and makes a list of aspects that are not working such as marketing channels, tools, and processes. These aspects then become necessary endings.

Buy Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward by Dr. Henry Cloud: https://www.amazon.com/Necessary-Endings-Henry-Cloud/dp/0061777129

Listen to Necessary Endings: https://www.audible.com/pd/Necessary-Endings-Audiobook/B004J0YIQ4 

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

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

Email Marc Whitehead: marc@marcwhitehead.com