Preservation Of The Past Is Not A Strategy
In my recent post, Want To Think About The Future Of Law?. I referenced Jeff Jarvis' fantastic new book, What Would Google Do? Listening to my tape of the book this morning, Jarvis made two great points. One is what the calls the "cash cow in the coal mine," a play on the idea of the canary in the goal mine, an early warning indicator. His point is that when your business is generating cash, the cash can blind you to the problems ahead and the need to change to survive. By the time you realize you need to change, it's already too late. The cash cow effectively killed the business. He offers several terrific examples. Might some law firms be on his list in the next edition of the book?
The corollary point Jarvis made during my morning listen is the one that gives rise to the title of this post. Preservation of the pat is not a strategy. No matter how much an owner may wish otherwise, a business must be inherently forward looking. The past is past. Dead. Gone. Yesterday's customer is no assurance of tomorrow's. Business owners who fail to see the future and the need to look forward, not back, are destined to fail.
These two points, it seems to me, define the challenge of the moment for most law firm leaders.