Strategy in the 21st Century: Dealing with Complexity
HG Wells, the prolific science fiction writer of the early 20th century, once said that in order to write a good science fiction novel, the writer had to limit him/herself to one assumption that defied current convention. In other words, a story could be about either aliens from Mars attacking earth or someone inventing a time machine or an invisible man, but not about more than one at once. Would that strategy was a simple as Wells' recipe for science fiction! Yet people often couch strategic questions in similar, mono-dimensional terms .....
1. What will the impact of a much faster internet be on the legal profession?
2. What will the impact of non-lawyer ownership of businesses providing legal services in the UK (will they still be able to be called "law firms?") on the legal profession?
3. What will the impact of standardization of (especially commercial) legislation across jurisdictional boundaries be on the legal profession?
4. How will the new dispensations in banking across the world, post recession, impact the legal profession?
The point is that none of the above issues can sensibly be considered except integrally with the others, and a whole lot more besides. That is simply the way life works. Approaching issues independently leads to predictions that are as flawed as accurate representations of the future as stories like "War of the Worlds" or "The Invisible Man." This is difficult, and the processes involved represent a radical departure from the way that law firm strategy has typically been approached.
Some of you may have heard me speak on the future of legal services in the 21st Century. (I have been honored to be invited to address this topic before a wide range of audiences in several countries over the past two to three years.) My material on this subject has now been fundamentally revamped into three interactive half-day sessions, designed specifically to "provoke strategic thought" in your firm about what your market may be like post-recession, and also to provide specific guidelines for dealing with the complexity involved in preparing for that world. If you are a managing partner / executive director (or of a similar title) of a prominent US, Canadian or UK law firm, or we have exchanged business cards, then a document briefly outlining this is on its way to you. If not, and you'd like a copy, please email me and I'll get one to you.