Lake Wobegone Law Firms
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Lake Wobegon is a fictional US town where "the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." It has been used to describe a real and pervasive human tendency to overestimate one’s achievements and capabilities in relation to others. According to a post titled This Just In: General Counsel Less Than Thrilled With Their Outside Counsel on Patrick Lamb's In Search of Perfect Client Service, the Lake Wobegon effect is alive and well in modern US law firms! Continue Reading
The Luxury Touch
2 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Strategy 101 , , , , - Permalink -
Global strategy and management consultants Booz Allen Hamilton publish a journal called strategy+business that often contains very good material for the professional service firm strategist.
The latest edition contains an article titled The Luxury Touch, outlining the results of a current survey on what separates the truly great luxury goods and services companies from the simply good ones. Unsurprisingly, it is their superb level of customer service. The good companies really value and practice customer service of a high standard. The point is: the great companies go further, "beyond the call of duty" and attend to customers in a manner is is noticeably better than even the good companies. This places them in a different category, in the minds of their clients. In strategy terms: they are differentiated.
To do so requires more than commitment. The customer focus needs to be proactively embedded in the company's structure, systems and culture. The strategy+business article identifies four things that the truly great companies like Nordstrom and Ritz Carlton and Lexus actually do, to breathe life into their customer focus:
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Harnessing the Phoenix
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In "Off the Wall" Insights , Competitive Intelligence , Culture , Innovation , Inter-Generational Issues , Leadership , Strategy 101 , Tools for Strategists , , , , , , , - Permalink -
Surely the most dramatic mythological example of rebirth and renewal, is the Phoenix (or "Firebird.") It is found in ancient Egyptian mythology, various myths derived from it and, most recently, in Professor Albus Dumbledore's study in Harry Potter.
Said to live for 500, 1461 or for 12594 years (depending on the source), the phoenix is a bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible.
Imagine, for a moment, that you were able to regenerate your firm in this way. Miraculously, you were able to instantly transform it into an organization of the highest performance with, what's more, that performance being sustained.
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