by Bruce | October 28, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy, Technology strategy
If you’ve traveled this far in this series, you may be wondering what I think you actually ought to do. Recognizing that diagnosis is eaiser than prescription, the remaininig installments—starting with this one—will try to address that. One other caveat: Not all...
by Bruce | October 21, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Innovative Managing Partners, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
At the end of our last piece, I asked aloud whether we as lawyers are intellectually and emotionally capable of adapting to the new market landscape, suggested that adapting would require experimentation and—yes—failure, and noted that countries and industries that...
by Bruce | October 8, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Globalization, Leadership, Profiles of Individuals, Strategy
Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jim Rishwain, the Chair of Pillsbury, in their New York office just off Times Square. He’s been chair since May 1, 2006, following the high-profile Mary Cranston, and when he assumed the role six years ago it had not...
by Bruce | September 10, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Welcome to the second installment of “Growth is Dead:” Our topic for today is excess capacity. Let’s start with overall supply of new lawyers, which is the font of everything else. Thanks to the redoubtable Prof. Paul Campos (University of Colorado...
by Bruce | August 21, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Leadership, Strategy
What does “The Cheesecake Factory” restaurant chain have to teach hospitals? According to Atul Gawande, writing in the current New Yorker, quite a lot. If you’re not familiar with Cheesecake Factory (I am only by reputation; I’ve never set foot...
by Bruce | August 9, 2012 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Innovative Managing Partners, Leadership, Strategy
LegalWeek has released their annual “UK Top 50” ranking and it paints a rosy picture of strong revenue and profit growth in the teeth of global economic headwinds. Specifically: Total revenue of the Top 50 hit £12.96-billion (US$20.25-billion) This was a...