What a year is nearing its end. I don’t want to dwell on what happened across so many domains, there is enough of that already. Instead, I want to share a really small story that will drive a substantial part of how I go into the new year. It was Christmas Eve (the main holiday here in Germany), 24 December. More precisely about 10 minutes before shops would close. There had been a lot going on in the days before. Nothing really bad or overly dramatic, but enough to have kept me from completing my Christmas shopping. I was short one book for my

Here is a truism. As with many truisms, it deserves to be repeated and considered more often. For anybody in a leadership position or who otherwise needs to lead (which is practically everybody), there is only one way to maximize the chances of sustainable success. To as consistently as possible behave in a way that allows and helps those we interact with to respect and follow us. Simply for what we do, what kind of person that makes us and, above all, what that means to and for them. It feels a little weird to even say it, but if that doesn’t work, –

I saw quite a number of posts and comments over the last days concerned with „failure culture“ or its absence in organizations. Mostly an example was given, followed by admonishments to embrace failure as the fastest way forward. One thing is clear. Any culture that does not allow and even demand a certain kind of failures or mistakes will likely neither be a great place to work in nor particularly successful in the long run. Quite on purpose there is a restricting „certain kind of“ included in the last sentence. This is where things get messy.  In particular when talking and thinking about law firms,

I am regularly surprised about the focus of many public or semi-public discussions around law firm strategy. More precisely, I think that a bit more clarity on one particular item could help. A good start is a quote often (probably mis-)attributed to Peter Drucker (it’s true, no matter who actually said it):   „Culture eats strategy for breakfast.“   Let’s skip all fancy definitions. Culture in this sense is the default of how things are handled here (wherever „here“ is). Or, as Seth Godin puts it, the notion of „people like us do things like this“. Culture is factual. It is the sum-total of what tends to

Quite often, tasks that might be delegated could just as well be handled by the person delegating. With known quality and in somewhat predictable time. The sentiment often seems to be that this could all be at risk when we delegate. It could take longer, the result might not be as good. There could be loads of questions. And when that happens, there would be too little time … and then I have to do it myself and then … screw it, I’ll quickly do it myself from the start, I don’t have the time and nerve for all that right now. Of course, that