Defining Legal
Leadership
By Douglas B. Richardson
Douglas B. Richardson
ccording to comedian Bill Cosby, God leaders do five things well: Imagine. Invent.
A called out to Noah, “Noah! Build me an
ark!” And Noah replied, “Right! What’s
an ark?” A similar problem confronts those
Inspire. Inform. Influence.
But these “5 I’s” are pretty broad and pretty
vague. To get a practical handle on real-life, in-
bent on becoming better leaders in their law the-moment leadership, aspiring leaders have
firms or legal departments but unsure about to dig deeper by asking two questions:
what they need to get better at. For legal lead-
ers, the problem is compounded by the fact 1) What specific leadership behaviors sup-
that they are responsible for leading other port these broad categories?
lawyers who are often resolute “individual 2) How do I stack up in my mastery of these
contributors” — people who don’t much want behaviors?
to be led, don’t want to follow, don’t want to
trust, and don’t want to collaborate. There are scores of models, lists and articles
It obviously is inadequate to define leader- describing leadership competencies. They tend
ship as the Supreme Court once defined pornog- to repeat each other and overlap because they
raphy: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see generally describe the same basic set of interre- “In many
it.” Yet law firms and legal departments do this lated behaviors. Below are two models that
all the time. In their hierarchies and power serve as slightly different maps to the same
organizations,
structures, progression and promotion often are leadership territory. In conducting your own
hustle and
determined solely by hunch, charm or having personal competency inventory, you can
powerful champions. In many organizations, choose between them or combine them as you
chutzpah are
hustle and chutzpah are major success factors — see fit.
often without adequate evaluation of whether major success
the hungriest are necessarily the best. The Birkman Behaviors
Most leadership gurus now shy away from The folks at Birkman International, creators of factors…”
describing leadership in terms of innate per- a highly-respected personality assessment
sonality traits, focusing more strongly on what instrument, recognize that different settings
leaders do than on what leaders are. True, we may call upon different leadership skills and
sometimes see “natural” leaders with charis- styles. Their deceptively simple-appearing list
matic gifts, but their effectiveness often is therefore ranks leadership behaviors in three
uneven (because they don’t know how they do different dimensions:
what they do) and their impact as role models
often is marginal — you can admire a genius, 1) their importance in a particular organiza-
but you can’t imitate her or him. To a great tion (low, moderate, high, crucial);
extent, therefore, leaders are made, not born. 2) their impact as problem areas in that orga-
Overall leadership effectiveness is best nization when they are lacking (low, mod-
defined as a set of competencies — particular erate, high, very high); and
behaviors that can be learned, practiced and
3) the frequency with which a leader will
mastered. While legal leadership can take
be called upon to use them in that
many forms, involve differing roles, play to dif-
organization (never, sometimes, often,
ferent followers and have different objectives,
always).
all leadership is fundamentally the same. Great
continued on page 4
Report to Legal Management September 2007 3

Legal Leadership… continued from page 3 • Innovation: operating comfortably imize understanding and buy-in
The Birkman list focuses on the in risky or fast-changing environ- from subordinates.
following verbs (which are not neces- ments, embracing change, being • Delegation: effectively enlisting
sarily listed in priority order): willing to consider new/untested the talents of others, either to per-
• Determine and Initiate approaches, recognizing patterns form assigned tasks or to exercise
• Manage and Lead and aligning them in new ways, individual judgment as part of
• Meet Work Objectives and framing a variety of options to assuming personal accountability.
Aspirations address a need or issue.
• Execute and Evaluate Developing Followership
• Utilize Resources and Skills • Accessibility/Being Engaging: relat-
• Collaborate with Others ing to others in an open, optimistic
• Compose Documents and and receptive way; showing the
Presentations “…the classic recipe for ability to quickly establish trusting
• Adopt Organizational Rules and constructive personal relation-
and Beliefs leadership failure: ships with people with a variety of
• Develop and Innovate styles and interests.
• Verbally Exhibit and Illustrate
‘If you don’t know where • Persuasiveness: building commit-
• Formulate and Organize ment and motivation from others
you’re going, any road will
• Change and Respond to by communicating ideas and
Organizational Fluctuations visions clearly and convincingly.
get you there.’”
• Educate and Explore • Energy/Excitement: presenting
• Deal with Stress and Mishaps with personal energy, intensity
• Adhere to Guidelines and emotional expression; demon-
and Methods strating a capacity for keeping oth-
• Strategic Thinking: being able ers enthusiastic and engaged.
The MRG Leadership to imagine a desired long-range, • Self-Management: in highly-
Effectiveness Model broad-brush “end-state” (set charged interactions, keeping a
The Management Research Group goals/objectives), envisioning tac- controlled, low-key demeanor and
created and markets its Leadership tical routes and planning action behaving in a way that suggests
Effectiveness Analysis 360, an instru- priorities to translate them into integrity, consistency, responsibili-
ment in which a leader’s strengths tangible results. ty and accountability.
and weaknesses are rated by a sam- • Technical Expertise: being able • Democracy: demonstrating a
ple of superiors, peers and subordi- to use knowledge and technical willingness and ability both to
nates, whose responses then are expertise to study issues in listen intently to others’ opinions
compared (by computer) with the depth and draw appropriate and share information openly
leader’s self-scores. Such “360s” serve conclusions. and candidly.
as a real-life reality check, demon- • Quick Study: rapidly acquiring
strating the difference between how needed expertise in one’s field or Following Through
leaders see themselves and how oth- learning enough about others’ • Control: adopting approaches in
ers — their potential followers — per- disciplines to interact effectively which you do not make unwar-
ceive them. Here I have slightly with them and assess their per- ranted/unsupported assumptions,
altered the wording and order of the formance. taking nothing for granted, setting
MRG leadership categories and sup- time-frames/deadlines for actions,
porting behaviors while retaining Implementing the Vision monitoring progress and persist-
their essence: • Tactical Thinking: creating systemat- ing in holding others’ accountable
ic, logical and organized approaches for assigned tasks.
Creating a Vision to tasks; creating clear action priori- • Feedback: objectively and con-
• Situation Analysis: studying ties and standards for measuring structively providing people with
situations and problems in light progress/performance. the information they need to assess
of past experience to assess risk, • Interpersonal Communication: their own performance against
identify contributing causes, stating clearly what you expect expectations; Reinforcing desired
and weigh the impact of various from others; adjusting style and behaviors timely and providing
factors. content of communication to max- corrective guidance as necessary.
continued on page 11
4 September 2007 Report to Legal Management

Legal Leadership… continued from page 4 Choosing Your Model
• Confrontation: being willing to Both the Birkman and the MRG leader-
engage others in uncomfortable, ship lists have something to commend
potentially relationship-threaten- them. The Birkman competencies are
ing conversations in order to alter strongly action-oriented and empha-
their behavior or attitudes; dealing size the behavioral aspect — the way
with conflict and friction prompt- people relate to other people to create
ly, candidly and effectively. relationships, build trust and drive per-
formance. I also like the MRG model
Achieving Results because it emphasizes the “think-and-
• Comfort with Managing Others: do” dimension of leadership. Its com-
demonstrating the drive to exert petencies include conceptual and
influence by assuming positions analytical strengths as well as interper-
of authority, taking charge, lead- sonal skills. It also embodies a manage-
ing activities and directing the rial focus, recognizing the great visions
efforts of others. are not self-implementing and that
• Authoritativeness: tendency to implementation and follow-up shape
push to achieve results through the end results that ultimately define
a leadership style that is force- leadership success.
ful, assertive and competitive. No model or list of leadership
• Achievement-oriented: displaying a competencies is inherently right or
strong orientation toward achieve- wrong, and I have yet to find one
ment and measurable outcomes, that I think is complete or incontro-
including holding high standards vertible. Yet each can provide a tem-
for self and others and, as necessary, plate for your own thinking and
pushing self and others to achieve at development. Each can provide a
high levels. handy basis for developing an indi-
vidual development plan (or IDP as
Team Leadership they are commonly called) for chart-
• Consensus-building: appearing ing and prioritizing which compe-
to value the ideas and opinions tencies you choose to practice and
of others and accustomed to master. Each can help you avert the
seeking others’ input as part of classic recipe for leadership failure:
one’s decision-making process. “If you don’t know where you’re
• Cooperation: understanding and going, any road will get you there.”
accommodating the needs/inter- Consistent leadership excellence is a
ests of others by subordinating matter of acquiring conscious compe-
one’s own objectives into to sup- tence. In pursuing that goal, it’s use-
port colleagues in achieving theirs. ful to have both a dictionary and a
• Organizational Loyalty: display- yardstick. N
ing loyalty and commitment to
goals of the organization; respect- Douglas B. Richardson, JD, MA,
ing ideas and opinions of people CMC, is an adjunct consultant with
in authority and using them as Altman Weil, working out of the firm’s
resources for direction and deci- offices in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
sion-making. He can be reached at (610) 886-2000 or
• Empathy: Being attuned to oth- info@altmanweil.com.
ers’ needs and styles and being
able to form supportive relation-
ships with a variety of people
and personal styles.
Report to Legal Management September 2007 11