3 weekend ideas // July 30, 2023

Every weekend (inspired by Justin Goff), I share three ideas, strategies, and... well, other stuff with you...

1: Why are we always obsessed with the bad behavior?

How much of managing and leading your law firm is about correcting the bad behavior versus highlighting the good?

Most of the time, the work goes to fix the bad.

We assume the good will stick around.

But that's not how it works...

You need to speak up when you see positive behavior from your team. I've seen places where the only thing sought out is the bad. It's like the leaders are rooting for the team to fail - worse yet, most "leaders" don't see this flaw for themselves. (As I recently heard Pat Flynn say, "You can't read the label when you're inside the bottle." That's why we all need coaching.)

It applies to parenting as well...

Yesterday morning, my kiddos were a little... well, sassy. We'll leave it at that.

But when we went out to grab a previously promised mid-morning snack at a nearby cafe, they had a perfect interaction with each other. It started with one kiddo nearly closing a car door on the other. The one who nearly closed the door quickly apologized. The other one said, "That's okay. I was about to go out the other door, so I understand why you started closing it. But then it looked like the other car was too close and came out your door. It's okay." (Yeah, it was actually said that way - it was one of those weirdly articulate moments that can burst out of our 6-year old.)

I turned back to them and said, "That was an awesome interaction."

Then, I told each of them what they had done well and that I was proud of them for communicating well. I want them to repeat the good behavior, after all. So they need to know what "good" looks and sounds like.

I have yet to officially test it, but I would bet that firms with at least a 3:1 positive reinforcement to correcting errors coaching approach from leaders will outperform those below that line.

2: Don't forget the entertainment

I listened to a couple of new podcasts this week...

Both are in the print-on-demand space.

No, I'm not about to start a print-on-demand biz. (Maybe I could convince my wife to start one...?)

I'm just curious about that particular industry.

Sometimes, you just gotta dive in to lesser known business models to pull out fresh ideas and see how others think.

There was BIG DIFFERENTIATOR between the two podcasts on my list...

One of them was actually ENTERTAINING.

The hosts were having fun with the subject matter and generally had a lot of energy.

Now, it had less "information."

But the ideas stuck more.

In my experience, all information all the time is setting yourself up for failure in a space like podcasting.

It's true in almost all marketing.

Don't be afraid to ask yourself, "How is this entertaining my audience as much as it informs them?"

(Also... entertainment means a lot of things. Humor, drama, dynamic narratives, storytelling structures... lots to play with.)

3: AI fatigue

In one of the groups of which I am a member, nearly every guest speaker for the last few weeks has covered AI.

Gotta admit...

I'm exhausted by it.

Don't get ole Charley wrong...

I use the tools. Several of them.

But does everyone need to be talking about this stuff all the time right now?

Frankly, you shouldn't use AI for copywriting until you understand how to write copy. And you shouldn't use it for setting up systems until you educate yourself on what systems you want.

AI can enhance good and bad habits.

Proceed with that awareness.

Of course, maybe I'm just an ole salty fella hollerin' at the high seas, fist shakin' in the air...

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