Please don’t tell them you are a lawyer.
It’s taken me at least two years to figure out how to say the obvious. What do I do? I solve personal problems for frustrated Attorneys. If they are interested in more than just a salary+ job, but have too many conflicting concerns and needs, I can help them. That does not mean or guarantee that my final suggestion will be a different track. That track is the Intrapreneur or Associate career track.
Being a Lawyer is a job description; it means you are another service provider.
You are a part of a law team that solves estate tax problems and creates generational wealth.
Your job does not have to change, but your thinking does.
Intrapreneurs think like an owner, build relationships like a rainmaker, expand opportunities like a marketing agent, and expands the firm’s reach like a branding company.
The Intrapreneur Mindset and Building an Intrapreneur Culture
I have never seen a job description for an Intrapreneur, but they have always existed. Think of every great startup in the past twenty years. There was usually the name, personally or brand partner, who was the visionary and loved being out there, and the internal behind-the-scenes partner who was the brains of the operation and had done what the visionary would have struggled to do on their own, if that Intrapreneur had not existed.
Most law firms today have only Entrepreneur Origination cultures. They are critical, but many Rainmakers are aging out. The Next Gen Law firm culture will incorporate this into its business models. Those that don’t will build their Next Gen competitors.
Why now?
Legal expertise is expected. What else is expected? Build connectivity into the client’s business, create trust-based relationships, and position the firm as a lifetime partner rather than a short-term problem solver. Anybody who is an originator knows that if you don’t go deeper into your internal champion network. If they leave, and the next in line takes their place, and you have not built that relationship with them, you will be replaced by their personal champion.
Your Network will eventually determine your Net Worth.