Can anything really prepare you for those initial days in your new role as managing partner? Just when you feel you’ve reached the peak of your career by building a successful practice, you may realize that you still have some things to learn. You also may face some real challenges settling into your new role.
How can a new firm leader make the most of this important transition period and avoid the potential pitfalls that can affect their ability to be successful over the long term? To find out, we interviewed a collection of new- or soon-to-become managing partners of firms from across the U.S.
We talked to them about the importance of those first days, their priorities and challenges, and the advice they would give to someone taking over just such responsibilities. We chose firm leaders from a variety of firm sizes, but were surprised to learn that in each and every case, these leaders were partners in their firms for a minimum of 17 years, and had served in some prior management capacity (practice group leader, office managing partner, executive committee member) for at least five years.
While some hold (or will hold) the title of chair, president, managing director, or CEO, the eight firm leaders we interviewed were:
David C. Baca, Davis Wright Tremaine
Frederick J. Baumann, Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons
Ira C. Kaplan, Benesch Friedlander
Alan H. Maclin, Briggs and Morgan
Richard D. Nix, McAfee & Taft
Michael B. Ray, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox
Maureen Weaver, Wiggin and Dana
Rich Zeidman, Linowes and Blocher
What were some of the most important things you learned from your prior leadership transitions (for example, when you became a practice group leader or began to serve on the executive committee)?
Ira Kaplan: As I am in a transition period that runs through '07, I have the luxury of looking back at my past position as a department chair and executive committee member and looking forward.
I believe in the need to have an organized plan to accomplish one's goals and the discipline to carry out that plan. I also think that it is exceptionally important to communicate what your goals are and what actions you have taken and plan to take.
And I guess consistent with setting and communicating goals is the importance of being direct with people as to how they are doing compared to expectations.
Richard Zeidman: I agree. I believe you need to be honest and direct with people; don’t sugar-coat the facts. Having said that, there is a fine line between being direct and being confrontational.
Dave Baca: For me, one of the important things I continue to remind myself of is the importance of listening. I find that I also have to constantly resist the pressure to deal with low priority but seemingly urgent matters.
Fred Baumann: I think that the most important learning for me is communication. Communication is fundamental to leading lawyers.
Alan Maclin: Each step up always takes more time than you anticipated and involves more meetings and issues than you realized exist. You don't know all the answers when you assume the position, and some of the answers you thought you knew aren't workable in the real world. You've got to be patient and listen. Thinking you can lead by dictating does not work. Things change. What worked for you, or your predecessor, in the past won't necessarily work tomorrow.
How important would you say the managing partner’s first 100 days are?
Mike Ray: The first 100 days are critical. I have found that I am being watched by people at all levels, including people with whom I have worked for over 17 years, to see how I will manage. I am getting a fair amount of feedback on my careful, consensus building decision-making. Decision-making in this manner is very time-consuming, but I feel that it is necessary at the beginning. Once credibility is established, I believe that I can adopt more efficient decision-making. I’m also seeing, after about two months, people starting to become more at-ease with the change.
Maureen Weaver: I agree with Richard. I think it depends on firm size, culture, length of transition period and the nature of the managing partner’s responsibilities. For a firm like mine where the managing partner still practices 50 per cent of the time, 100 days can go by very quickly. I see the first six months as more of a benchmark.
Richard Nix: I think that any change at the managing partner level will cause many of the legal and non-legal staff to sit-up and watch your early actions. By being prepared on the first day of the job you will instill confidence that as the new leader of the firm you are prepared for the challenges ahead.
As you stepped up to become the new managing partner, what did you see as the challenges to be faced?
Richard Nix: My challenge, first and foremost, is to gain the confidence of the legal and non-legal staff in my new role as managing partner. They trusted me as a partner and as a board member. Now they elected me as their new managing partner – I need to show them their confidence in me for this new position is warranted.
Richard Zeidman: One of the challenges for any new leader is to clearly build consensus at management committee and then with the partnership to engineer any changes. As we all know, you cannot just mandate change, even in small things if the partners just say no. Absent external dynamics, incremental change for an old and successful firm like ours is an imperative. No one elected me to turn the firm on its head.
Dave Baca: For me, it’s first, getting a handle on the variety and detail of the issues being faced by the incumbent. Second, forming or confirming good relationships with key leaders within the firm — some formal, some not. And third, establishing an imprint on the vision for the path of the firm, without underplaying past successes, since we have had many.
Have there been any surprises to this point in your tenure?
Fred Baumann: I suppose the biggest surprise is the amount of time it takes to do the job right. I have targeted a 60/40 ratio of client work to management time, and so far I have not even come close; it’s been more 75/25 in favor of management. Hopefully, this will stabilize, but I think I underestimated the amount of time that needs to be devoted to management of the firm.
Mike Ray: I agree with Fred. I’m finding the job to be much more time consuming than I anticipated. I’m finding that much of my billable legal work must wait until evenings and weekends to get attention. This isn’t good. I need to find more time to practice law. I also need to find more time to be proactive and plan. I found a colleague’s warning to “communicate, communicate, communicate . . . and when you think you’ve communicated enough, you haven’t” very helpful. This colleague also commented that your intent is not relevant, what the recipient hears is all that matters. I have taken this to heart and have been very careful. And even then, I see the possible pitfalls of poor communication.
Richard Nix: I’m in total agreement. Managing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the firm has been more time consuming than I had originally anticipated, but none of my time spent has felt ”wasted.” Everything I have done thus far is preparing me for the challenges ahead.
Dave Baca: For me, the quantity and quality of the issues that need to be faced or delegated by the managing partner was far more than I would have expected. There are a lot more, and they are far more intricate than I imagined—or that anyone who hasn’t been doing the job could have imagined.
Alan Maclin: I agree. The number of requests for meetings and issues, both petty and major, that fall on the president’s desk is amazing.
Richard Zeidman: A surprise for me was that what you say is not always what the partners hear and that constant reinforcement of the message by word and deed are critical. It’s a bit like being on stage; you need to project in a manner that may be more exaggerated than in normal day to day intercourse with people.
From what you have learned, what advice would you offer to those about to go through a similar transition into some new leadership position?
Maureen Weaver: Three things come to mind. First, law firm and practice group management is a model based on inspiration, motivation and consensus. Change takes time, and ideas should not always be abandoned due to initial negative responses. Learn to accept that in a partnership on any one initiative there will always be some doubters and detractors. Secondly, you need to assume that you will never accomplish all you set out to do in the first 100 days. Get comfortable with the need for flexibility, the need for refinements in your agendas and initiatives, and some delays in implementation. And finally, practice group leaders and law firm managers make mistakes. It’s important not to view those mistakes as setbacks, but to see them as opportunities for improvement.
Fred Baumann: I would recommend that you be open, listen well, and clearly communicate with each partner. And don’t ignore the non-partner constituents, including associates and staff. They, too, are looking for assurance, during a time of change, that the firm is in capable hands.
A version of this article was originally published in the Spring 2007 issue of Edge International Review. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Patrick J. McKenna is the author of First Among Equals (The Free Press), and one of the profession's foremost authorities on practice leadership. Patrick's latest e-book, First 100 Days: Transitioning A New Managing Partner (NXTBook) earned glowing reviews and has been read by firm leaders in 63 countries. This interview follows from his successful one-day intensive MasterClass for new managing partners.