This clever animation may reinforce Dan Pink's message from his new book Drive. 

Compensation has been the tool of choice in law firms to reward good performance, punish the absence of it and drive change.

You will not want to believe what you are about to hear and see…  ask yourself why?

If you are enlightened, gather your management team and start thinking about how to harness the learnings to create peak performance and lower turnover in your firm.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

(The video is 8 minutes - watch at least the first full minute then more if it grabs you)

Law firm leaders

You don't need to embrace social media or love technology or even be a gadget freak to have a peak at how we'll all read magazines and papers soon… I thought a second reason to show you this was to have you think about the publications your firm produces from articles to brochures.

I am not suggesting you blaze the trail but you had better have your design team monitor the progress of this technology and make it available to you as soon as it is affordable.

Gerry

PS  I will be asking our own team to look hard at this for future versions or our Edge International Review which will be published soon.

SOURCE: Digital Magazines: Bonnier Mag+ Prototype excerpt:

This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future, presented by our design partners at BERG.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

Tom Peters gave me the thrill of my life when he endorsed my book The Successful Lawyer.  I have revered this genius over his many masterpieces starting with In Search of Excellence and then so many more amazing literary, video and blogging contribution

So, law firm leaders, as you think about excellence in 2010, enjoy this message delivered by one of my heroes, Tom Peters (in under 2 minutes).

I hope you'll take hours to reflect on its meaning in your context.

Gerry

PS  If you have partners who won't look at the video , here's a transcript

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

Take a few moments at the beginning of your next (executive, practice group, industry group, client team) meeting and watch this piece from Australia's George and Margaret Beaton (Beaton research and Consulting).  They have been friends for a long time and not only built an amazing high end consultancy but have done it with panache and imagination.  You will see some data that will act as a catalyst for the thinking of your leadership team.

Enjoy:  The Big (Legal) Picture video

Punchline:  The legal Profession absolutely refuses to stay the same so don't let your partners treat it like it will.

Pat Lamb's added this commentary at his awesome Blog,  In Search of Perfect Client Service:   You'll like irrelevance even less

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

I believe in capitalism and free enterprise.  I have a business degree before law.  My practicing years were spent helping clients increase their profits… managing partner years helping my partners increase theirs.  You'll get no socialistic psychobabble from me.

I encourage you to assimilate the compelling evidence that increasing compensation in the hope of enhancing performance actually backfires.  Law firm leaders need to understand when money motivates and when it does not.   In fact, "too much" money demotivates.   Get an introduction to the science that supports this hypothesis in the Ted Talk below.

Once the basic compensation is right, there are better ways to motivate.  If not money, then what?  According to Dan Pink, the presenter in this Ted Talk, the three motivating elements for those who work with complexity, like lawyers, are:

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

PUNCHLINE: Investing 18 minutes and 40 seconds may start you on the path to leading your firm to legendary performance, your lawyers staff and clients to legendary satisfaction and, last but not least,  your firm to legendary profits. 

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

PUNCHLINE: If Social Media matters, then it matters to law firms because everything that matters to society in general must matter to law firms sooner or later.  Watch this and make your own decision.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.

Originally posted at Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices. Please visit http://www.gerryriskin.com/.