Gene Commander
Gene Commander Inc.
In a speed-driven business culture epitomized by the name of a leading publication — Fast Company — a Stanford management professor is promoting a new watchword in that very outlet: slowness. Robert I. Sutton has drawn wide attention for his seemingly unlikely advice that leaders who want to propel forward their organizations should adopt a mantra of “strategic slowness.” Forward-thinking law firm leaders searching for impactful, eye-catching ways to boost their struggling business models should not overlook this novel yet commonsense planning lens.
The concept of strategic slowness — a counterpoint to Mark Zuckerberg’s legendary “move fast and break things” philosophy — has been gaining remarkable currency since early January, when Katie Couric asked seven top thinkers to identify the “next big thing” for 2024. Sutton offered that “[s]trategic slowness will be the key to success for innovative leaders and companies in the coming year.” Citing debacles such as the overhasty firing of OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Sam Bankman-Fried’s transgressions at FTX, Sutton encouraged leaders “to become more adept at hitting the brakes.” He added, “Knowing when and how to slow down and fix things is the path to enduring financial success, to building healthy workplaces, and staying out of jail, too.”
In a January Wall Street Journal article, Sutton and Huggy Rao (co-authors of the forthcoming book “The Friction Project”) explain that their research has identified “eight occasions when smart bosses urge people to slow down.” They explain: “These are times when it makes sense to encourage employees (and ourselves) to pause to think and develop a deeper understanding, which enables us to make better decisions, and do better – and often faster – work later.”
The eight instances Sutton and Rao identify are as follows:
- Making irreversible, major decisions. Sutton and Rao point to the distinction Amazon’s Jeff Bezos identified between one-way-door and two-way-door decisions, observing that one-way-door decisions merit significant deliberation.
- Solving thorny problems. Research finds that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the smartest among us take more time in solving difficult problems, which leads to greater accuracy.
- Engaging in creative work. A focus on efficiency and speed can compromise creativity.
- Encouraging ethical conduct. Where leaders emphasize thoughtful consideration before action, ethical violations are much less common, according to research cited by Sutton and Rao.
- Mitigating prejudices. A slower pace of action can reduce instances of stereotyping and prejudicial behavior.
- Lessening “destructive friction.” Sutton and Rao encourage instituting policies or practices that “make people pause, think and jump through annoying hoops before they can heap additional burdens on others.”
- Connecting with clients or customers. Speed can be at odds with delivering a top-notch client or customer experience.
- “Enjoying the good things in life.” Last, Sutton and Rao say that a slower pace at work can lead to enhanced relationships and better mental and physical health.
As Colorado law firm leaders consider smart growth strategies to position their firms for continued financial and professional sustainability, what lessons can they learn from the concept of strategic slowness?
Many readers of this article recognize that if there’s any industry in need of a breather, it’s the legal industry. Law firms are notorious for their often frenetic pace of work. Associates typically face heavy workloads and demanding billable hour requirements. Meanwhile, many law firms prioritize billable hours and personal cash receipts as the primary drivers for partner compensation, pushing partners to work longer rather than smarter while inefficiently hoarding client work. The result is burnout suffered at all levels of the firm, unsustainable attrition rates and insufficient attention paid to client service, training new talent and building a magnetic workplace culture.
Strategic slowness may have high value in helping law firm leaders understand and effectively tackle five key business challenges.
First, at a big-picture level, sound decision-making is indispensable as law firm leaders confront a rapidly shrinking talent pool, high attrition and a price war for talent. Strategic slowness will help bring the needed level of intentionality to designing new talent strategies and refining obsolete business models. A more deliberate approach will allow firm leaders to consider the perspectives of talent firmwide, using techniques ranging from regular check-ins to all-attorney retreats to anonymous employee surveys, rather than rushing to implement top-down strategies that may not address talent’s priorities. Applying a thoughtful test-and-learn framework, leaders should embrace an iterative approach to issues such as fostering hybrid workplace cultures, boosting retention and career advancement and adopting cutting-edge AI technology.
Second, strategic slowness is compatible with dedicating the time needed to effectively train and develop less experienced lawyers. Law firms have a poor record of helping junior lawyers build the proficiencies they need to be productive contributors to the firm. Unfortunately, firms often default to a professional development model that depends on rookie lawyers’ ability to “figure it out” on their own and learn by osmosis. As firms formalize hybrid models with less face time in the office, senior lawyers should be strongly encouraged to cultivate their newer colleagues’ skills through regular training, mentoring and sponsoring activities. This requires that compensation models reward partners for time devoted to these crucial responsibilities. Firms will find that nonbillable hours invested by effective role models can pay big dividends for the business enterprise over the long run.
Next, as Thomson Reuters commented in a recent blog piece on strategic slowness, a more measured approach to the business of law can produce a better experience for clients. A somewhat relaxed tempo can help lawyers build meaningful personal relationships with clients and fully understand their goals, paving the way to more customized legal services and happier clients. Likewise, a less hectic and more communicative workplace can enable firm members to build the interpersonal connections that foster a welcoming, inclusive culture.
Fourth, strategic slowness can promote personal well-being, as Thomson Reuters further observes. It’s well known that lawyers suffer disproportionately from poor mental health, including alarmingly high levels of depression, anxiety and substance abuse. According to a 2023 study, lawyers with “high work overcommitment” were more than twice as likely to experience suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, a healthy work-life balance is one of the top factors lawyers consider in choosing where to work, per the American Bar Association’s 2022 Practice Forward Report. Firm leaders should recognize that it’s a financial bargain to accept somewhat fewer billable hours from existing talent to ensure their well-being rather than having to replace them with more expensive, unproven talent. In fact, recent Attorney at Work analysis estimates that a firm’s total first-year investment in a new associate often exceeds half a million dollars when all direct and indirect costs are considered, so a catch-and-release talent model with high turnover rates is simply unsustainable. Instituting a more deliberate pace of work will help law firms achieve more effective recruiting, greater productivity, fewer errors and lower attrition-related financial losses.
Last, an emphasis on strategic slowness will help law firms implement nontraditional staffing strategies that value different speeds of career advancement. Law firms have traditionally expected lawyers to work full-time-plus schedules and to take minimal time off for family-related responsibilities. As the face of the legal profession becomes increasingly female, it’s essential for firms to expand their talent pool by welcoming back moms who have taken time away from their careers to raise kids. Embracing part-time, flextime and hybrid work routines and instituting on-ramps and off-ramps that lawyers can use to shift their career trajectory as family circumstances evolve will open the doors to a wellspring of potential talent.
It’s too early to predict the staying power of strategic slowness as an effective business management principle. But future-focused law firm leaders in Colorado seeking to implement smart growth strategies should consider using this fresh lens to sharpen their perspective on bridging the ever-widening talent gap and overcoming the mounting threats to their financial and professional success. In the end, slow and steady may indeed win the race in the business of law.
– Gene Commander is an executive business counselor for the legal industry, with a special focus on Smart Growth in Action: 2030™ through proactive business growth strategies for Colorado law firms. He has more than 40 years of experience in the legal profession while practicing construction law with small, midsize, regional and national firms. Gene’s past roles include serving on the management committee of a midsize firm and as managing shareholder in the Denver office of an Am Law 100 firm. Through Gene Commander Inc., he now helps law firms stay ahead of the curve by adapting to shifting economic, demographic and professional trends. He can be reached at [email protected].