Learning from law firm leaders

"There are enough books on leadership to till many very large libraries. So why another volume to crowd those stacks? Although leadership can be described in philosophical, behavioral, and even genetic terms, at its heart, leadership is best understood by what is observed: how leaders behave, think, and make decisions. The purpose of this book is to uncover the essential nature of leadership as it is lived by today's law firm leaders, not to pontificate on what is the best or right style of leadership. We interviewed thirty-one highly effective law firm leaders from firms of all sizes and types, speaking with emerging, current, and succeeding leaders to get as broad a view as possible. We talked with thirteen firm chairs, nine managing partners, five committee chairs, three practice leaders, and one office managing partner. Our goal was to probe both the wonderful and burdensome aspects of life as law firm leaders - to understand why they chose this route and what makes them lose sleep. We wanted to learn how real people lead in the face of obstacles presented by a competitive legal marketplace and, perhaps more importantly, by the nature of a law firm as an organization"--P. [4] of cover.