My Leadership Story
Mark Beese
Speaker, trainer, coach and consultant in leadership and business development for law and professional service firms.
It’s been more than 25 years, but his sharp words still cut me. I can’t remember if it was a formal review, or just negative feedback.?I do remember it was around the holiday season.?
“Don’t feel too bad, there are a lot of bad leaders in law firms.?You just need to manager your people better.” the COO said to me, without giving me any specific direction.
Me??A bad leader??Seriously??That was rich coming from him.?
Still, deep down, I knew there was truth to his criticism.?I avoided conflict with my staff.?I struggled to collaborate with people with certain personality types.?I came up short when trying to motivate others to work harder, or without feedback and gratitude from lawyers in the firm.?What could I do to become a stronger leader, especially in this weird world of law firm management? Even with an MBA, I felt unprepared to lead in this environment.
After briefly considering leaving legal, I read everything I could on law firm management and leadership, including articles and books by David Maister, and others.?I looked for classes on leadership and management in law firms, but didn’t find programs that offered practical advice on law firm leadership.?
Over time, I developed my own leadership philosophy and best practices.?I changed firms, and had the support to try new ways of team management and development. I joined the International Leadership Association.
My research and experimentation paid off.?Over eight years at my last firm, retention was almost 100%.?Team members were engaged with their work. They had opportunities to grow personally and professionally.?They understood the “why” and had a voice in the “how”.?And, honestly, we had a lot of fun working together.
It was epic.?
The managing partner, asked me, “What could we do to help our lawyers become better leaders?”.?Together, we developed a leadership program for existing and emerging leaders. When I left the firm in 2008, I had a personal mission: To help lawyers and business executives become stronger leaders through training, coaching, and consulting. Since then, I’ve helped thousands of attorneys and business staff learn practical skills, models, and mindsets that increases their leadership competence and confidence as leaders.
Over the past 14 years, I developed the leadership course I needed when I was a new manager, 25 years ago.?When the pandemic hit, I adapted it to a hybrid virtual program.?Some of the content was delivered online, but monthly discussions were held in small cohort meetings via zoom.?These courses were delivered to law firms and legal network clients around the world.?
The DuxLex Leadership Institute (DLI) is now available on an “open-enrollment” basis, at the request of firms who are not quite ready for a comprehensive leadership program, but want to provide a few of their lawyer and business leaders with practical, learnable, leadership development.?
The next DLI begins in mid-January and runs through June, 2023.?Details are below.?Please pass this along to those in your firm who might benefit from DLI, or have them connect with me over the next few weeks.?Space is limited.?
For more information on DLI, and to register, click here:
The DuxLex Leadership Institute
The DuxLex Leadership Institute (DLI) is a comprehensive leadership development program that combines online learning, live cohort meetings, personality assessments, and individual coaching to help lawyers and business staff become stronger leaders.?The content is focuses on practical, learnable, leadership and management skills applied in a legal context.?The DLI consists of:
The DLI is designed to benefit leaders in law firms and legal departments, including:
Leadership skills covered in the course include:
The program runs from?January through June, 2023.?Tuition is $2,495.00 USD, with a?$200.00 discount for registration prior to December 25, 2022.?Additional discounts are available for multiple registrations and payment by check, ACH or wire.?CLE credit is available in most jurisdictions, for an additional administrative fee.
More information:
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Individuals can register by clicking on “Take this Course” button on this page:?https://bit.ly/DLILeaders
Firms can register multiple participants by contacting me at [email protected].?We are capping the class size at 50 participants.?We will have between 10 and 15 participants per cohort.?
Let me know if this program might be of interest to leaders in your firm.?I’d be happy to discuss it with you and those in your firm that might benefit from the program.?
Mark Beese
President, Leadership for?Lawyers llc
1 303.913.8830 mobile
Mark Beese is President of Leadership for Lawyers.?He is a consultant who helps lawyers and other professionals become stronger leaders and business developers.?Mark is an adjunct faculty at the University of Denver School of Law and former faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership.?He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inductee in the Legal Marketing Association Hall of Fame.?Mark is a frequent speaker and facilitator of firm retreats, leadership development programs and business development training and coaching initiatives.?For more information, see?www.leadershipforlawyers.com ?and?DesignThinkingLegal.com .