A Poem for the New Year

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The same is true of '21.

It's that time of year when attention turns to popping corks and endless lists of industry predictions for the new year. Given the difficult course of '20 you wouldn't be alone in having a certain degree of gloom or uncertainty about how '21 will play out - including many months more of #WFH.

We challenge the notion. '21 has all the makings of a bonanza breakout year in many sectors - including the legal industry. But it will have a lot to do with what you do about realizing bold dreams and goals - and ensuring the funding is in place to execute. '21 will be a cauldron of competition and consolidation - tidying up the vast areas of tech overlap in certain quarters. Fight your corner or fold. '21 will see new names enter the space - quite likely via acquisition and the stale pecking order in law will shift as newer agile players make their mark. And so on, and so on...

Instead of doing just another predictions piece or best stories of '20, we offer a poem for '21 - dedicated to the free spirits and bold hearts - those with the vision and ability to execute - those who will define the new year.

IT COULDN'T BE DONE

- by Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

   But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

   Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

   On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

   That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

   At least no one ever has done it;”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

   And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

   Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

   That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

   There are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

   The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

   Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing

   That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Happy new year - go make it yours!

David Kinnear | High Performance Counsel | www.hipcounsel.com