Opinion: Herding cats and leading lawyers

According to recent studies, lawyers are particularly good problem solvers with a high sense of urgency. But a preference for ‘thinking’ over ‘feeling’ can make them both poor leaders and followers.

By Mark Beese, marketing director, Holland & Hart

DO YOU remember that EDS commercial that aired during the Super Bowl a few years ago? The minute-long commercial shows thousands of cats being wrangled over the prairie, crossing rivers and disappearing off into the sunset, interspersed by cat-herding quotes, such as: “Herding cats – don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy.”

Leading lawyers, like herding cats, is nearly impossible. It is, however, worth the effort.

Capital University law professor Susan Daicoff¹researched personality differences between lawyers and the general public from early childhood through law school to a legal career. In her book, Lawyer, Know Thyself ², she argues that lawyers are measurably more competitive, argumentative, aggressive, dominant, cold, quarrelsome and less agreeable than the general public.

While much has been learned about emotional intelligence and its key role in leadership, Daicoff reports that lawyers come up short here too. She writes that lawyers tend to have low interest in people, emotional issues and interpersonal matters, and that there is a disproportionate preference for ‘thinking’ over ‘feeling’ among lawyers.

Attorneys also have a higher incidence of psychological distress, substance abuse and a pessimistic view of life.

Dr. Larry Richard of the Hildebrandt Institute reported at a recent conference that lawyers are nearly off the charts on several personality traits, as measured by the Caliper Profile, a 40-year-old proven assessment tool. Attorneys, on average, score more than two standard deviations (that’s a lot) from the general population in six areas. They are more skeptical, more autonomous, less sociable, less resilient to criticism, better at problem solving and have a higher sense of urgency than everyone else.

The good news is that these traits tend to make lawyers more effective at representing clients in both the board and court room. The bad news is that while lawyers value strong leadership, their personality, formal training and the organizational structure of law firms conspire against them, making them neither good leaders or followers.

Some US firms, however, are not letting this bad news prevent them from improving their cat-herding skills.

Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith has partnered with Wharton’s Business School to create a leadership-development program for their lawyers and senior staff. DLA Piper sends their leading lawyers to a week-long leadership and management program at Harvard.

Law schools are beginning to recognize the need for leadership training as well. This year, Santa Clara University (SCU) offered a class called ‘Leadership for Lawyers: Teaching Students and Lawyers to be Ethical and Innovative Leaders’. Professor Robert Cullen worked with Barry Posner, dean of SCU’s School of Business and co-author of the popular leadership book The Leadership Challenge³. Posner is quoted in Santa Clara Law Magazine, “If you understand the impact that law and lawyers have on our society, it seems almost criminal that we don’t offer leadership training as part of our legal education.”

Can a leadership class at SCU or a week at Harvard compensate for strong personality traits, an anti-teamwork culture and high testosterone? Probably not, but Posner and James Kouzes’ leadership-development program, ‘Leadership Challenge⁴’, offers hope. Their model for leadership development relies on specific behaviors and attitudes, not personality or hormones, to indicate leadership effectiveness. According to them, respected leaders are honest, competent, forward-looking, and inspiring and effective leaders.

Leading lawyers will probably be a lot like herding cats for years to come, but the lawyers and law firms that figure out how to raise the best cat wranglers in the country will have the strategic advantage.

References:

1. http://users.law.capital.edu/sdaicoff/

2. Daicoff, S.S., Lawyer, Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses, published by the American Psychological Association, January 2004

3. Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., The Leadership Challenge, published by Pfeiffer Wiley, September 2003

4. www.leadershipchallenge.com

Mark Beese is marketing director at Holland & Hart, a 350-attorney firm with 12 offices across the Rocky Mountain West. He can be contacted at mark@beese.org. Beese’s blog is www.leadershipforlawyers.typepad.com.