When you own a law firm you hold many different roles or as I say you wear different hats. You have the practicing lawyer hat, the leader hat, the HR hat, the CFO hat, the marketing hat, etc. Add to that equation you have a hat for family and a hat for yourself. Each of these roles require you to think and act differently. What you have to decide before any conversation takes place or a decision is made which hat are you wearing.
Case in point, you may have your marketing hat on and be excited about a new way to market but maybe, just maybe you better put your CFO hat on to see how it fits financially, and then switch and put on your ownership hat to see if it goes with the plan. Each type of role requires a different thought process. Don’t make critical decisions without knowing which way you are thinking.
When you have that darn HR hat on you are thinking of motivation and building good employees but when employees fail after all the training in the world you need to put back on the Owner’s Hat and make a decision in the best interests of the firm.
As you build a firm other people will begin to wear these hats for you and then you are building a group of people invested in your success. You let them wear the hat with reasonable authority and you have one less hat to wear.
And a word of caution. Don’t let the head wearing the hat get bigger than the hat (smile)!
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