Education is Key
Hi š
Itās been a while since my last postā¦a lot has happened since.
I want to share some of what Iāve discovered and how it affects the future of law.
If you joined this newsletter you did so to glean my insights into what the future of law will bring and what can be done about it now. FutureLab.Legal after all is a business built around this idea. Sometimes we worked on this with clients, and many times we approach as a lab: holding a vision of the future, identifying current problems, developing hypothesis and collaborating to produce solutions. This is what allowed me to work with some of the most senior people in some of the biggest professional services firms in the world.
Well, after nearly 3 years since I started this journey and many great relationships, workshops, projects and partnerships later - Iād like to introduce one of the developments, the second leg of the FLL journey.
Balancing the Future and the Now
One of the fundamental challenges to change in any industry is being able to encourage its constituents to embrace it. There are many competing incentives in a well established ecosystem, often the least attractive is shifting the way things have been done. Those who benefit from decades of toil to build their empires would be least incentivised to see it fall fast. Consciously or unconsciously, there would be enormous resources deployed to catch and slow the fall of an existing system. One could only imagine how much better valued those resources could be if even a portion was dedicated to learning, embracing and integrating the New. Striking the balance between the disruptive bigger picture and what is pragmatic and incrementally improves the current situation is a constant challenge and we all sit somewhere on the risk bell curve.
You may know by now, that my approach to this was very much on the disruptive side of the curve and this positioning has allowed me tangible growth in presence and recognition. There is always someone needed who has vision, is looking forward and can help others carve their path towards the future. Unsurprisingly, the appetite for the market to leverage this alpha and position themselves to take advantage of this opportunity has been growing. Part of the challenge is the necessary specificity a successful business requires - a clear product or service that is often familiar to the market. The holistic approach that FLL employed - which I firmly believe was necessary - made it more difficult to interface with businessās, particularly those who wanted a simple solution to the complex problem navigating the future of their business.
So we return to initial dilemma, balancing the disrupting bigger picture with the incremental improvements available now. Finding the right mix of both yields the best results and I think FLL has found that mix. In other words, I believe we achieved one of the tenets of FLL: bridging the gap.
Education is š
Letās talk about Education. Itās not a new topic or theme of mine, many of you know I talk about how education is the key to unlocking peopleās latent capacity. During times of great change, education is what lifts people up enables them to see something new and different. It empowers people to change their behaviours, their habits and improve themselves (and in this case) their businesses.
The alternatives to Education have proven to be a problem with the burgeoning Legal-tech sector.
Hard selling is one of the prominent miss steps of the Legal-tech world where the underlying benefits are on the other side of a deep chasm. A bottom line improved is not necessarily as simple as slapping on tech - because training and education is required to make this successful. Itās not as simple as a ācustomer success teamā as often the challenge has to do with the waves of disruption not only to human behaviour, but also the underlying business systems and processes.
These are the two main roadblocks to discovery and adoption, which education as a concept and strategy to growth solves.
As people become not only familiar with tools, but also with themselves, do they have the opportunity to make decisions that set them on a path of change.
Now the challenge becomes how to combine both Education as a principle and FLLās work of bridging the gap.
Enter: antiCPD
Yes, you read right: āantiā CPD. The most anti-CPD, CPD training youāll ever do š¤
Think about it - all over the world, all of us as lawyers have to do it - some have more onerous requirements, some call it by a different name, but in every jurisdiction there is some semblance of ongoing professional development.
We understand it as a requirement to maintain competency, or currency in our practicing certificates - and begrudgingly ensure we complete it every year.
But what if it was fun?
What if it was fresh, fringe and engaging?
What if it focused on relevant soft-skills, all the things that Law School did not prepare you for?
What if it was something to look forward to, rather than something you often struggle to keep yourself awake for?
Worse still, what if it wasnāt pre-recorded which doesnāt even need you to pretend youāre staying awake?
What if instead it was live, with experts from their own fields making us more holistic, well rounded lawyers?
This is the purpose behind antiCPD, and I hope that you can benefit from it and share it with all your colleagues and friends. The second leg of the future of law starts right here, right now.
You can reach out here (or on LinkedIn) to explore this for your team, Iāll be happy to discuss this with you.
Oh! and donāt worry - FutureLab.Legal will continue to working as a consulting and advisory business with appropriate clients and continue to generate pathways to the future of law. After all, the future of law is in our hands š„
Q.