CLE Leadership & Management
Ideas, Resources, and Techniques for
CLE Professionals
A periodic e-newsletter
By Chuck Bingaman - chuck@chuckbingaman.com
#33 January 2007
Leadership  Slim Devices, a small Silicon Valley start-up, has had
great success with Squeezebox, its high-tech music reproduction device. But
it’s Slim’s design approach that’s even more interesting.
Squeezebox was publicized as an “open source” device from the
beginning, and audiophiles all over the world were invited to suggest design
ideas, changes, and improvements. The results were stunning! As Slim’s
Chief Technology Officer, Dean Blackketter, said recently, “Every single
time I’ve opened it up, it’s paid off. A couple of times I’ve
been this close to doing it my way, but they”—the people in the
community—“changed my mind. Their hearing is better than mine,
their ideas are better than mine. They’re doing it because they love
it.” Seems to me that, with web sites, email, and legions of interested
practitioners, CLE sponsors could benefit enormously by making their whole
CLE planning process more “open source.” Famed executive coach Marshall Goldsmith has a new book
just out titled What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Hyperion Books,
2007). The theme is the twenty most common bad habits that cripple leaders…and
how to break them. For a quick review of the “twenty”, see http://www.businessweek.com/playbook/06/1228_1.htm. As it’s football playoff time in the U.S., here’s
a small idea picked up during last weekend’s pigskin marathon. Amazingly
successful New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick each week presents a
special black jersey to be worn in the week’s practices to the player
who, in the previous game, gave the greatest effort. Sure, results are the
bottom line, but great effort needs to be recognized and rewarded publicly
too.
Management
Development
Dimensions International Inc. recently asked a large number of employees for
their New Years resolutions for their managers. Quoted in Fast Company, the
top four suggestions were: Deal with workplace conflicts faster, be less of
a micro- manager, recognize work well done, and don’t bother planning
events for building office morale. Did
you see that electronics retailer Best Buy Co., has embarked on a radical—-possibly
risky—-experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours
and micro-managing bosses with something called “ROWE” for “results-only
work environment”? It says that office hours and even office presence
are no longer set; rather, performance is judged solely on output instead of
hours. While I can’t imagine how one could run retail stores that way,
as a “work-at-home” type now, I CAN vouch for the productivity
possibilities, not to mention the time and cost savings, of stopping the “drive
to and from work” syndrome. CLE organizations could be appropriate environments
for trying such a cultural change.
Resources Check
out small is the new big and 183 other riffs, rants, and remarkable
business ideas by Seth Godin (Penguin Group, 2006). This crisp collection of Godin’s
blog entries, columns, and other pieces argues that small businesses
are the principal source of imaginative—-and successful-—business
ideas today and shares many examples, particularly relating to marketing
and customer service. A perfect business idea source for every CLE administrator
and a refreshing “pick-me-up” or new idea source for daily
work, staff meetings or even Board consideration. You might also check
out Seth’s nearly daily blogs at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/. Megastudy,
South Korea’s leader in college cram courses, is making millions
with online teaching. See Business Week’s recent story at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_50/b4013056.htm?chan=bschools_undergrad+programs_undergraduate+b-school+news.
And, check out Megastudy’s web site, especially its format of many
small boxes, even if you, like me, don’t read Korean very well.
That format is specifically designed to appeal to GenX and GenY readers-CLE’s
up and coming markets. http://www.megastudy.net. To me, this is just
one more confirmation that online education is going to be even bigger
than we have imagined and that CLE planners need to approach it even
more ambitiously than we have to date. Bill Draves, in his new book that
I mentioned last month, Nine Shift, argues that online education is MORE
effective than our traditional approaches and that it will soon constitute
at least 50% of all education.
Personal
Notes I’ll
be facilitating an hour-long session at the Nashville ACLEA mid-year
meeting on “Ten Ways to Move Your Strategic Planning Outside
the Box”—a session you could use to begin thinking about critical
CLE planning for 2007 and beyond. If you’d like an advance copy
of the program outline or if you are not attending the meeting, I’d
be glad to email it to you.
Following 20 years as Executive Director of a major American CLE organization,
Chuck now consults and teaches on CLE strategic planning, marketing, CLE executive
hiring, and management challenges with CLE and other legal organizations, law
firms, law schools and others. He welcomes your inquiries on projects designed
to enhance your organization’s effectiveness.
You can contact
him at chuck@chuckbingaman.com, at 1-603-756-9268, or at P.O. Box 390, Walpole,
NH, USA 03068-0390. Past issues of this newsletter are archived at www.chuckbingaman.com.
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