2012 InnovAction Awards

As the newly appointed chair of the InnovAction Awards, presented by the College of Law Practice Management, I am extraordinarily pleased to announce that we are now accepting entries for the 2012 awards season. The pace of change in the legal marketplace continues to accelerate.  If you have developed a new and better way to serve your clients, a breakthrough way to find new business, an efficient approach to managing your operations, or a truly innovative way to value and sell your services, you deserve the recognition of lawyers and clients in your region and worldwide by receiving a 2012 InnovAction award.

Past award winners include:  Berwin Leighton Paisner, LLP; The University of Toronto Faculty of Law; The University of Miami School of Law; Pro Bono Net; Axiom Law; New Family Organization; Practical Law Company, Inc.; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; Mallesons Stephen Jaques; Novus Law, LLC; and many more!  See the full list here.

Now in its 8th year, the InnovAction Awards conduct a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms and other providers of legal services who are engaged in extraordinary, game-changing, innovative activities.  The award entries are judged based on the following criteria:

• Originality: Is this a novel idea or approach, or a new twist on an existing idea or approach?
• Disruption: Does this entry change an important element of the legal services process for the better, and marketplace expectations along with it?
• Value: Is the client and/or legal industry better off because of this entry, in terms of the affordability, ease, relevance or effect of legal services?
• Effectiveness: Has this entry delivered real, demonstrable or measurable benefits, for the provider, its clients, or the marketplace generally?

Applications and more information are available at http://www.innovactionaward.com.  The submission deadline is June 15, 2012.

Superior Service is not for Virgins

I am quite fond of pointing out poor service posture in this space and on my Twitter feed.  As an adviser to service businesses such as law firms and legal vendors, I've come to learn first-hand that a client-friendly service posture can help overcome objections to features and price.  A lawyer who has a systematic approach to matter budgets and who communicates quickly when a matter is trending out of scope will engender loyalty from clients who care about predictability (Hint: ALL clients do).  A vendor with a premium-priced offering that lacks needed features can still move units when its sales, implementation and support teams present a united front in putting client needs first.  There are many business books that discuss customer service or client relations, but many of them fail to explain why this is good business.  The connection is simple:  customer loyalty generates repeat business, and repeat business lowers the cost of sales.  Loyal customers generate leads through free referrals.  Happy clients demand fewer discounts and write-downs. But even the most customer-focused organizations will stumble and make mistakes.  It happens.  A good service posture doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean the organization has a well-oiled process for addressing and correcting the situation.  And loyal customers will forgive organizations when the mistakes are directly acknowledged and immediately addressed.  Occasionally, however, organizations turn poor service posture into an art form, seemingly going out of their way to offend happy clients.  Virgin Airlines is renowned for its excellent service posture, friendly staff, lavish perks and cheerful demeanor.  As the following anecdote demonstrates, even the best organizations falter.  By examining the missed opportunities, perhaps you can identify where your organization can improve its approach to client service.

I scheduled a flight from Newark to London in business class, which Virgin Airlines labels Upper Class.  Ooh la la.  The airfare was, shall we say, about one quarter of my daughter's annual college tuition!  But the need to hit the ground running on a Monday morning in London, going from plane to shower to business meetings within a couple hours, was critical and worth the expense.  The week prior to the flight I was in North Carolina with my daughter at a soccer tournament and her team kept winning, and winning, and winning.  As it turns out, we had to delay our flights home by a few days because her team made it into (and won!) the final match.  I had planned for this contingency and had a very large suitcase containing a week's worth of soccer Dad clothes and a week's worth of business attire but alas the bag was far too large to fit into any overhead compartment.  Upon arrival at the airport in North Carolina, I had to arrange for my checked bag to be switched at Newark from my return flight home on Continental to my London-bound flight on Virgin Atlantic.  There was not enough time for me to retrieve the bag in Newark and then re-check in at Security but this connection, even though it consisted of two different reservations on two different airlines, is not atypical.  Besides, Virgin and Continental had at the time a code-share relationship and they regularly move baggage between their respective flights.  After 30 minutes, the Continental agent in North Carolina claimed to have achieved the proper routing and we were on our way.

I made the connection in Newark later that evening to my London-bound flight and enjoyed the many fine amenities offered in the Virgin Upper Class cabin.  Upon arrival, I was the third passenger to exit the plane and as I'm quite familiar with London's Heathrow airport I was able to make my way to and through Customs quickly to be the first passenger to arrive at the baggage carousel.  I waited and waited as the bags were delivered.  One by one every bag was retrieved until none remained, so I walked to the Virgin baggage service desk which was about 100 feet away.  First, let's acknowledge the obvious fact that even in the best conditions sometimes bags get lost, or re-routed to Timbuktu.  It happens if you travel enough, as I do.  I complicated matters by asking an agent at a small airport to route my checked bag from one airline to another on two different reservations, and from a domestic flight to an international flight, and the window for making the connection was tight.  So I wasn't exactly surprised when my bag didn't arrive, but I certainly expected an informed discussion.

When greeting an unhappy customer, it's not helpful to start by insisting how wrong he is.  I greeted the baggage agent warmly, advised that my bag didn't arrive and asked to open a claim.  When I gave my name, she immediately claimed to have paged me at the baggage carousel and I had wasted time by not reporting earlier.  I was a little taken aback and replied that I had arrived at the carousel at least 5 minutes before any other passengers and had waited there patiently the entire time and had not heard any announcement regarding any Virgin passenger, let alone a page for me.  She insisted she paged me and that I must be mistaken.  Now anything is possible, of course, and my hearing isn't what it used to be.  But remember, I half expected my bag to be delayed in transit so I was tuned in and ready for such an announcement, and I pointed out that I waited at the carousel for 45 minutes and surely I couldn't have missed hearing my name multiple times.  She insisted I was wrong and then stopped addressing me completely, turning to gaze at her screen instead.

When you know there's a problem, advise the customer right away and begin to manage expectations.  In less than a minute this surly agent transformed me from a calm and understanding passenger into an unhappy customer with an attitude.  I asked the agent when they first became aware of the baggage mishap.  She told me my bag never made it onto my flight from Newark.  I was dumbfounded.  I suggested that this fact could have been relayed to me when I boarded the Virgin flight in Newark.  This fact could also have been relayed to me upon arrival in London.  This fact could have been relayed to me by paging me a few times at Baggage Claim.  And since the paging obviously didn't produce a result for 45 minutes, perhaps someone could have walked the 100 feet from the baggage desk to the baggage carousel to look for me.  I shared my dissatisfaction in a much louder voice, for now I had lost 45 precious minutes which could have been used to trace my bag.  I then asked if a claim had already been created, since obviously the airline had known 8 hours previously that my bag was not going to make it, and this particular agent had known for nearly an hour.  Of course not.  As the agent rightly reported, "I can't explain why no one else did their job.  My job is to open a claim ticket."  We then laboriously went through all the steps of providing my name and contact information, all of which was already readily available on my reservation, and we wasted another 10 minutes on data entry.

It's helpful to put forth some effort in devising a solution.  Or at least fake it.  Once we completed the claim, I asked if anyone knew where my bag was and when it would arrive.  It seemed silly that I should have to actually ask such a question, as it seems like the most obvious piece of information the agent should be prepared to proactively offer.  Without looking at her screen she said "Since your flight arrived this morning, your bag will arrive tomorrow at the same time on tomorrow's corresponding flight."  I was dumbfounded.  I insisted that surely Virgin had to have at least one other aircraft traveling from the New York City area to London in the next 24 hours, but the agent insisted that that was the best they could do.  This was the first of many times that this phrase would be used to dismiss my concerns.  By now, the several other baggage agents were avoiding my gaze as all other passengers had departed.  I refused to depart until a better solution was devised.  A supervisor finally strolled over, looked at the agent's screen and said "Your bag is already en route to England on a different flight.  It has to transfer from Manchester to London but it should be here later today."  I stared a hole in the original agent's forehead, because she wouldn't look up at me, and I was even more furious.  "Do you mean to tell me that this information has been on your screen this whole time but you were too lazy or incompetent to look at it, instead telling me in effect to go away and come back tomorrow?  There's not even a line of passengers behind me waiting. What's your rush to get me out of here?"

"It's now someone else's problem" doesn't count as doing your job.  I left the airport and headed to London to buy some clothes so I could attend a business lunch.  Less than 24 hours before I was on the sidelines of a soccer match in 98 degree weather (for my UK readers, that's a football match in 37 degree weather!) so I was still wearing shorts and a t-shirt and baseball cap... not typically how I travel but there was no time to change.  Needless to say, it's hard to find suitable business attire on short notice so I spent the day uncomfortably under-dressed.  Meanwhile, I dutifully called the airline's baggage status line regularly to learn when my bag would be ready for pickup.  I've had bags lost before and in my experience it always takes less time for the bag to travel across the globe to the local airport and far more time for the bag to make it from the airport back to me.  So I was prepared to expedite matters by going to pick it up on arrival.  However, despite regular inquires from my London assistant and me, on both the phone line and the website, there was no updated status for the remainder of the day.  On the rare occasion someone would actually speak to one of us, they would always claim that the bag is in transit and offer nothing further than "This is the best that we can do."

Proactive outreach to unhappy customers will always go farther than ignoring them.  I continued calling all day and into the evening, always asking two questions (a) when will my bag arrive at Heathrow, and (b) should I purchase more clothing for tomorrow?  Absolutely no one would take ownership and by late in the evening I was resigned to the fact that I would not see my bag in time to dress for a day of business meetings.  I escalated to supervisors on three different shifts and asked why no one would take responsibility for calling me every few hours, if only to avoid the hassle of my constant calls which tie up agents repeating the same issues over and over.  One supervisor who was very friendly and actually sounded embarrassed by the actions of his colleagues said that it's simply not Virgin's policy to call anyone, even Upper Class passengers, and that all they can do is to respond to inbound inquiries.  Each shift blamed the earlier shift for not providing more information and then described a nirvana in which the next shift would happily resolve the issue and return my bag to me.  But no one could or would be more specific, repeating the mantra "We're doing the best that we can." At this rate, I could have taken a train to Manchester to retrieve my bag.

Recognize when the system is broken and human intervention is needed.  I called through the night and spoke several times to the Virgin Airlines baggage claim call center in India.  I have no problem with this critical service function being outsourced overseas, except it presents a logistical problem in that no one at the call center can literally see the baggage like an agent at the airport can.  So any caller quickly becomes aware that the agents are merely reading statuses from a screen and repeating scripted responses rather than actually going about finding a lost bag.  I worked through two shifts of the Indian call center and each time they said they had sent a Telex to Heathrow to check on the whereabouts of the bag.  At this point, the online system -- theirs and what I could see on the website -- gave no information.  It was as if the bag had disappeared into thin air and no one knew where it had been since its last known location en route to Manchester.  It pained me to point out that sending a Telex -- a Telex! -- to London is less efficient and effective than simply calling the Virgin agents at Heathrow.  I offered to do this myself but there are no published phone numbers to reach an agent at Heathrow and no phone agent would reveal the secret numbers, even though several claimed to have called the airport while I was on hold.  It was clear that there was no accountability in the system and no one could or would put forth the effort to go outside the rules and actually resolve the situation.  It was always someone else's job to find the bag and update the status screen and all the rest of us could do was wait.

There should always be an escalation path when resolving a problem takes too long.  As the sun dawned on London and I was on the phone yet again with the Virgin call center in India, I suggested they call Heathrow to speak to a live person.  The standard response was that because of time zones no one would be on site at Heathrow to take the call.  After I pointed out that my flight had arrived at this time the day prior, and that the airport is a beehive of activity at this hour, one supervisor finally worked up the courage to call Heathrow.  He then reported that one of the baggage agents would personally go search for my bag.  I would bet a lot of money that it was my original friendly agent because nothing happened, literally nothing changed, for the remainder of the business day.  There was no status update online, there was no call from any supervisor, even though at least one supervisor on each shift in multiple call centers had promised to personally monitor the situation.  I was now resigned to the fact that I had to purchase all new business attire so I visited a shop early in the morning and acquired enough to see me through.  I remain puzzled to this day why there was no process in place to highlight for Virgin line management that a baggage status had not been updated for over 24 hours.  I remain puzzled why not once, not a single time, did I receive a phone call from anyone at Virgin about my lost bag.  The only communication came when I called incessantly and harangued various agents to look further than their computer screen.  Both the systems and the personnel failed, even though at every step along the way everyone could have reasonably claimed that they did everything their job description required them to do.  Yet... no bag.

Learning organizations embrace feedback loops.  I arrived back in my hotel after a late business dinner on my second day in London and my bag was in my hotel room.  There was no update from Virgin Airlines, no status update on the online system, no phone call, no email, no call to the hotel from the delivery service indicating a drop off time.  The bag simply and mysteriously appeared with no explanation for where it had been or what it took to get it to me.  For kicks, I checked the online status for a few more days and my bag was never listed as delivered and the ticket was never closed.  I'm stunned to think that an organization priding itself on superior service didn't have alarm bells and urgent emails automatically generated from a lost bag claim that was multiple days old with no status update.  The cynic in me imagines that there was a separate comment screen available only to Virgin personnel that said "This customer is a jerk and beyond help. Find and deliver the bag so we don't have to pay him, but otherwise don't engage."  The business adviser in me wants to believe that management truly cares about abhorrent service, but the "system" lacks a feedback loop so there was no way to escalate the issue to the proper level, there was no way for any agent or supervisor to break protocol and take initiative and there was no automatic escalation for an open ticket that had aged beyond a certain time frame.  Even more unsettling is that my status as Upper Class passenger was not a factor at all in Virgin's service posture, presumably because their service promise is limited to the on-aircraft product.  Of course every customer should receive good service, but what sort of company doesn't go out of its way to address basic concerns for its highest paying customers?

There are numerous lessons here for service organizations everywhere.  I have no particular grudge against Virgin Airlines, although it might be instructive to point out that after a dozen Virgin flights in recent years I rejected Virgin, even as a lower cost choice, on a half dozen overseas trips last year (2013 update: I continue to refuse to fly Virgin) .  A well-designed, well-executed service posture, with escalation paths and opportunities for human intervention, is essential in any business where customer loyalty is critical.  Virgin Airline's cavalcade of errors and arrogance can serve as a learning opportunity.

Mistakes happen. Some customers will overreact but many will remain calm until or unless you provoke them into an angry reaction.  The more proactive your approach, the more likely the unhappy customer will remain calm and feel as if someone is taking ownership of the problem.  And take ownership.  The service posture might dictate that someone else is responsible for ultimately fulfilling the request, but picking up a phone to verify that this is underway, or following up with a phone call later to check progress will go a long way in demonstrating empathy.  And don't confuse empathy with sympathy.  At multiple points in the Virgin debacle the agents were evidently trained not to accept blame, which they translated as pushing the problem onto someone else.  An unhappy customer has a right to his or her unhappiness and empathy can be as simple as saying "If I were in your shoes I'd be upset too, so let's see what I can do to help."  Hearing that someone else is to blame doesn't help rectify the situation and probably makes it worse, because it suggests it's a known issue that the company doesn't care to correct.

Managing expectations and proactive communication are inextricably linked.  If you fail to set any expectation for the customer, he or she will most likely set their own expectation.  If the problem will take two days to resolve, say it will take two days and then try to improve upon that time.  Saying that a solution is "imminent" suggests minutes or hours, not days, and sets false expectations that are impossible to unwind.  Tell customers what they need to hear so they can make proper arrangements, don't just default to telling them what you think they want to hear.  And lose the "We're doing the best that we can" mantra unless you literally are putting forth the maximum effort conceivable.  Since stating that "We're doing all that we think your problem deserves given our many other deadlines and priorities" isn't a customer-friendly stance, even if it's true, find some language a little less off-putting that reflects your concern.

I shared much of this feedback with Virgin Airlines some weeks after this incident, after someone monitoring the corporate Twitter account stumbled upon my many updates painting Virgin in an unfavorable light. Or perhaps it's because I directed tweets to Virgin founder Richard Branson.  In any case, the agent promised to look into it and get back to me with an explanation, possibly even to reimburse me for my clothing purchases.  I'm still waiting...

Timothy B. Corcoran delivers keynote presentations and conducts workshops to help lawyers, in-house counsel and legal service providers profit in a time of great change.  To inquire about his services, contact him at +1.609.557.7311 or at tim@corcoranconsultinggroup.com.

Social Media: the Ultimate Business Development Tool or Huge Waste of Time?

I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the recent Futures Conference hosted by the College of Law Practice Management, of which I'm proud to be an elected Fellow, and American University Washington College of Law.  I was joined by Steve Matthews, founder and principal of Canadian-based web marketing company Stem Legal, and our session was moderated by Dan Pinnington, Director at PracticePro, the Canadian-based Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company and editor-in-chief of the ABA's Law Practice Management magazine.  Presumably I was invited to participate because I grew up on the shores of Lake Ontario, just south of Ontario, so I'm an honorary Canadian! We were challenged to provide practical feedback on the use of social media in a law practice.  What are lawyers doing well?  What can they do better?  Is the whole Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/blogging game a huge waste of valuable time, or can it actually aid in the development of new business?  We covered quite a bit of ground, but I'll provide just a couple insights here from my remarks.

Is Social Media overhyped? Of course it is.  Many pundits speak of social media as the panacea, the solution to generating new business when all other efforts have failed, or in lieu of any other efforts.  It should come as no surprise that those touting social media as the best answer to all problems are those who tend to profit from social media.  Consultants and vendors who offer services in this space tend to over-promote.  Needless to say, as a former legal management consultant and now a vendor whose organization offers social media tools, I have some standing to make this claim.

But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, as it were.  One reason why social media is so compelling to so many is that is indeed effective in many ways.  Can social media be both overhyped and under-utilized?  Sadly, yes.  At its core, social media are merely tactics, tools to be used to further one's strategy.  Any business, law practice or other, should have a clear and rational view of which clients to target, which services to offer and how to reach these potential clients.  Much of professional services marketing involves creating awareness of your offering and demonstrating expertise in the subject matter, and social media can be a multiplier in these efforts.  A good analysis of social media will measure whether tools such as Twitter, blogging, Facebook fan pages, a robust LinkedIn profile and the like will have the potential to reach more of the target audience.  And if so, will it provide a conduit for the lawyer to demonstrate credibility.  If we can establish which social media tools can be helpful in this regard, then it's a question of cost -- can these tools generate a greater return as compared to alternative investments, say, sponsoring and speaking at client industry conferences, or authoring articles in traditional media, and so on.

So many lawyers haven't embraced social media because they're dazzled by the technology, or jaded by the noise -- silly games on Facebook or celebrity bloviating on Twitter, for example -- so they fail to properly assess whether these tools can be helpful.

Should a lawyer keep his or her business and personal social networking separate? Without question, lawyers should recognize that their political rants among like-minded friends on Facebook, if made public, may turn off potential clients with different political views.  Similarly, potential clients or employers may find the Spring Break pics from five years ago an exercise in poor judgment.  Unfair?  Of course.  The plain truth is that there's a blurring of the lines between our professional and personal personas.  When I opened a Facebook account it was intended for close friends and family only.  But like you I have a number of close friends in my professional life and they were natural additions to my community.  As time goes on, acquaintances slip in until suddenly one's network is full of distant acquaintances or, in many cases, particularly with the younger crowd, complete unknowns.  Today's youth tend to make connections as flippantly as my generation used to trade phone numbers.  You may call, you may not, but there's no harm in passing out your number.  All of which is to say, you can try really hard to separate your business and personal personas but through your own actions or through the actions of your connections who have less rigor, you will very likely expose more of your personal life than you probably intend.

So be sensible.  Mom's rule about keeping mum if you have nothing good to say applies here.  That doesn't mean you can't engage in harmless tomfoolery, bantering with pals or posting pictures of your kids, but treat such actions as you would a business trip at a sunny location where you stayed a few extra days and brought the family, knowing that some clients would be doing the same.  Act is if a client or potential client is watching, even inadvertently.

But don't overlook the simple truth that buyers buy from people they know, like and trust.  Buyers, like potential friends, size you up pretty quickly and make decisions on whether they'll like you based on a number of factors, only some of which are your subject matter expertise and accomplishments.  This is a tough lesson for lawyers trained in logic:  I went to the right schools, I've earned numerous professional honors, I have domain expertise in the legal issues you're facing, so naturally you should hire me... and so what if I contribute to a political party that rejects all of your political beliefs.  On the other hand, all other professional credentials being equal, a buyer might hire the lawyer who seems family-oriented, is clearly proud of his hobbies and who has an opinion or two about whether his team should have gone for it on fourth down or kicked it away.

For more insights on my social media involvement, see my discussion of what social networks and resources I find valuable.  Also, one of my favorite legal peeps, Ron Friedman, is also a Fellow of COLPM and live blogged our panel discussion, so check out his thoughtful insights here.

Also, for an excellent practical guide to incorporating social media into a law practice, run, don't walk, to buy Jayne Navarre's social.lawyers: Transforming Business Development (West Publishing, 2010).  Jayne is a veteran legal marketer, former Board member of the Legal Marketing Association and a consultant I've turned to for advice time and again.

ILTA 2010 Recap - Change is in the Air

I had the pleasure of spending a week indoors in 100 degree (F) Las Vegas last week while attending the ILTA 2010 conference, the industry's premier legal technology conference  The theme this year was Strategic Unity, suggesting that law firm and client technologies should be aligned.  I was interviewed on the exhibit hall floor and asked to give my reaction to the conference, including what themes were emerging.  You can view the 1-minute video here.  With slightly more context, here are three themes that resonated with me. First, and most evident given the high attendance at the conference, law firms are spending money again.  We can debate whether the recession is over, and whether law firms are filling pent up demand for capital improvements.  We can debate whether Biglaw survived through innovative strategies, client focus and attention to operational efficiencies -- scratch that, there's little room for debate.  Terminating associates and staff to increase profits while making few changes to the way partners operate is hardly something to brag about.  Or the headline as Jordan Furlong puts it (here): "Revenue down, costs slashed in panic, profits up."  But nevertheless, law firms are spending money again.

Interestingly, the lessons seem to be taking hold finally.  The second theme apparent to me is the focus on clients.  ILTA is a technology show, so the questions weren't "What extranet will suit my firm's needs"" but "What extranet framework will offer the greatest flexibility to meet my many clients' needs?" and instead of "How can these tools recapture lost time so we can bill more hours?" I heard "How can these tools drive efficiency in our internal operations?"  Law firms may be starting to embed client needs in their mindset, rather than merely their own.

Finally, the third theme is interoperability.  The word's a bit clunky, but it's my way to describe the need to build systems and tools that interact, that work together, that provide minimal complexity to lawyers and staff who wish to attend to their daily workflow with improved tools, not stop their daily workflow to go off and perform some function on some fancy new but isolated tool, returning later to finish the task at hand.  Law firms are a cash business, meaning they settle accounts once a year, and by and large their financial officers have been accountants, trained to look backward.  We're starting to see more finance-oriented professionals who look to the future, who can assess their options by comparing the total cost of ownership and NPVs of various options, rather than be blinded by sticker price.  If Product A is $50,000 less expensive than Product B, but Product A requires $75,000 of configuration to make it talk to other systems and $35,000 of user re-training and when it's done it's a completely custom application that can't easily be upgraded, well then it's simply not a better option than a more seamless Product B.

Ask me again in six months if the positive themes at the conference have successfully made their way into the law firm boardrooms, or whether they'll wither and die in the face of increasing profits as the economy continues to lift.

By the way, if you didn't attend the conference but would like to glean some insights from those who did, try viewing the Twitterstream.  Attendees to the various sessions captured notes and observations in tiny sound bites which were then published on Twitter, the microblogging site, using the hash tag #ILTA10.  If this means nothing to you, click on this link to see a reverse-chronologically ordered list of all the sound bites from all the sessions.  There's quite a bit to wade through, but some fantastic insights nonetheless.

Social Media Update

One of the most popular and heavily visited blog posts I've published is the summary of what social media I read, visit and engage on a daily basis. Those who know me are quite aware that I incorporate social networking in my professional and personal life, and the most common question I'm asked is, "How do you possibly find the time?" Well, simply put, I make the time. I've always felt that weaving together disparate points of information, connecting dots that others don't see, has given me a strategic advantage in my professional life because occasionally I see trends and opportunities before others. I also find value in connecting people when such a connection benefits both parties. And so I read a lot, from many sources. I'm not as consistent as I once was, but I try to spend a little time every day, usually in small doses throughout the day, staying on top of news and developments in my field, updating and sharing some of these tidbits with my networks, and skimming what others in my network have shared. When viewed in the aggregate, it can be a daunting and exhausting effort to stay on top of it -- it's not uncommon, for example, to open my Google Reader on a weekend after a busy week and find over 1,000 unread items.

But I learned a lesson long ago that has helped me immensely. I have always been reluctant to start a book or magazine unless I'm prepared to finish all of it, which means I need both the time and the inclination to dive in fully committed. But I eventually learned that this is a dumb rule. So now I happily pick up a magazine and read the one or two or ten articles that interest me rather than read it cover to cover. If I'm three chapters into a book and I simply can't muster the energy or interest to continue, it goes on the shelf. I no longer feel any guilt putting something down and moving on. This has freed me to skim a large volume of sources, selecting those which interest me for further investigation, and literally scrolling past the rest.

But an unexpected downside of incorporating a high volume of reading materials into my daily life is that I'm more desensitized to what others may find unusual or interesting because when I've seen twenty references to some tidbit in fifteen different sources over the course of two weeks, it may appear commonplace to me when in fact it's still on the fringe and weeks (or months or years!) away from common knowledge. For example, I vividly recall conducting a Legal Project Management workshop for a group of law firm partners a couple years ago, and not only were they unaware of this growing trend, they didn't even know what the terms meant. I had forgotten that many lawyers look to precedent to learn, rather than look outside their own experience.

Nevertheless, I'd rather read too much than too little. But choices must be made. And so I divide my time across a variety of social networks, reading multiple news sources and blogs, never knowing which might be valuable to me today. Following is a list of the social networks and reading sources I visit daily, or as close as I can get.

LinkedIn - I maintain a robust profile here, having achieved 100% on the completeness meter, for whatever that's worth. I tend to research my business connections, such as clients, prospective clients or people who send me resumes. The fact of the matter is everyone will research you and me sooner or later, so I feel we might as well put our credentials out there for review. As for contacts, I now have over 700 connections, of which I have instant recall of probably no more than 70%. I tend to invite attendees at my workshops and speeches to connect with me, which means my network is full of people I don't really know. But LinkedIn provides a handy notes tool which allows me to capture a few thoughts about each contact. Lastly, I will readily offer my network to those interested in finding a job or making a connection, as in "Review my connections and if there's someone you'd like to meet let me know." Few do, suggesting that networking is still a scary proposition whether online or virtual.

Facebook - I spend a few moments on here each day, typically posting some inane comment about what I'm doing, skimming what my friends and family are doing, and occasionally offering comments. I never ever play Facebook games. I can't imagine why anyone would care that last Saturday I played two hours of basketball at the gym, folded four loads of laundry and watched a soccer game on TV. But it amuses me endlessly that others find this interesting and so I continue to share. Facebook has turned into a proxy for class and family reunions and annual birthday phone calls, because now I know what my friends and family are up to, even the distant connections I haven't seen in twenty years, so we don't need to catch up. Being more aware isn't the same as being closer, however.

Twitter - I have over 800 followers on Twitter, and I'm listed as a "must read" on several lists of legal industry pundits, but I don't actively attend to this network like I used to. I don't believe in the "If you follow me I'll follow you" trend, so I follow only 350 or so, and of these I really only keep track of a few dozen. I like Twitter, and it's a very handy search tool as well as an invaluable tool when attending (or not attending) a conference, but it takes time to navigate through the noise and at the moment it's not capturing my attention as in the past.

Legal OnRamp - I'm a big fan of this network and I've spent time with its founder, Paul Lippe. I had the good fortune of being part of the Counsel Connect team, which was a social network for lawyers in the early '90s, well before its time, so I'm a fan of the format and LOR improves upon the model in many ways. This network is fantastic with robust content, good debates and a number of compelling private offerings for member firms. I don't participate so much lately as lurk, but I do enjoy the spirited discussions.

Martindale Connected - I like this network too, though it was late to the party and therefore it hasn't really ever entered my daily regimen. I've participated in a few discussions, and I was invited to offer feedback on the last redesign, but -- and I could be totally wrong here -- it seems to skew more toward the small firm audience, whereas I spend most of my time with big firms. Martindale-Hubbell has always offered excellent networking tools, and its shift from directory to social network has been somewhat lengthy and painful, but I have every reason to believe this network will become ever more robust and engaging over time.

LMA Connect - This is the official online community of the Legal Marketing Association. Several years ago this particular configuration replaced an easy-to-use email listserve with a somewhat clunkier online interface, which seemed to inhibit usage. I believe at the time the organization also chose not to automatically enroll all members in the online community, preferring to allow members to self-select which forums to join. The net effect is that traffic is much lower than it once was, but it really is a must-read forum for all topics related to legal marketing and business development.

Lawmarketing Listserve - This is one facet of the robust online community created by legal marketer turned entrepreneur Larry Bodine. I've been a member of this listserve since 1996 and with few exceptions I've skimmed every posted comment by every legal marketer on every topic for the last fourteen years. I can think of few better ways to stay on top of the pulse of legal marketing than to listen to legal marketers.

Google Reader - I use this as my RSS reader, and it works equally well on my PC, my Blackberry and my Android PDA. I love the simplicity, which allows me to quickly skim hundreds of news articles or blog posts in a very short period of time, marking some for future reading, sharing or saving.

Here are the feeds that I monitor daily, with explanations where the content is not self-evident:

News Wall Street Journal Financial Times ESPN CNN MSNBC New York Times Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - My hometown newspaper

I also read two local print newspapers each day, the Trenton Times and the Trentonian. (I also do both crossword puzzles, typically within 20 minutes, except for the syndicated and much harder weekend editions!)

Legal News Law.com - Legal Technology Law.com - Newswire Wall Street Journal Law Blog Above the Law - a fascinating and unashamedly narcissistic legal tabloid that essentially lampoons Biglaw from the perspective of lawyers-turned-journalists

Economics Freakonomics - From the authors of the popular books, here one finds anecdotes of economic theories in use in daily life The Becker-Posner blog - One a noted University of Chicago economist, the other a noted Federal Judge, these two debate topics of the day from an economics perspective. Pour a cup of coffee and don your thinking cap before reading these articles MacroBuddies - A blog authored by my favorite macroeconomics professor, Farrokh Langdana of Rutgers University, and his MBA students and alumni

Law Departments In House Rants - written by an anonymous corporate lawyer, he or she shares frustrations with outside lawyers and their reportedly poor service and business skills. I very nearly deleted this because the author is sporadic and at times not very constructive... but then the title should have been a clue! InHouse ACCess - authored by The Association of Corporate Counsel leaders and member contributors. An excellent, constructive, rich source of information about the challenges of in-house counsel with practical guidance to outside lawyers on how to better serve their clients InHouse Blog - Law.com's collection of news and information for the in-house counsel community Law Department Management Blog - the gold standard in providing information to the in-house community, Rees Morrison offers a tremendous volume of insight from book reviews, to critical analysis of surveys and products, to thoughtful discussion of metrics and other operational issues for General Counsel

Management Financial Times Management Columnists - a roundup of the FT's management experts. I'm particularly fond of Stefan Stern

I've added and deleted quite a few sources from this Management list. There should be plenty of rich sources that fall between the Harvard Business Review and some anonymous rant, but I have difficulty finding good ones that help me grow as a manager and a leader. All suggestions welcome.

Legal Blogs - This is the real heart of my online reading, and I've added and deleted quite a few over the years. Again, all suggestions for good sources are welcome. 3 Geeks and a Law Blog - an enjoyable tour of topics from three legal professionals, one a Knowledge Management professional, one a Law Librarian and the other a lawyer/marketer Above and Beyond KM - written by V. Mary Abraham, a Biglaw Knowledge Management professional and lawyer, a great source of practical information about legal technology and its potential for improving the practice of law Adam Smith, Esq. - hands down one of the top blogs for anyone interested in law firm management. If you aren't reading author Bruce MacEwen's excellent insights, then you can't possibly be serious about improving your management skills and insights Bill's Blog - This blog is authored by American Lawyer Media CEO Bill Pollak and though it was originally intended for his employees only, he's developed quite a following of industry insiders who are as interested in his management style and use of social media from the board room as they are in his company Brand Thinking - interesting insights on law firm marketing from well-known law firm branding and advertising guru Burkey Belser College of Law Practice Management blog - this blog published by this prestigious group of legal industry thought leaders should be more robust, but alas many of the vocal Fellows (of which I'm one) publish their own blogs, so I keep this handy more for its potential than for its practical use at the moment Cotterman on Compensation - I've long been a fan of Altman Weil consultant Jim Cotterman's insights into law firm economics and finance, and as the world of associate and partner compensation is changing his insights are invaluable Decent Shred - a helpful smorgasbord of topics on legal technology, knowledge management and marketing by consultant Shy Alter Enlightened Tradition - a collection of UK legal KM manager Mark Gould's posts about knowledge management Get Creative - Merrilyn Astin Tarlton's musings on creativity, innovation and leadership Global Growth Guru - Consultant Doug Johnson's thoughtful insights on legal marketing and legal business management Hildebrandt Blog - Consultants from Hildebrandt Baker Robbins offer insights into a variety of legal industry topics Hubbard Perspective - commentary, insights and links from legal marketing technology leader Hubbard One ILTA blog - the feed from the leading association of legal technologists In Search of Perfect Client Service - Biglaw refugee Patrick Lamb launched his own small law firm focused on offering value in innovative ways to clients. His commentary here lampoons the traditional mindset of Biglaw lawyers and offers helpful tips for adding value in your own firm Inside Legal - Legal PR experts at Envision Agency offer news and commentary primarily about legal service providers Larry Bodine LawMarketing Blog - the aforementioned legal marketing veteran offers commentary gleaned from his consulting practice Law Consulting Blog - Veteran lawyer turned management consultant Cordell Parvin offers insights and commentary on the changing legal profession Law Firm 4.0 Blog - my longtime friend (and now competitor!) Deborah McMurray offers her usual insightful commentary on legal marketing Law Firm Competitive Intelligence - veteran legal CI expert Ann Lee Gibson offers occasional insights into the world of CI, gleaned from her many years helping law firms win competitive bids Law Firm Web Strategy - noted web marketing agency Stem Legal offers insights into legal marketing trends Law21 - The second on my absolute must-read list for anyone serious about law firm management. Jordan Furlong is a veteran journalist turned management consultant and his insights are informed by constant observation of law firms, their leaders and their foibles and successes. If my list weren't alphabetical this blog would be listed at the top LawBizBlog - Ed Poll is a lawyer, management consultant and mentor/coach to a long list of successful lawyers. I enjoy his writing more than his quirky videocasts, but his soft-spoken, well-informed commentary is perfect for lawyers who need advice but are afraid to ask for fear of being ridiculed. Ed is even more engaging in person. (Ask him about his 1968 Airstream trailer!) Legal Blog Watch - Two columnists rotate informative and often amusing commentary on legal news of the day Legal Current - from Thomson Reuters, news and links about the legal industry Legal Marketing Blog - veteran legal marketer Tom Kane, who's had stints in several Biglaw firms, preaches what he practices on this blog, a guide to help legal marketers and lawyers improve their business generation efforts Legal Marketing Canada - this blog might be labeled Jasinski on Legal Marketing, but I go by the name of the RSS feed. Lawyer and legal marketer Doug Jasinski offers insights particularly suited to Canadian lawyers and marketers Legal Marketing Reader - journalist Amy Campbell created this site to aggregate legal marketing articles. A great idea with a nice archive of very informative articles, though it isn't updated nearly enough Legal Process Outsourcing - an executive at outsourcing giant CPA Global offers insights into the growing LPO field Legal Transformation Blog - Lawyer turned consultant Joshua Kubicki offers excellent insights into the changing world of law firm operations Lloyd Pearson Blog - veteran legal directory editor turned law firm marketer turned consultant assists law firms with their communications and legal directory strategies. Here he occasionally provides insights into the ever-present and growing world of legal directories Martindale Blog - Martindale-Hubbell's face to the market offer insights into its offerings, social networking and other legal marketing topics Progressive Marketing - veteran legal marketer Russell Lawson offers his unique take on the state of legal marketing Rainmaker VT - good friends Mike O'Horo and Craig Levinson recently launched an innovative online approach to teaching business development skills to lawyers. In his blog they discuss legal business development tips and techniques Real Lawyers Have Blogs - former lawyer turned serial entrepreneur Kevin O'Keefe has been leading the charge on legal blogs for years. His stream of consciousness blog posts are an informative and often amusing look into how he thinks Strategic Legal Technology - Another must-read favorite of mine. Ron Friedmann has been involved in law firm technology since the days when "tech savvy" meant having a secretary with access rights to the one PC owned by the firm. His accumulated wealth of knowledge coupled with his personal experiences inside law firms and as a vendor to law firms is an incredibly valuable resource The Client Revolution - Jay Shepherd breaks new ground in practicing law with the client's needs in mind rather than his own billable hours. His insights are very helpful because they're based on his own experiences operating a law firm in a new way The Common Scold - a colleague from my days at American Lawyer, Monica Bay is one of the most respected legal technology journalists, serving as longtime editor of Law Technology News. Her insights on the state of legal technology, to legal vendors (never sell "solutions!") to her love affair with the New York Yankees are must-read, as making her "people on the move" update is a badge of honor The Legal Watercooler - Law firm marketer Heather Morse Milligan is a career counselor to hundreds of legal marketers who enjoy learning from her experiences and seeing the world of law and legal marketing through her eyes The Non-Billable Hour - Matt Homann makes you think outside the box, and even if you think you know it all, he'll help you learn something new. A fascinating guy with a fresh outlook on life and learning, his blog is a good consolation when you can't spend time with Matt in person The PR Lawyer - Philadelphia lawyer turned PR counsel Gina Furia Rubel practices what she preaches, using social media and traditional PR to promote her practice of helping law firms and small businesses promote themselves Thoughtful Legal Management - I really enjoy Canadian lawyer Dave Bilinksy's writing, in part because he's a veteran journalist, in part because his consulting practice and experience gives him a ringside seat to the many changes in law firm management and technology Virtual Marketing Officer - longtime friend Jayne Navarre offers her insights into legal marketing, particularly social media, gleaned from years of experience working inside and consulting to law firms. In fact, my own blog exists as a result of her very kind assistance Zen & the Art of Legal Networking - The International Lawyers Network has a tremendous resource in Lindsay Griffiths, who employs her impressive social media chops both promoting this association and discussing the use of social media

Other - a handful of sources that aren't easily categorized elsewhere @ErikJHeels - my old friend Erik is a lawyer, musician, technologist, who served as a legal technology journalist for a dozen years or more. He writes on all sorts of topics, from baseball to patent law to music to how he synchronizes his Gmail and Outlook Contacts (with diagrams) to housing rates in Eastern Massachusetts. An engaging writer, you never know what to expect The Dilbert Blog - If all you know of Dilbert creator Scott Adams is that he's a lousy artist, then you're missing out on a fascinating mind who writes from his perspective as an accomplished economist, cartoonist, technologist, atheist and hypnotist. While often funny, his writing more often makes you think Dr. B's Blog - I've retained Dr. Linda Burrs for multiple projects having to do with organizational dynamics, team work and selling skills. She has a corporate trainer background, and now helps businesses and people operate more effectively. I have hired her to conduct a practical Myers-Briggs workshop for every new team I've managed for over a decade... and I will do so again Musings on (Marching) Music - my kid sister Colleen Corcoran writes about her love of music and teaching music, particularly marching band (she's a drum corps national champion). I tell her she should write about how hard it is to find a job as a high school band director and marching band instructor when it seems like every school district has even more incompetent personnel policies and procedures than the last!. But she laughs it off and prefers to write of what she loves rather than what she must endure to pursue her passion. I envy her restraint! Seth's Blog - marketing guru Seth Godin offers frequent pearls of wisdom and occasional self-important drivel. He has a knack for forcing one to ask, "Why do we do things that way when there are far more effective approaches?" Set in Style - I very much enjoy writing coach Mister Thorne's often acerbic but always informative approach to urging lawyers and legal marketers to hire professionals to do their non-legal writing. You can't help but laugh when he points out the inefficiency of complex legalease when simple editing will produce more concise, effective prose The Pursuit of Arete - from the "people surprise me" department, my longtime friend and my former public relations consultant Daryn Teague offers some fascinating insights into politics, history, culture and the American way. We've shared many a beer over the years and I have a great respect for his intellect, but not once did I suspect he had these interests tins : Rick Klau's blog - I've known Rick since his first job out of law school, and since then he's been a rising star in whatever game he's played. Currently a rising executive at Google, Rick has been blogging for a very long time on topics that interest him, and since he's usually a couple years ahead of the curve they will probably interest you too eventually Tom Glocer's Blog - I began reading the Thomson Reuters CEO's blog a while ago, long before joining the company, because I'm fascinated by CEOs who take the time to engage the public. I've met more CEOs afraid of their own employees and terrified of customers, so finding one who's willing to engage so openly is refreshing (see Bill Pollak above)

Humor - There are about a dozen feeds which provide an endless stream of laughs. However, humor is a subjective thing and some may not be appreciated by my readers. Suffice it to say that an RSS reader can provide plenty of amusement in addition to education.

If I were more organized, I'd publish a list of what I've stopped reading, and why, because the list does change over time. But alas, interested readers will have to conduct this comparison on their own. You can read my previous social media updates here (2009) and here (2008).