Beyond Biglaw: Taste Your Merchandise
There is no guarantee that you will like the taste of your own merchandise, but that doesn’t absolve you from taking one.
When a high-profile CEO gets into a spat in public, it makes news. Even though the CEO may have never intended to do anything wrong, we live in an age of ubiquitous video recordings and super-easy digital distribution of proof of debatable behavior. The culprit du jour is Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who finds himself embroiled in controversy over a verbal altercation he had with a disgruntled Uber Black driver over his company’s pricing. For those who have not seen the video of the episode, an innocuous conversation about competition and pricing strategy devolved quickly into Kalanick berating the driver — calling him a whiner who was refusing to take responsibility for his own problems. For his part, the driver clearly seems unhappy about Uber Black’s pricing, and does not hesitate to make a precise claim ($97,000! Bankrupt!) about what Uber has cost him.
I do not come to condemn or condone Kalanick’s behavior. But the episode is worthwhile for the reminder that there is some value in having leaders of a service organization actually try out their own company’s services. Having those leaders put themselves in the place of customers can be very illuminating, both for evaluating the customer experience provided by the company, and for interacting with employees as they discharge their duties. While Kalanick did not have a pleasant interaction, to say the least, with one of his company’s erstwhile “employees” (a loaded word when it comes to Uber), the company has stated that it intends to continue discussions with its drivers to ensure that they are content. Interacting with employees as they are actually doing their jobs can be much more informative for management than interactions that take place in the more sterile environments of a meeting or performance review.
The importance of these “on the job” interactions can not be overstated. Because employees are the face of an organization, especially when they are directly responsible for providing the services that customers are paying for, it is critical that management take whatever steps they can to ensure their employees project a positive image. I am sure that theme parks spend a lot of time training their employees on how to behave pleasantly towards customers on even the hottest, busiest summer day. Likewise, even an app-based company with a distributed workforce such as Uber must not be all too pleased that there are at least some of its drivers are all too eager to complain about the company — in the course of a ride, no less. Again, I am not trying to criticize the particular driver who interacted with Kalanick, since I am unsure whether he even knew if he was talking to the Uber CEO. At the same time, if I were running Uber, I would be worried about my employees disparaging the product at the same time as they are delivering it.
Trust The Process: How To Build And Manage Workflows In Law Firms
For lawyers at small firms, who tend to have more direct interactions with clients, it is also important to always maintain as favorable an outward demeanor as possible. I am not sure how a small-firm leader could pull this off, but it would likely be very illuminating if one of the key partners were somehow able to sample the services of their own firm. Firm managers would likely be very interested in knowing the answers to such questions as: How are prospective clients greeted upon their first contact with the firm? How is a prospective lateral partner or associate’s application for employment received when it is transmitted to the firm? In the event of a media inquiry, how is that communication handled on its way to someone with authority to actually respond?
The answers to the above questions are all important ones, especially for smaller firms looking to compete with larger, more established peers. While a Biglaw firm may have an Intake, or Recruiting, or Marketing (or all three) department skilled at making a positive first (and second) impression on someone contacting the firm, small-firm partners often have to handle those tasks themselves. That is not necessarily a disadvantage, but firm leaders will want to know that such inquiries are handled as professionally as possible, ideally with good cheer as well. It may be impossible for a small-firm leader to test out these interactions themselves, but they can at least try to have a trusted person do so on their behalf. The point is to learn and improve, not to play gotcha with colleagues, of course.
Just as importantly, small-firm leaders can be proactive about soliciting existing and former client feedback, even in an informal way. In my experience, two of the best times to do so are either at the end of an engagement, say over a thank-you dinner, or right when an existing or former client hires the firm for a new matter. At those times, it can be easier to ask for constructive feedback on the firm, in a way that is less intrusive and potentially disruptive than if solicited during an engagement itself. If the client volunteers feedback, at any step of an engagement, then that information should be absorbed, digested, and communicated through the firm as appropriate, with all considered haste.
Ultimately, one of the guideposts for firm leaders is to understand the firm’s customers, and to make sure all of the firm’s employees are aligned with the firm’s mission to satisfy those customers. Accordingly, one of the responsibilities of firm management is either to come up with clever ways of sampling their own firm services or to make it a priority to obtain constructive feedback as to whether the firm’s clients are content with the firm’s services. Likewise, firm leaders need to know whether or not the firm’s employees are contributing to a positive image for the firm, or are expressing grievances publicly that are damaging to the firm’s reputation. There is no guarantee that you will like the taste of your own merchandise, but that doesn’t absolve you from taking one.
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Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at [email protected] or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.
Uber said it would listen to drivers. Then its CEO got in the car. [Boston Globe]
Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique. The firm’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.
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