Nancy Fox doesn’t simply preach technique, she lives it.
With many years of expertise teaching professionals by way of recessions, tech shifts, and structural trade modifications, she brings a uncommon mix of perception, empathy, and actionable recommendation.
When you’re trying to navigate uncertainty, enhance your networking recreation, and at last construct a enterprise improvement system that works, her insights are a masterclass.
Listed below are some takeaways from her latest look on the “Be That Lawyer” podcast.
Embracing Uncertainty: The place Development Really Begins
In line with Nancy, occasions of uncertainty just like the 2008 recession or the post-COVID period aren’t simply disruptive. They’re alternatives. The legal professionals who thrive throughout these durations are those who lean in, keep agile, and spot gaps out there others are too distracted or discouraged to see.
Whether or not it’s pivoting your messaging, updating your providers, or reaching out to a brand new vertical of shoppers, the secret is strategic flexibility.
Ready for stability is usually a entice.
“Agility is just not essentially what legal professionals are educated in,” Nancy says, “nevertheless it’s one thing all of us actually need to take a look at.”
Make Enterprise Improvement a Day by day Behavior: Not a Disaster Response
One in every of Nancy’s strongest methods is deceptively easy: give attention to each day constant exercise. She encourages legal professionals to dedicate simply quarter-hour every day to enterprise improvement whether or not that’s messaging contacts on LinkedIn, sending a heat check-in electronic mail, or reaching out to a former consumer.
Too many legal professionals deal with advertising and marketing and networking like hearth drills, one thing to scramble for under when enterprise slows. Nancy believes constant, manageable effort is how rainmakers are constructed. She additionally warns in opposition to relying solely on referrals, emphasizing the significance of a well-rounded pipeline that features direct decision-maker relationships.
Hear First: It’s the Shortcut to Genuine Connections
Nancy shared a transformative second from her personal journey: the primary time she walked right into a networking occasion and made a aware choice to cease excited about herself.
As a substitute of worrying about what to say or how she was coming throughout, she actually listened.
That shift modified every little thing. Conversations turned extra pure, extra significant and, maybe not surprisingly, extra productive. Individuals provided their enterprise playing cards with out being requested. Alternatives emerged that by no means would have surfaced in a extra self-focused strategy.
“It took away plenty of my concern and self-consciousness,” she mentioned. “I began to actually have fabulous conversations.”
“Agility is just not essentially what legal professionals are educated in, however being agile and being versatile is one thing that I believe all of us actually need to take a look at,” Nancy says.
When you’re displaying as much as occasions with out a plan, ready round for referrals, or letting your discomfort with uncertainty hold you caught, it’s time for a reset.
Nancy reminds us that success in at this time’s authorized panorama doesn’t come from understanding every little thing — it comes from being prepared to study, hear, and adapt.
Steve Fretzin is a bestselling creator, host of the “Be That Lawyer” podcast, and enterprise improvement coach solely for attorneys. Steve has dedicated his profession to serving to legal professionals study key development expertise not presently taught in legislation college. His shoppers quickly change into high rainmakers and credit score Steve’s program and training for his or her success. He might be reached instantly by electronic mail at [email protected]. Or you possibly can simply discover him on his web site at www.fretzin.com or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin.
