LexBlog : Chapter 2

I haven’t been blogging much of late.

LexBlog clients know I’ve been partly preoccupied with issues related to a migration to an ‘upgraded’ hosting environment for the LexBlog network. Ugh. I’ve also been working on LexBlog’s next chapter.

I’m pretty good at running companies (including small law firms) in a survival mode. Survival not meaning on the verge of going out of business, but meaning the focus being to live from day to day and from month to month.

For a startup like LexBlog, literally coming out of my garage six years, survival meant having two or three payrolls in the bank, meeting the monthly goal of new blog clients, having the infrastructure in place to serve clients, and being able to bonus team members at the end of the year for a job well done.

For my law firm, which I closed after practicing for 17 years when I founded my first legal Internet marketing/client development company in 1999, it meant, among other things, docketing all litigation deadlines, meeting the payroll, having the cash to finance a plaintiff’s contingency practice, and explaining to my wife, Jill, every Friday that we’d be able to pull out a few bucks at the end of the year.

Things in both cases were structured, clear, and easy to manage for an average guy like me. A guy who earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Notre Dame and by never using a lick of it forgot everything I may have learned about business over 30 years ago.

Six years after coming out of my garage LexBlog can’t be run in a survival mode. We’ve got over 600 blogs on our network and approaching 3,000 blog authors. From solo’s to the largest law firm in the country we have lawyers relying on me and my team that we cannot let down.

Chapter two for LexBlog is beginning with organization development. A planned, top-down, organization-wide effort to increase the LexBlog organization’s effectiveness and health. According to Warren Bennis, organization development is a strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organizations so the organization can better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges.

I used to think stuff like organization development was a lot of hooey – maybe that’s why my grades suffered in business school. But working with an organizational development consultant whose worked with small and large companies around the country has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever been through. I am confident it’s going to bring profound change for LexBlog. All to the tremendous benefit of LexBlog clients, team members, partners, my family, to all of you I have met through my blogging and use of Twitter, and to anyone LexBlog may have the opportunity to serve down the road.

The first step in LexBlog’s next chapter is building out an executive team of seasoned professionals heading client development, client services, finance, operations, and IT. You already know Kevin McKeown, LexBlog’s EVP of Client Development for the last two years and my good friend for now over 10 years. In the coming weeks I’m going to introduce you to our Director of Client Services and our CFO/Director of Operations. Fabulous people, both of them. This summer I’ll introduce you to a Chief Technology Officer.

Not to worry if you’re a LexBlog client. The team you’ve come to know and rely on isn’t going anywhere. They’re excited to have senior team members that will allow them to grow professionally and be able to serve you at an even higher level.

And for me, you’re going to see me back blogging more. Twittering more. Speaking around the country at least as much. All in all leading discussion of what blogging and social media means for lawyers looking to build relationships for reputation enhancement and client development.

Ought to be a lot of fun. And isn’t that why we go to work after all?