Progress through change.

• Author: Roach, Betsi
• Position: LMA NEWS

Most people have heard the adage, "there are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and change." But the second, lesser-known component of that saying is where the true opportunity lies: "You can't avoid change--it's mandatory. Progress, however, is optional."

One of my favorite authors, John Kotter, is a guru of leadership and change management in the modern era. His 1995 book, "Leading Change," introduced an eight-step change process that was helpful in framing how to approach some of the biggest shifts for LMA, such as the move to a regional structure. I encourage you to pick up the book for the first or fifteenth time to dig into how you can learn to lead effective change in your own firm or team because change is going to happen whether we lead it or not.

Some of the key changes occurring in the legal marketing industry were surfaced through this year's survey jointly conducted by LMA and Bloomberg Law, "Aligning Legal Marketing and Business Development Resources for Law Firm Growth." One shift is that 66 percent of survey respondents predict that firms of all sizes will increase spending on marketing technology over the next two years more than any other area. This is just one of the shifts identified in the research results, which can be accessed at...