Taking it to the top.

• Author: Calve, Joe
• Position: About This Issue

First, a confession: I am a recovering journalist in desperate need of a fix. After a brief stint practicing law, I found my true love, publishing. It happened when Steven Brill, founder of The American Lawyer, allowed me to take a jaw-dropping pay cut and join his staff as a cub reporter. For 15 years, I never looked back. Now, in my second stint as a CMO of a top law firm, I find myself missing the rush of a deadline that doesn't involve Chambers or an RFP. So when I learned, after joining the editorial board of Strategies late last year, that one of my "duties" was to develop an issue, I was overjoyed. Alas, the chance to be an ink-stained wretch again!

And here you have it--the September issue of Strategies. As you'll see, I took a somewhat different tack than the usual. I thought it would be nice to hear from the creme de la creme of our little subculture about what they think it takes to be the best. Rather than ask them to spend a lot of time on the normal in-depth explorations of strategy and sales cycles, I wanted their unvarnished thoughts about what it means to be world-class in our world. Reading the results (beginning on p. 4) is a bit like sampling tapas in a good Spanish restaurant--a tasty and tangy parade of treats any one of which won't fill you...