Life at the Bar LLC Blog

By Julie A. Fleming October 02, 2007 1 Comment

A few things I’ve been collecting in the last week…

1.  Fundamental attribution error  This is a new term for me, though the idea is familiar.  Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project blogs about our human tendency to assume that other people’s actions reflect their character or attitudes and to overlook the environmental influences that may shape their actions.  So, when you’re walking down the hall and someone fails to smile and say hello, instead of assuming that person is an arrogant jerk or that she doesn’t like you, consider that she may be deep in thought or that she might have just received bad news.  (For a more poignant illustration, do visit the post.)  Sounds like justification, but checking the “frame” you apply to other people’s behavior is a path to greater happiness.  And frame shifts are a key aspect of coaching, as well.

2.  Does fall ever make you reminisce about being in college, getting in on fascinating conversations and being exposed to new ideas?  It certainly does me.  I am thrilled (to possibly an unseemly degree) to discover that the iTunes store now has a division known as iTunes U.  A healthy handful of schools, currently including Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Texas A&M, and others offer a variety of lectures (some audio, some video) on a wide variety of topics. 

Duke’s law school, for instance, has 52 offerings, including Learning from Lawyer Jokes, Creative Commons and Author’s Rights, and Practical Politics and the Law.  Vanderbilt’s Medical Center presents the Discovery Lecture Series, focusing on the “highest-impact research and policy issues in science and medicine today.”  An example is titled Opportunities and Challenges for Drug Discovery in a Postgenomic World.  Or learn about Neuroscience & Behavior from MIT professor Gerald Schneider. 

Best of all… All of these lectures are free.  Boring commute issues: solved.  You can find the link to iTunes U on the iTunes store main page.

3.  Bruce Allen of Marketing Catalyst has an interesting post titled Lawyers, Stop Trying to Cross-Sell!  The upshot: firms should develop client service teams that meet regularly to discuss clients’ business issues.  Message to clients: “I’ve formed a brain-trust around YOUR business and YOUR issues, and we’ve uncovered some ideas for your business that could go right to your top-line.”

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Client development, Quick hits, Time management/productivity

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