Attorney Coaching à la Tolstoy

An adaptation of Tolstoy's short story, "Three Questions was recently released as a beautifully rendered children's book. It got me thinking, how might the story apply to attorney coaching?

The Busy Attorney and Three Questions (an adaptation)

A busy attorney wanted to fulfill the commitment to marketing his practice. But every time he considered undertaking a marketing effort, he was quickly overwhelmed because he didn’t know when was the right time to begin; who were the right people to listen to and above all what was the most important thing to do, in order that he would never fail in any business development activity he might undertake.

He realized that these questions were blocking his success so the busy attorney sought the advice of every consultant and website and colleagues he could find. Many, many educated and experienced people spoke with the attorney but everyone answered the questions differently. Some advised him to work for three months on a business plan before undertaking any effort- in this way he would be more educated. Some advised him to hire a team of experts and outsource the work so that it would be efficient and inexpensive and still others advised him to take to the internet and trust social media to answer his questions.

Finding little solace in the range of advice, the attorney felt more confused than ever and sought out the advice of a rainmaker from a firm across the country who had come to the city on a business visit. The busy attorney took the train downtown to the exhibit hall where the sage rainmaker was setting up his booth. When the busy attorney arrived he found the elderly rainmaker sweating and struggling to set up a booth by himself. The busy attorney approached the rainmaker’s booth and said, “I have come to visit you to find answers to three questions: How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? Who are the people I most need? And, what affairs are the most important and need my first attention?

The rainmaker listened to the attorney but answered nothing. He just opened another box and commenced work on his booth. “You look tired”, said the busy attorney. “Let me have a hand at setting this booth up for you”. The rainmaker obliged. When the booth was nearly completed, the busy attorney walked to the lobby of the convention center to find the rainmaker seated at a café chatting with a small group of people. As the busy attorney approached the group, he realized that the rainmaker was talking with colleagues from his law school days. The busy attorney approached the group and instantly struck up a conversation and rekindled relationships he had lost with his fellow alumni.

Later that afternoon as the busy attorney and rainmaker were heading back to add final touches to the booth, the attorney posed the three questions to the rainmaker again and begged of him to answer. The rainmaker took a deep breath to speak but instead of answering quickly turned and shook hands with a an executive who was approaching them from across the room. The executive greeted the two and she and the rainmaker fell into a discussion of an important employment case she was dealing with. The executive mentioned that she was in desperate need of an expert in this area. Employment law was the busy attorney’s specialty and he had just successfully closed a case with strong correlations to the situation the executive was describing. He enthusiastically spoke up and volunteered his services.

As they took leave of the executive, the young attorney broached the three questions again. The rainmaker replied, “Don’t you see! If you had not helped me to set up the booth you wouldn’t have stayed long enough to meet your college buddies. So the most important time was when you were setting up the booth; and I was the most important man and to for me good was your most important business. Afterwards, when we were walking back to the booth, the most important time was when you spoke up about your specialty and if you had not walked back to the booth with me you wouldn’t have met the executive so she was the most important person and to speak up was the most important business.

(From the original) “Remember then: there is only one time that is important—Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary person (client/colleague) is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life”.