A friend of my mom’s – Tari Joyce – had this come up in her memories, and she flagged this for me. I miss my mom very much. She felt all of what is expressed here deeply. Sometimes too deeply. Her passion influenced me – and so many others – profoundly. Sometimes that passion got very, very fiery. Not gonna lie. She could be blisteringly disappointed by life. And there but for the grace of God go I occasionally too. But she also saw so much hope and promise in community when pursued authentically. She was honest and genuine always. There won’t be another like her.
I am so lucky to have the most terrific facebook friends…actually real people…ain’t nothin’ virtual about them:
They share. They care. They’re there. So real! Such zeal! Nice deal! They feel! Quite kind I find. Unwind The mind. Save lives! High fives! ❤ =^..^= 🙂😇 Sweet life! No strife!
“Safe”! “Rescued!” “Transported! “Fostered”! ALL LIVES HAVE VALUE…
File under: “search and rescue mission.” I remember when my mother Susie Duncan Sexton bought this Pontiac Grand Am in 1994. I believe it’s the only car in her lifetime that she ever got to special order brand new. She called it her “dead mother car” in her inimitable way.
Yes, she purchased it with cash from her inheritance from my grandmother‘s passing. And in some way, I guess it’s now my “dead mother car.” We are an irreverent family.
Anyway, at the time she really liked this style and she liked what she called its “ice skater butt.” She wanted it to have a spoiler, she wanted it to be green, and she wanted it to have a red stripe. Performance wasn’t necessarily of interest, although there are some side benefits to the package that came with those details.
I remember her also being very frustrated because the actual green she loved – army green – was available the following year, not in 1994 when she received this. She would always say, “damn my time.” Or one could argue she was always ahead of her time.
This car has sat unused for the better part of a decade, maybe two. It is exactly 30 years old now. I guess it’s a classic? It’s a weird feeling for me … and they got it in early October of that year, right around this time. Visiting me at college, having driven this to Crawfordsville, they were so excited about it.
John attended a 1980s/1990s Pontiac car event a few weeks back and suddenly decided it was time for us to make this our project. We both tend to personify inanimate objects – him cars, and me everything else. So there’s a lot of sentimental attachment here, and we look forward to giving this car a new lease on life. Thank you to my dad Don Sexton for letting us take this off his hands.
Joe Giovannoli was joined by Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing at Clark Hill, and Jack Prince, Business Profitability Consultant at CRI Simple Numbers, for an insightful discussion on data-driven marketing budget decisions for law firms.
In our latest recap, we dive into the essential tips shared during the session, focusing on how to craft a marketing budget that ensures impactful and measurable results.
The conversation focused on key performance metrics, effective allocation of marketing spend, and aligning those investments with firm goals.
Marketers need to own their journey and be proactive in demonstrating ROI to firm leadership. This may involve collecting your own data and metrics to show the impact of marketing initiatives.
Benchmarking marketing budgets and spending against industry standards and peer firms can help make the case for increased investment. Reaching out to marketing peers can provide valuable data points.
Aligning marketing goals and spending with the firm’s overall growth strategy is crucial. Understanding the firm’s plans for adding attorneys or expanding practice areas can inform the marketing approach.
Developing a multi-year marketing strategy with a mix of branding, calls-to-action, and experimental initiatives can help demonstrate a thoughtful, data-driven approach to leadership.
Thank you, Erika Ratner Steinberg, for including me in this excellent and revelatory piece. Honored to be featured here alongside such brilliant minds as Andrea (Andi) Benjamin, Susan Kurz, and Cynthia A. McCollough.
EXCERPT: Roy Sexton is immediate past president of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International Board of Directors. LMA is the single largest trade group for legal marketing professionals, with nearly 4,000 members. In his “day job” as Director of Marketing for international law firm Clark Hill Law out of Detroit, Sexton has been able to integrate deftly his experiences from a prior career in consumer-facing healthcare marketing with those from two prior smaller firms.
“I came from a large hospital system and my first law job was at a small mortgage foreclosure firm in 2011, and they seemed very marketing-savvy there. At the time, I thought healthcare had a lot to learn, but a basic tool—the customer survey—was commonly used.”
But Sexton says that when he came to that mortgage foreclosure law firm, a logical, basic notion like regularly surveying clients was still an alien concept.
“I worked out a survey of clients with the managing partner and sent it out. The executive committee first heard about it when it was complete, and I came into their meeting to report the results. They were shocked, and they had a few questions:
‘On what authority I had decided to send this client survey? Who had reviewed these questions?’
I candidly pointed to the managing partner, who conveniently, was not in the room.
‘Why didn’t you include us?’
I noted that even though it seemed I had inadvertently missed out on some protocol, it had produced some valuable client feedback.
Answer: ‘We won’t be doing anything with it because we didn’t know about it and we don’t like the way you wrote the survey.’
I replied that we had created client expectations to hear back from us—after all, we had asked them their opinions. And the committee said, ‘Well, that’s your problem. You’re marketing.’
To me, the survey represented valuable data. To them, it was a perilous risk, laced with criticism. They weren’t having any. I learned about buy-in that day; I haven’t forgotten. Everyone needs to feel like they are in the driver’s seat until they don’t feel like driving the car anymore. I’m grateful for those early learnings which have served me well as I’ve progressed to larger firms.”
Happy anniversary to my dear hubby – love you very much, John, and proud of our life together. #loveislove
From 9Sail: As budget season approaches, law firms must make informed decisions about their marketing investments to stay competitive in a crowded marketplace. In this exclusive webinar, we’ll explore how law firms can leverage data-driven strategies to plan their marketing budgets more effectively. From identifying key metrics that matter to forecasting ROI, you’ll gain insights into how to allocate resources that maximize your online visibility, attract new clients, and drive growth.Join us and prepare to make data-driven decisions that set your firm up for success in the coming year!
“It’s a problem when people are forced to seem or be positive in situations where it’s not natural or when there’s a problem that legitimately needs to be addressed that can’t be addressed if you don’t deal with the fact that there is distress or need,” University of Michigan Ann Arbor psychologist Dr. Stephanie Preston explains in a recent interview with Inc. “Toxic Positivity Will Make You Miserable: What Is It, and Are You Guilty of Spreading It?”
On this episode, Roy and Dr. Preston unpack the business lessons professionals might gain from her extensive work in cognition and cognitive neuroscience – how leaders can create healthy, high performing cultures that enhance retention through fulfillment and authentic engagement.
Dr. Preston is a professor of Psychology in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Area at the University of Michigan and is currently a co-ombuds for the faculty at Michigan. She has a master’s degree and a PhD in behavioral neuroscience from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied how animals make decisions about storing their food. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, where she studied human empathy and altruism, financial decision making, and hoarding behavior. Dr. Preston’s research is highly interdisciplinary and uses a variety of methods to investigate how the brain and body evolved in social and caregiving species to make complex decisions through simpler mechanisms that humans share with other species. She specializes in studying how emotions impact decisions in the face of distress and need, in decisions about material goods, and in related applied issues in consumerism, critical thinking, altruistic donation, and sustainability.
“…We should avoid setting up a false choice that pits business development against community development; we need both. The private sector creates jobs that grow the tax base to fund improved services, just as amenities like transit and parks lead to more vibrant communities that attract and retain talent. …We need it all — but the best way to raise the revenue needed to pay for it all is through private sector growth — and that requires a long-term economic development strategy that incentivizes business to locate here and doesn’t change each legislative session.” Detroit Regional Partnership President & CEO Maureen Donohue Krauss observes in a recent opinion piece penned for Crain’s Detroit Business “Economic development shouldn’t be an ‘either-or’ proposition.”
On this episode, Roy and Maureen talk about her successful career in economic development, the lessons she’s learned along the way, the crucial work of developing one’s network and personal brand, and how to still have some fun along the way!
Maureen serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Detroit Regional Partnership, a leading regional economic development nonprofit serving the Detroit 11-county region. Krauss is an accomplished economic development officer with a demonstrated history of leadership in economic development, nonprofit, and government and extensive experience guiding international companies to successful location decisions and growth in the United States.
I suppose after the last couple of remarkable days at LMA Southeast Region’s SOLD OUT “Accelerate” #LMASE24 conference, two words stick in my craw: “Thank you.”
Thank you to the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International for being my professional home for education, development, connection, commiseration since 2012.
Thank you to this industry and profession for being a space for me to be me (and hopefully help others do so as well).
Thank you to conference co-chairs Toni Toomer Wells and Matthew Gallagher as well as the conference committee for their hard work, grit, and heart.
Thank you to 2024 region president Raven Hicks and 2025 region president Powers Tanis for their inclusive, collaborative leadership.
Thank you to all for offering me the general session stage-time today to tell my own journey “‘Happiness comes in on tiptoe…’ Finding (and keeping) your voice,” all about developing and maintaining personal and professional brand. It felt like a capstone moment, and one I will treasure my whole life long.
I have gained so much in the past 12 years and grown so much because of this community. I remain forever grateful.
