If you missed yesterday’s chat “How to succeed in a new law firm marketing or BD leadership role” with Reed Smith LLP’s Gillian Ward, Ambition’s Ivan Ivanovitch, MBA, and yours truly, hosted by Nexl’s Steven R. Ongenaet, catch the replay and a stellar written summary here.

Thank you, also, to Nexl’s Sarah Beder for the fabulous support, including this excellent write-up, and to Nexl’s Philipp Thurner for the opportunity and support of our community and profession.

EXCERPT: On hiring, he borrows from theater, where a director once told him he cast for culture over talent. “The job description to me is a fishing pole. Yes, this is what we’d like to have, but we might not find this person, and law firms really struggle with that. They think if they don’t hit every bullet in your job description, you must not hire them,” says Roy. “Often the person who fits every bullet point on the job description fails miserably.”

For Gillian, an organizational structure only works when your team can understand where they sit in it, which is why she spends so much time walking her team through the funnel. “You need marketing at the top of the funnel, generating demand, getting your name out into the market, building strong campaigns. Then your business development team is in the middle to convert what’s happening up there into real opportunities, and then sales support at the bottom covers helping the lawyers with sales training, closing, getting your pitch and proposal team together, and all those pieces have to align. That’s when the magic happens.” …

“Is this somebody that has executive presence? Is this somebody who has gravitas? Somebody that people are going to look up to for ideas or mentorship?” says Ivan. “The person has to be authentic. They have to have vision that people are going to follow.” …

Roy’s advice for new chiefs is about where the authority in these roles comes from. He sees people arrive at chief level expecting the title to do the work for them. “You’re basically still the same person you were in those other roles. You still are in service to the organization. Let that be your lift.”