Last night our president David Schnurman, spoke at the Levin Institute on the tools of leadership. He spoke through examples, sharing 15 tools he has used as leader of Lawline that has spurred impressive growth. Among these tools several key points stand out as important advice to carry whenever interacting with people. The first is attitude; you have to keep your game face on. Problems will come up and you need to be ready to handle them as they come without getting frustrated or stressed, then you can find a solution and move on.
Discipline is closely aligned with attitude because without a good attitude you can’t be disciplined. As a leader, David says you can’t try to control people because people resist control. Instead, people need to be self-motivated. It doesn’t help to over-manage or micromanage someone, to build self-motivation you must build the people around you to be their own leaders. David highlights the 8am meetings and focus on customers as examples here at Lawline that have helped create a culture of discipline. Lawline culture is also full of fun events and blogs and book reports that keep employees engaged with each other. By creating a team atmosphere where information is shared freely employees and leaders alike can impact each other with new exciting ideas.
The free flow of ideas and transparency within Lawline is a rare and important asset. By creating a disciplined culture but allowing transparency and idea sharing at every level of the organization David increases accountability and responsibility for everyone. At Lawline every idea is valued. When an idea works it sticks, when it does not a new idea grows. He is not worried when an idea fails because this is when the learning begins. David says he wants people to come to win, not to work.