If you were to ask yourself, “What is a game changer?” your answer would most likely be different from your top competitor’s, your colleague’s, or even your partner’s.
When it comes down to it, our perception of what defines a game changer is determined by the array of experiences — the triumphs, failures, and learning lessons — an individual has collected throughout their life.
At the end of every episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill asks his guest: “What does being a game changer mean to you?”
In this post, we’re sharing some of the most impactful answers to this question from attorneys and entrepreneurs alike in an effort to inspire, challenge, and motivate you to think about how you can be a game changer in your own sphere of influence:
- Being a Game Changer Means Playing by Your Own Rules
- Being a Game Changer Means Changing the Game for Somebody Else
- Being a Game Changer Means Constantly Upping Your Game
Being a Game Changer Means Playing by Your Own Rules
Mark Lanier
“Being a game changer to me means trying to not just do what everyone else has done, but trying to go out there and blaze a new trail. You know, one of the things that I’ve really tried hard to do as a lawyer is this: I made a decision before every case I tried that I wanted to kick my game up another notch. I wanted to learn a new skill set. I wanted to learn a new concept. I wanted to learn and develop something new so that I don’t look back at the end of my legal career and say, ‘I peaked seven years ago. I peaked at this trial or that trial.’ I want to be able to look back and say, ‘I got better each time.’ If you have that attitude, you’ve got no choice but to be a game changer because you’re going to find all of these new things and new ways you can do things that change your own game. And if you’re changing your own game, you’re changing the game for others — because people will watch, and people will learn.”
Mark Lanier is the founder of the Lanier Law Firm, and an attorney who has achieved 8-, 9-, and 10-figure verdicts — a feat most attorneys can only dream of. Much of his success is due to his unique ability to tell a story in the courtroom capable of swaying verdicts in the favor of his clients.
To him, being a game changer is really about going where no lawyer before him has gone. In an effort to never stay complacent, Mark is constantly looking for new ways to increase his abilities, and with that, he hopes to always blaze a new trail so he can look back and say to himself, “I took it up a notch every time.”
Listen to the full episode of “Achieving Billion-Dollar Verdicts” here.
Ryan Deiss
“It’s about playing by your own rules. So many of us don’t like the game that we’re playing, and we don’t realize we can opt-out of that game. You can completely create a new game that you can win. I think so often we accept the rules. We accept the game that other people in that life have given us. I think if there’s one thing that entrepreneurs do — whether you’re an entrepreneurial programmer and you write software or you’re an entrepreneurial attorney — is we make up our own rules. We don’t accept the default settings that others place in our lives. I think that’s what it means to be a game changer.”
Ryan Deiss is the CEO of DigitalMarketer, a company with a hunger to teach others how to grow their own businesses with valuable digital marketing resources and trainings.
As he tells us in his featured episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, he believes that to be a game changer, you must reject the rules that have been written in order to create your own game, forge your own path, and ultimately embrace taking your own track to find success.
Listen to the full episode of “Truth Over Tactics: Marketing Strategies That Actually Work” here.
Seth Godin
“It’s not called the game playing attorney, right? What it means to be a game player is that you accept the rules as written, and you do your best to win. To be a game changer is to say, ‘I’m going to take one step up to a new dimension and figure out how to play a different game.’ If you founded a book group inside your law firm and dealt with everybody rolling their eyes and everyone showing up late and all the status games but still got eight people in your firm to read the practice and discuss it, you would be changing the game because the law — the game of being a law firm if you don’t have a book group — well, you could change the game.”
Seth Godin is a world-renowned marketing expert and author of 19 best-selling books that have been translated into 35 different languages. This man has built a wildly successful career for himself, but he didn’t get where he is today by playing it safe.
When he joined Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill as a guest on The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Godin shared that being a game changer is all about rejecting the rules that have been handed to you to forge your own way toward greatness. By refusing to follow the path others have already taken, you have the opportunity to make a difference in a way that no one ever has.
Listen to the full episode of “Putting Your Best Work Out Into the World” here.
Being a Game Changer Means Changing the Game for Somebody Else
Joe Fried
“Being a game changer means that in each stage and each place that you have in your life, you have the ability to be a game changer — that you are a servant leader. It means that you are bringing up the next generation. I think at the end, we’re here to live our lives in service of other people. I find that the happiest people in the world are not the richest people. They’re not the ones that the world might call successful from a socioeconomic perspective. They’re the ones who most live that way in service of other folks. As you get more resources, it’s easier to do that, but you don’t really need resources in order to do it.”
As a police officer turned trucking attorney, Joe Fried has always been driven by the pursuit of justice. With his passion for personal injury in the trucking niche and his ambition to be the best, Joe has opened up a whole new legal specialty and become a driving force behind lasting change in the trucking industry.
However, Joe’s success is not self-serving. In his episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, he declares that being a game changer is all about how he can use the knowledge and experience he’s attained to help bring up a new generation of attorneys who also have the goal of making the world a better place.
Listen to the full episode of “America’s Preeminent Trucking Attorney” here.
Billy Gene Shaw
“Being a game changer means I created an opportunity for somebody else. A body of work or a content piece that I put out has created an opportunity for someone else that either didn’t exist, that they didn’t know it existed, or that they were too afraid to tap into. That’s a game changer. If someone goes to one of my trainings or works with me or something, and let’s say they don’t learn anything — which would be really hard to do because it’s just good — but they left with the idea that it was possible, to me, that’s a game changer.”
Billy Gene Shaw is the Founder & CEO of Billy Gene is Marketing. As one of the most prominent voices in the marketing industry, he knows what works to make people not only look, but pay attention and rave about the content he produces.
When he joined Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill for an episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Billy Gene shared his thoughts on what it means to be a game changer, stating that his goal is to ultimately create opportunities for other people to succeed through the training he offers. In doing so, he can rest easy knowing he made an impact for someone else to be great in their own career.
Listen to the full episode of “Entertain, Educate, Execute: How to Dominate on Social Media” here.
Sherry Stewart Deutschmann
“It means changing the way business has been done — business that benefits mostly white men, and business that keeps the wealth at the top 1 percent. It means changing the game so that other people can actually play — and have a chance to benefit.“
Sherry Stewart Deutschmann is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and author of Lunch With Lucy: Maximize Your Profits By Investing In Your People. Her story is unique — as a single mother without a college degree, Sherry achieved massive success growing her company to $40 million, and even being included on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies 10 years in a row.
Sherry’s answer to the question “What does being a game changer mean to you?” on her episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast came as no surprise. Propelled by her own humble beginnings, she believes those at the top who work to create a more inclusive landscape for entrepreneurs coming from different backgrounds are the true game changers.
Listen to the full episode of “Maximizing Profits by Investing in Your People” here.
Being a Game Changer Means Constantly Upping Your Game
Reza Torkzadeh
“Having the courage, having the vision, and having the relentless pursuit to win. Then, being able to invent and reinvent yourself and your firm. You can make one or two decisions within your own organization where you say, ‘Wow, that just changed the game for us.’ I think it’s really a combination of all of those.”
Reza Torkzadeh is the Founder and CEO of TorkLaw based in Los Angeles, California. His approach to leading his law firm is rooted in creating a one-of-a-kind, client-first experience for each person who walks through the door.
In his episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, he shared that what separates game changers from the rest is their ability to rise to the top, then reinvent the wheel time and time again to stay on the forefront of success in the legal industry. With a passion to win and make a difference in the world, Reza knows that starts with ensuring every client is treated with the respect and kindness they deserve.
Listen to the full episode of “Leading a Client-Service Driven Law Firm” here.
Dr. Benjamin Hardy
“It’s kind of about changing your game and also about changing the game. You know, the game I’m playing right now is very different from the game I was playing three or four years ago when I tried to become a professional author. Now, it’s like, ‘How do I get to a higher level?’ I think being a game changer means that you’re constantly playing a better and a different game than your former self and that your future self is the one driving that game.“
Dr. Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and best-selling author who has spent his career studying and teaching others about the nuances and complexities of what the average person knows about their personality. He hopes to inform others about the radical changes they are capable of to reach their full potential.
In his episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Dr. Hardy says that being a game changer is really all about outdoing yourself and pushing the limits of what you’re capable of. In doing so, we are able to consistently better ourselves to accomplish things our past selves never even knew was possible.
Listen to the full episode of “Personality Isn’t Permanent” here.
Joey Coleman
“I think being a game changer is refusing to accept the standard for success that is today. I don’t think it’s enough to say, ‘Yeah, but I’m better than other lawyers.’ Stop that! That’s not a game changer. That means you have the ante up chips to sit down at the table and get dealt a hand. I would love it if on the list of Tesla, Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix — the brands that were creating experiences that everybody’s talking about — your law firm was on that list. I know that seems like a crazy stretch, but I absolutely believe it’s attainable. The bar for client experience in the legal profession is lying on the ground. Literally, all you have to do is not trip over it. You have to lift your foot instead of dragging your foot to step over what the standard is for client experience, especially the US legal system. I think there is huge possibility.”
Joey Coleman is a best-selling author and Client Experience Expert. For nearly 20 years, he has helped organizations retain their best clients and turn them into raving fans.
With that in mind, his answer to the question “What does being a game changer mean to you?” came as no surprise. Joey is always looking to raise the bar for what it means to deliver an incredible experience for the consumer. By never settling with the status quo, he believes there is always a new standard of success to reach instead of accepting second best.
Listen to the full episode of “Never Lose a Client Again: Creating Memorable Experiences to Gain an Advocate for Life” here.
Final Thoughts
The truth is, there is a game changer within all of us — if we are willing to do what it takes to unlock our full potential.
If you are interested in hearing the incredible stories from a variety of other game changing attorneys, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, check out The Game Changing Attorney Podcast today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Play, or crisp.co/podcast.
