A new year means a much-needed fresh start. Whether you choose to take this as an opportunity to rebrand your law firm, learn a new practice management program, or even buy some overdue new suits, make this year yours.
One way to ensure you’re ahead of your competition is to read books that will empower you to do so. Love a shortcut? We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 books every law owner should read in 2022!
- The Game Changing Attorney: How to Land the Best Cases, Stand Out from Your Competition, and Become the Obvious Choice in Your Market by Michael Mogill
- W1NNING: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness by Tim Grover
- No Ego by Cy Wakeman
- Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Long Game by Dorie Clark
- Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- How to Change by Katy Milkman
10. How to Change by Katy Milkman
Katy Milkman is an award-winning professor at Wharton and the host of a podcast called Choiceology who has dedicated her career to the study of behavior change. She believes that you are more likely to accept change if you have a plan for swiftly getting through it.
A new year brings with it many new changes — and there are right ways and there are wrong ways to handle that change.
For example, Milkman suggests that instead of downloading an exercise app to help you get through your workouts, why don’t you try tailoring the workout to make it easier in the first place? Similarly, instead of putting off paperwork, plan out your schedule to make it less painful. Spread it out if you must.
In a radical shift from most habit-making or habit-breaking thinkers, Katy suggests going to the source of the problem and altering something small to make it more enjoyable and suitable for your needs.
Katy’s best-selling book How to Change is full of practical methods for identifying and overcoming common roadblocks to change in yourself and your law firm that you can use daily. It will help you improve your leadership skills and prepare you to be fearless when it comes to making decisions.
9. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
This best-selling classic about famed psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s experience in the Nazi death camps and how it shaped his theory of logotherapy is an important book that helps discover meaning in suffering. While this choice might not seem obvious when it comes to reading for your law firm, it serves as a valuable teaching and learning tool.
We’ve all experienced suffering in these last couple of years, and many have sought improper coping mechanisms — or the lack of coping altogether. Many people make the wrong choices, leading them down a darker path. Whether you have experienced this in your personal life or with team members at your law firm, it’s important to remind yourself that you have a purpose.
Frankl’s work will give you powerful perspective and help you open the eyes of others and lead them to success.
A sobering yet meaningful read, do yourself a favor and check out Man’s Search for Meaning in 2022.
8. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
This book is loved by stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, LL Cool J, James McGee, and is required reading material for winning sports teams such as the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks, the Chicago Cubs — and now, you.
Stoicism — the framework for this life-changing read — is an ancient Greek philosophy based on enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. It’s all about controlling the things you can, and not worrying about problems beyond your jurisdiction. As Ryan Holiday says, “What stands in the way becomes the way.”
As the year picks up and loads get heavier, it’s essential to remember that some things are simply beyond your control, whether it’s waiting on a signed document from a client, traffic on the way to the courtroom, or even a printer jamming — there are some things you simply cannot work around until they let up. It’s all about altering your mindset to make these situations less difficult and more empowering.
Trust us, The Obstacle is the Way will help you in the long run, and when your attitude changes, so does your team’s.
7. Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise by Horst Schulze
Horst Schulze is the cofounder and former president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, so he knows a thing or two about being the best. If you truly believe your law firm has the potential to be the best but you need a no-nonsense approach to achieving that status, this book is a must-read for you.
From customer service tactics to creating a culture to abiding by a core set of values, Schulze has provided you with everything you need to be successful in this upcoming year. Learn why leading well is a skill, how to serve your clients, keep your team members motivated, and how to be a great leader.
Your competition won’t even exist once you’ve finished the last page of Excellence Wins.
6. The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark
Dorie Clark, Professor at Duke University and one of the world’s top business thinkers, believes that our personal goals need a long-term strategy.
We’re often pushed to and beyond our limits, and if there’s no plan in place to combat that, there’s no getting through them. We all want to create interesting and meaningful lives, but sometimes we lose sight of how that’s possible.
When we make small changes today, they have the potential to have an enormous impact on our future successes. Even if they get boring, monotonous, or hard, remaining steadfast is the best thing you can do for yourself. That’s where Clark’s proven strategies to fight those feelings come in.
If you’re ready to make lasting changes to your law firm and your life, check out The Long Game to learn how to make that happen.
5. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
In this must-read, Malcolm Gladwell, author, journalist, and public speaker-extraordinaire, poses one simple question: what makes high achievers different?
Think back to when you first decided to become a lawyer. What led you to that decision? Your peers must have seen something in you that they didn’t see in other people, because deciding to go into the legal profession and then owning your own law firm is no easy task.
In Outliers, Gladwell discusses the cultural differences between the great and the not-so-great, the discrepancies in their family backgrounds and upbringings, as well as their experiences.
Gladwell’s book will help you understand what sets you apart from the competition — and what you must do in order to stay ahead of the competition.
4. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
Even though this book was published almost a decade ago, its message still remains true today. Every law firm owner needs to read this book in order to understand how to encourage their employees to work their hardest and be the best they can.
Marketing expert Seth Godin discusses the human nature of seeking out a tribe and how social media has made it even easier to do. He believes there are three steps to building a tribe: the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead. He examines some of the most iconic leaders today and what makes them different from those who don’t lead.
Though the job is not easy, Godin suggests that leading is easier than you might think. For those in need of tips to mobilize an audience, Tribes is the book for you. Your firm will thank you for doing so.
3. No Ego by Cy Wakeman
Cy Wakeman, researcher of drama in the workplace, best-selling author, and favorite speaker at the Game Changers Summit 3, wrote one of the most important books about leadership with No Ego.
She believes that, instead of engaging your employees and their emotional drama and baggage that goes with it, you should challenge them to rise above it. While you may be the friendliest person on earth, your team members need someone to lead them, not another pal.
In this quintessential leadership book, Wakeman asks you to ask the questions, “What would great look like?” as often as you can. If you or your team members are in “low-self mode,” no one can get anything done. Workplace drama is catty and unnecessary, and leaders must avoid it at all costs.
After reading Wakeman’s best-seller, you will have a plan in place for your law firm to have less gossip and more productivity.
2. W1NNING: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness by Tim Grover
Leading is not for the weak, which is likely why you chose to establish your own law firm. Tim Grover understands strength and competition, having worked with athletes such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade, and now, he’s released his formula for winning in any field where hard-fought battles take place.
One of the esteemed speakers at the Game Changers Summit 3, Grove challenges his audience and readers to embrace reality with single-minded intensity. W1NNING is his surefire plan for achieving massive success. His book offers 13 crucial principles for unbeatable performance — so whether you’ve been in business for one year or 20, you’ll read about tactics you never thought would work.
As Grover says, “Winning never lies. Winning knows your secrets. Winning wages war in the battlefield of your mind. Winning wants all of you and more.”
Are you ready to unlock your potential?
1. The Game Changing Attorney: How to Land the Best Cases, Stand Out from Your Competition, and Become the Obvious Choice in Your Market by Michael Mogill
Crisp Founder and CEO Michael Mogill literally wrote the book on all things law firm growth. If you’re ready to set yourself apart from the uber-competitive market that is the legal industry, this is your must-read.
This book is for two types of people: upstart attorneys trying to jumpstart their practice and established attorneys committed to their craft. Find answers to building a successful firm and tips on how to keep it operating smoothly while maintaining its top dog status.
While we may be biased, we recognize that The Game Changing Attorney is stacked with ways to be the best: the best marketer, the best law firm owner, and the best leader. If you’re ready to make a big change in your firm, you’ve come to the right place.
Getting Ahead and Staying Ahead
2022 is here. There are no more excuses.
While there are many unknowns ahead, one thing is certain: this can and will be your most successful year yet.
With a little help from the information, insights, and inspiration found in these books, you cannot lose.
