Have you heard the news?
The Crisp Game Changers Summit 3 is coming to Atlanta on November 5-6, 2021 and spots are running out by the second.
Normally, we tell you things like what it is, how much you’ll get out of it, and how easy it is to register.
But not this time.
We’re here today to tell you who the Game Changers Summit is NOT for.
Who Shouldn’t Go
Let’s face it…not everybody is wired to change the game. Transformational growth is a radical concept that requires relentless effort and it just might not be for you.
We don’t plan on handing out participation trophies at the Summit, so we’re not trying to encourage anybody and their grandmother to attend. In fact, we might even need to start kicking people off the guest list.
Here are a few different types of people who shouldn’t attend the Game Changers Summit for their own good.
Losers
Webster’s Dictionary defines a loser as:
- a person or thing that loses especially consistently
- a person who is incompetent or unable to succeed
- something doomed to fail or disappoint
Alternatively, Urban Dictionary defines it as “someone who doesn’t know what they have and f***s it up.”
Who are we to disagree with those scholars?
Let’s face the facts: you might be a loser.
But being a loser doesn’t necessarily make you a complete and utter failure (though it sure could). There have been plenty of losers in history and the cultural zeitgeist who have gone on to do plenty of mediocre-to-decent things!
William Jennings Bryan was a famed orator and politician whose 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech is cited by historians as one of the greatest political speeches of all time. He also lost the Presidential election three times over a 12-year period. That’s a gifted caliber of losing.
The 1990-93 Buffalo Bills are a fascinating case study in the art of losing. They lost not just one Super Bowl, not two, not three, but four Super Bowls. In a row!
There have also been plenty of beloved losers in the music world. Beck famously wrote a song called Loser wherein he stated “Soy un perdedor,” or “I’m a loser.” Additionally, John Lennon wrote a song while with The Beatles entitled I’m a Loser.
Clearly, being a loser doesn’t mean you’re an abject failure (winning the AFC Championship Game four consecutive times isn’t easy!). But it does mean the Game Changers Summit is probably not for you.
Close-Minded Leaders
Nobody likes a leader who is unwilling to open up his or her mind. It’s this stubborn nature that has led to countless catastrophic undoings. Here are two drastic examples…
In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte had the most impeccable military record since Alexander the Great. He had what appeared to be a Midas touch for invasion, immensely expanding the French Empire.
He then set his sights on Russia, ready to make the vast land his own. As he led his 612,000 soldiers to attack, he had seemingly taken every precaution possible to ensure a swift and successful campaign.
And then the season turned.
The French army was quickly out of their element in the harsh and unforgiving Russian winter, but Napoleon insisted on simply speeding up their ingress. This caused the wagons to break and the exhausted horses to die, all but dooming the men to retreat back across the immense wasteland. By the time Napoleon returned to Paris, he had only about 10,000 soldiers remaining.
Had he kept his mind open to the notion of the dreaded cold of Russia, he would have been able to more thoughtfully construct a campaign that would have either succeeded or led to hundreds of thousands of fewer deaths.
Captain Edward Smith had earned his metaphorical and literal sea legs after 40 years on many successful ships, including 27 years in command of several.
In 1912, he was named the captain of the RMS Titanic (you can see where this is going). When questioned about the possibility of a ship being damaged at sea, he flippantly replied that he could not “imagine any condition which would cause a ship to flounder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
Never one for negative omens, he instructed his officers to maintain a recklessly high speed the entire voyage, despite full awareness of the ice. His close-minded decision to overestimate the ship’s strength led to disaster, costing thousands of lives.
These examples are (hopefully) higher stakes than anything you face in your day-to-day legal practice, but the lesson remains. The best leaders are open to criticism and hearing all perspectives before making a decision.
If it’s your way or the highway…your path should probably not include the Game Changers Summit.
Team Members
Unlike the EVOLVE Summit, which was aimed at all members of the legal team, the Game Changers Summit is exclusively for law firm owners.
If you are not a key decision-maker in your organization, you are wonderful and probably do phenomenal work, but this is not the event for you.
Here are a few members of the team who do not need to attend this time around:
- Executive assistants: You’re likely the hardest-working and most integral member of the team, but your firm owner is going to need a lot of support while missing a weekday engaged in the event.
- Law school students: The Summit lasts two full days in early November…seems awfully close to finals, don’t you think?
- Accounts payable department: The invoices don’t stop and neither should you!
Every single team member is essential to the law firm’s success, but the best way for most of them to exercise that is not by going to the Game Changers Summit — and freeing up their boss to get the most out of it.
Unambitious People
If you’re satisfied with the status quo, why would you attend an event with the express purpose of enabling you to grow?
We aren’t going to list examples of unambitious people, because those types of people never make a splash on their environment. You’ve dealt with countless people who set their sights low and often don’t even strive to hit those.
Think about those people.
The ones who trot through life at a pace somewhere between trot and a crawl.
The ones who, when asked to jump, protest and demand a reason why they have to.
The ones resigned to remain hopelessly inert.
Is that you? Or does that type of person make your stomach turn?
If you want to slap this person across the face and demand they live a more engaging and meaningful life, then you will find yourself in good company at the Game Changers Summit.
Who Should Go
We’ve spoken enough about who shouldn’t go to the Summit. Let’s discuss who should go.
Winners.
Humble and open-minded leaders.
Law firm owners.
Ambitious, forward-thinking attorneys.
If you see this list and think, “This is me,” then welcome to the Summit.
Nowhere else will you find a stronger collection of like-minded yet diverse badasses ready to take the wheel and lead the way for the future of the legal industry.
Do you have what it takes to join this group?
There’s only one way to find out.
