I am supposed to go to a conference in my field in July. It will be my first time around a lot of people since 2020. How comfortable was it for you being around so many strangers, especially unmasked? Did you find people respected personal space and safety measures?
I really like your point about not wanting to be visible just for the sake of it. I go back and forth about how much visibility I really want to have on social media. I am on LinkedIn, but I don't post very much and honestly think it would freak me out to have a large following. Participating in community is one thing, but I'm not so sure I'd enjoy creating or leading one.
When did you have time to put this all together? Well done!
A few comments:
1. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes ~10K hours’ practice to become an expert. You must be getting close in your writing…. Good stuff.
2. I wholeheartedly agree with your observations throughout this piece (e.g., CLM over-saturation; winners being companies like Ironclad [early, genuine community focus + honesty + treating customers well]; the warmth and respect of the Big4 (vs. BigLaw) toward the legal ops community; the hollow presence of self-absorbed, out of touch law partners (who either lack self-awareness or don’t care about being jerks). (I had a similar experience at one of the networking breakfasts!)
3. Thanks for the link to the Law.com article; looking forward to reading it!
1) I couldn't agree more with you about the power of community that you note in footnote 11: "CLMs that have a vibrant, engaging community of customers are sending a message to buyers that they’ve made people successful. Any vendor can overpromise and lie to get deals. These bad actors will find it very hard, if not impossible, to launch a similar customer community." 2) Personal branding is not about simply visibility for the sake of visibility. It is truly about having an impact and a substantive impact.
What I learned at CLOC
I am supposed to go to a conference in my field in July. It will be my first time around a lot of people since 2020. How comfortable was it for you being around so many strangers, especially unmasked? Did you find people respected personal space and safety measures?
I really like your point about not wanting to be visible just for the sake of it. I go back and forth about how much visibility I really want to have on social media. I am on LinkedIn, but I don't post very much and honestly think it would freak me out to have a large following. Participating in community is one thing, but I'm not so sure I'd enjoy creating or leading one.
Thanks, Alex. Interesting, and great report. Why am I not surprised about the behavior of the Big Law firm guy?
Greetings Alex,
When did you have time to put this all together? Well done!
A few comments:
1. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes ~10K hours’ practice to become an expert. You must be getting close in your writing…. Good stuff.
2. I wholeheartedly agree with your observations throughout this piece (e.g., CLM over-saturation; winners being companies like Ironclad [early, genuine community focus + honesty + treating customers well]; the warmth and respect of the Big4 (vs. BigLaw) toward the legal ops community; the hollow presence of self-absorbed, out of touch law partners (who either lack self-awareness or don’t care about being jerks). (I had a similar experience at one of the networking breakfasts!)
3. Thanks for the link to the Law.com article; looking forward to reading it!
4. Isn’t Sameena Kluck so real and such fun??
It was fabulous meeting you IRL, Mr. Su!
Keep writing!
Sharon Donnigan
1) I couldn't agree more with you about the power of community that you note in footnote 11: "CLMs that have a vibrant, engaging community of customers are sending a message to buyers that they’ve made people successful. Any vendor can overpromise and lie to get deals. These bad actors will find it very hard, if not impossible, to launch a similar customer community." 2) Personal branding is not about simply visibility for the sake of visibility. It is truly about having an impact and a substantive impact.