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January 09, 2008
Best business wisdom quote ever.
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
--Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784
If you don't fully understand, worry.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Value price this. Part IV.
Value Pricing v. Billable Hour. Scroll down. It's not often that we get a total of 17 comments on any subject, it goes on for 5 days, and all of the comments are informed and sane. How do we ensure that clients--from GCs to small businesses and individuals of more limited means--get value? The last comment, from trial lawyer John Day, who arguably speaks for billable hour Tories*, old schoolers and other high-functioning dinosaurs like WAC?, is likely not the last word:
I had lunch with an assistant general counsel of a publicly traded company today and discussed this controversy. His thoughts: "We do value billing on every matter where we employ counsel. We pay them by the hour, but if we don't think we get fair value for what we paid, we don't use that lawyer again."
Next?
*WAC? is part Irish (and yet generally factual). "Tories", interestingly, was first used to describe rural bandits in Ireland. And then, of course, it changed.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Kane: Get out of the office and ask.
In "Procrastinators Unite", Tom Kane notes that
since the best source of new business is from clients and referral sources, start there. Ask them. That means, plan to visit with your clients (off the clock) and those who have referred work, and talk with them about what problems they (or someone they know) are facing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Two jolts in New Hampshire: It's McCain and Clinton.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (Boston Globe, Jan. 8)--Senator John McCain of Arizona delivered an electric jolt to the Republican presidential contest tonight by decisively capturing New Hampshire’s presidential primary, and Democrat Hillary Clinton apparently revived her White House hopes with a narrow win.
The Associated Press and NBC projected Clinton the winner over Barack Obama of Illinois in a contest that polls suggested Obama would win by a healthy margin. Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina was projected a distant third. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Hermann the German: McCoffee v. Starbucks.
The next Great War: McDonald's has a go at Starbucks. See at Observing Hermann yesterday's piece "We knew this was going to get ugly". Hermann regularly monitors developments in Western thought, culture and commerce--and in The Cosmos generally--but here has confined himself to one of his favorite if more pedestrian topics: sideshows of globalization.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
John McCain: The new Comeback Kid?
"McCain had been both smart and lucky...." A friend of ours, Michael O'Neil--a political consultant, pollster and TV commentator--posted this on his blog on January 7, the day before yesterday's New Hampshire primary: "McCain’s Rise from the Political Graveyard is Not His First". Not bad. His firm is O'Neil Associates, Inc.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
Written agreements: "More security for Chinese laborers".
At National Public Radio's Marketplace, listen to this recent interview with China Law Blog's Steve Dickinson. Effective January 1, a new employment law in China is requiring employers to give written contracts to workers--or risk big penalties.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)