President's Perspective

Seize the Future

by Gary L. Bakke

There are forces influencing the future of the legal profession and the State Bar of Wisconsin that will forever change who we are and what we do. This is not a vision of the future. It is an observation about today. The forces are already at work, and we are already seeing the start of immense change. Concern is widespread in the ABA and in state and local bar associations nationwide. Wisconsin is no different. We have to "Seize the Future."

Seize the future? How? It sounds like the typical management idea du jour that will fade into oblivion when a new catch phrase comes along. Maybe, maybe not. We have a well-defined challenge: We must understand the present, make intelligent estimates of the future, decide on a plan or strategy to accommodate the changes, and execute the plan. Only if we successfully complete all four steps do we have an opportunity to seize the future.

The steps increase in level of difficulty:

Step One: Understand the Present. Intelligent people who pay attention to the world around them can understand the present. Most of us are aware of the vast changes in the world economy, international business, communications technology, automation, and information technology. We may have a tendency to view some of the cutting-edge developments as being the future, but we don't have to wait. It is here in the present.

Step Two: Estimate the Future. Estimating the future is an imprecise art at best. Clearly, we cannot project the future in general, but we can observe trends and draw meaningful conclusions. Communication will be easier and faster. Our population will be older. Business increasingly will be global. Many things can be projected with a high degree of confidence; other parts of the future appear to be almost random. Wars, stock prices, weather, and public attitudes are difficult to project. In fact, there will not be one future but many. The future for education may be different than the future for manufacturing. The future for Wisconsin may be different than that for Mexico. So we must estimate the future of the world that we will operate in. It will not be the same for all lawyers.

Step Three: Plan. Planning is derivative from the second step. The plan will depend on our vision of the future. Thus, there can and will be more than one successful plan. There also will be unsuccessful plans. In a time of rapid change, a miscalculation can quickly lead to failure. In a time of instability, there are always big winners and big losers. We are entering a time of great instability for lawyers. I believe that those who plan to maintain the status quo, no matter how successful, will have a difficult future.

Step Four: Implement the Plan. Implementing the plan will be the most difficult of all. Humans and institutions strongly resist change. Author, consultant, and business visionary Tom Peters says, "The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out." Thus, the status quo lives on in spite of our intentions to do better. We've got the new ideas in, but cannot get rid of the old ones. We plan, we attend seminars, we hold retreats, and we go back to business as usual.

Business is starting to understand the need to facilitate and manage change. For example, the Ernst & Young firm employs a "Director of Change Management" as a high-level executive. Unless we understand the difficulty of change and take affirmative steps to facilitate it, all will be for naught.

The big issue is whether lawyers, trained in the value of historical precedent, are able to effectively face the future. Ultimately, change must be made by individual entities, lawyers, law firms, the judicial system, law schools, and regulators. To start the process, the State Bar is convening a think-tank conference to consider these issues. The Seize the Future conference will be held in Madison on Dec. 1-2. A diverse group of state and local bar leaders will join with judges and representatives of law schools and other Midwest states to start the process.

With your help, I will continue to explore the future, and the options it holds, by meeting with various local bar groups to get the view from the front lines. To bring the discussion to the entire membership, there will be a Presidential Showcase plenary session at the Annual Convention in Lake Geneva on Friday, May 4, 2001. I hope you will join us there.

Until then, feel free to contact me via email at gbakke@bakke-norman.com. For more information on the December program, contact Trina E. Gray at the State Bar of Wisconsin at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6025, or tgray@wisbar.org.