Trigger Warning: One of the hardest conversations in a law firm isn’t about strategy.
It’s about capacity.
Managing partners often have a clear sense of where the firm wants to go:
growth priorities, practice focus, lateral integration, client expansion and furtherance of their reputation. Each is important.
CMOs are usually equally clear about what it actually takes to support those goals: people, structure, decision-making authority, technology, time, and trade-offs.
Where things break down is in the space between the two.
— Over time, expectations accumulate.
— New initiatives get layered on.
— The right technology is not put into place.
— The mandate grows — but the underlying model often doesn’t change.
When firms pause to step back and honestly assess that gap — between what leadership is asking marketing to deliver and how the function is actually set up and its current resources — the conversation becomes much more productive.
It stops being about performance and starts being about alignment.
And alignment is usually what unlocks progress and brings the firm together. Keep the lines of communication open.
