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Losing Our Heads Over AI
Tag: lawyers
There is an old story about a farmer who was training his horse to eat less food so that he could increase his profits. He gradually reduced the amount of feed that he gave the horse, until it was eating a small fraction of what horses usually eat. He was on the verge of a breakthrough and had visions of patenting his methodology and becoming both famous and fabulously wealthy.
It is 9:45 pm on a Sunday night in the summer, six years into retirement. I have just completed a day of doing exactly what I wanted to do, which was not much. Saturday was much the same.
The first part of the title of this article is a quote from my mother, who has repeated these words as far back as I can remember. However, my minimalist effort to conduct research before I write stuff uncovered that the quote is attributed to some fellow named Alan Sheinwald. I really don’t know who stole it from who. But, as Mr. Hayes, my grade nine math teacher, used to say, “it makes no never mind.”
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Lessons Learned From My COO
When I became the managing partner of my firm, we hired an excellent general manager, who ultimately became our COO. I will call her Bev.
Bev had a background in business, significant experience in human resources and a great capacity for emotional intelligence, all of which were in short supply among our partners.
I articled for the now defunct law firm of Goodman and Carr. It was a well-regarded firm in its day. Wolfe Goodman was a senior partner and a leading tax lawyer of his era. In my tax rotation, I spent considerable time with him. He made tax sound so interesting that there was even a brief moment in time that I thought I wanted to be a tax lawyer.
“I’m so old, I don’t buy green bananas anymore.”
~ Lou Holtz
From my 71-year-old vantage point, I have come to realize that our perspective on many issues is often affected by where we are on our journey through life.
Back when law was primarily a profession, and only incidentally a business, if you were not invited to become a partner in your law firm after seven years or so, you were expected to hang your head in shame and slink out of the firm. The system was called “Up or Out.” You either graduated to partnership, or you left the firm.
My good friend Felicity had a problem. Her relatives were making comments about how she takes care of her elderly father, who I will call Allan. She gave me the example of an aunt who asked, “Why is Allan still driving?” and expressed her opinion that Allan is too old and ill to be driving. She said it in a way that implied it was Felicity’s fault.
Some of you will know the origin of the title of this article. The rest of you will have to look it up.
These famous words convey the notion that when you are facing an existential crisis, you must devote yourself completely to the task of surviving. Other priorities become irrelevant.