We don’t about you, but Lauren and I CANNOT WAIT for the summer Olympic games! We love the competition. We love the athlete stories. We love learning about other countries. We love it all! But what we’re hands-down looking forward to the most is seeing Simone Biles compete. She is unquestionably the GOAT (greatest of all time) in gymnastics, and she’s arguably the GOAT in any sport. She’s that good.
Recently, Simone competed a vault that no other female gymnast has ever performed and that very few men have performed – a Yurchenko double pike (watch it!). Needless to say, it’s an incredibly difficult and dangerous vault. You would think the mastery of such a skill would be rewarded, but the International Gymnastics Federation, the entity responsible for determining the code of points, has chosen not to raise the start value of the vault to where many think it should be to deter other gymnasts from completing it. When Simone was asked why despite this fact, she will still complete that particular vault at the Olympic games, she said “because I can.” She isn’t going to do it to please the judges or to win the gold medal. She’s going to do it to push her boundaries and move the sport forward. It’s Simone vs. herself.
We are so inspired by athletes like her, and we’re hoping to harness that inspiration and channel it to anyone who wants to push the boundaries of their practice and help us move our profession forward. Let’s leave the way things have always been done behind, even if doing so doesn’t meet the approval of others. Let’s build our practices in a way that aligns with our definition of success and wellbeing and not the definitions of others, especially those who aren’t in the arena. Let’s do this for ourselves so that we as a profession stay relevant and useful to the public. Let’s do this because we can.
Not sure how to get started? We think the best place to start is to break away (or stay away if you’re just getting started) from the billable hour. It’s toxic for attorney wellbeing. The average legal consumer hates it because it lacks transparency and predictability and is in no way tied to what they actually value. Luckily, there is another pricing model that will not only allow you to meet your revenue goals but will also increase your collection rate, profit, lifetime value of a client, and most importantly, your satisfaction and wellbeing. That model is value-based pricing, and we look forward to teaching you how to do it this fall with the release of the second iteration of The Chicago Bar Foundation’s Pricing Toolkit and a companion webinar series, both of which will be collaborations with On Purpose Legal. These resources will provide you with everything you need to get started. Watch for an announcement on our social media or subscribe to our newsletter to get it delivered directly to your inbox.
