TROUTMAN FIRM IS OPEN! (AGAIN): Video Shot Was a Big Success– And Let’s Talk About Culture Real Quick

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Everybody always asks me how I create such amazing winning CULTURE on my teams. It takes a little special talent, sure, but I actually have an extremely SIMPLE formula for it. I’ll give it to you in a minute. But first, a few scattered thoughts–if you’ll bear with me.

So it is pretty wild that my firm has been open for nearly 6 months and I still dont have a website.

I mean, I have tcpaworld.com, of course, and a podcast and a You Tube channel and all the social media trappings.

But I don’t have an actual website for the Firm.

A lot of folks have asked why and–the truth is–I just didn’t want a sucky out-of-the-box infinite scroll cookie-cutter website like ALLLLLLL the other law firms have.

And I know, I know, tcpaworld.com isn’t exactly the most avant garde of websites, so I’ll forgive you if you’re confused by my new-found internet snobbery.

But a blog is a blog, and a website is the Firm’s real and obvious and lingering presence. It is the flagship of your internet presence. It is the brand. Living and breathing.

So I knew I wanted something profound for the website but–again, being totally honest–I just couldn’t afford to do what I wanted out of the gate. And rather than diminish the brand with some awful little trope of a web offering.

I waited and saved.

Can you tell I’m wearing make up?

Took me six months to save up enough to do it. But I’ve done it. I mean, sort of.

We just had the shoot yesterday, we still need to stitch it all together. Really hoping to have it out December 1 at the latest!!! But we’ll see.

As with all things we do, this was a labor of love. And it took commitment from all of you as well. I mean an entire law firm vanished off the face of the Earth for a day, and you all stuck by us–so THANK YOU. Sorry about that. And it will not happen again.

For now though please bask in the joy of these photographs. I will tell you this team is amazing. And you can see the JOY we all bring to the practice of law beaming in our smiling faces.

But let’s get back to that culture discussion. I only owe you one secret. But I’ll give you two. 🙂

First, the word “cult” is right in the word culture folks. If you’re not trying to build a cult, you’re not really building culture. 😉

Joking. Sort of.

But second-and for real– culture is about two things: vision and commitment. When you have both, you have culture. When you don’t, you have a big pile of confused people going in different directions. Always.

That’s the problem with biglaw. They never really have vision. Its all about maximizing profits. But that’s not really a vision, now is it? That’s not really going somewhere. Its just dreaming up the next scheme to get a few extra bucks off someone.

Nope.

No wonder biglaw firms always struggle with culture. Like, what culture can there be in an environment that focuses solely on profits? Never going to happen.

And this is true beyond biglaw firms, of course. Making money just isn’t a vision. And working to just make money just isn’t very fulfilling.

There has to be some transcendental quality to what you’re doing. Otherwise you’re just pushing a rock up a hill for a handful of hamster pellets. You’re worth more than that.

I encourage everyone to realize you can’t CREATE culture. It just doesn’t work that way. First you need vision. A direction. Something profound that the world needs. Then sell your vision for meeting those needs to a group of spirited and talented people– and the commitment will follow.

And once you have commitment and a vision your CULTURE will be a winning one. Always. And over time you will become unstoppable. Just like Troutman Firm is right now.

I love all of you. Thank you each for the role you played in this. I could never be here without you.

Now get back to work.

 

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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  1. Pingback: Video Shot Was a Big Success– And Let’s Talk About Culture Real Quick – TCPAWorld - Louthnow.ie

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