The need for resilience in leadership
One of the skills that future legal leaders most emphasize is resilience. The white paper found that leaders must be mentally and emotionally prepared to handle increasing pressures while maintaining focus on strategic goals.
“Extraordinary resilience is required as the competitive landscape continues to intensify. Extreme energy – this job is not for the faint of heart,” a survey participant said.
Surveyed leaders said that the ability to stay composed under pressure, have difficult conversations, and withstand the demands of firm leadership will become even more critical by 2030.
McKenna says resilience is crucial because, unlike practising law, where daily achievements are measurable, firm leadership often involves long-term goals with no immediate results.
“At the end of the day, you go home to your spouse, and they ask, ‘Darling, what did you accomplish today?’ As a practising lawyer, you can point to various things you completed. But as a firm leader? Good luck with that. Many of these things aren’t accomplished in a day, a week, or even a month. They take much longer,” McKenna says.