Surviving Litigation and the Recession: Lessons from "Rocky"
We often tell clients that going through litigation is like the movie Rocky: the parties will batter each other emotionally and financially until the last one standing wins. This analogy draws on popular culture and helps to manage clients’ expectations, while promoting the advantages of reasonable negotiated settlements. It also makes a serious point with a touch of humor.
Little did I know that even more nuanced life lessons are to be found in one of the sequels, Rocky III.
In this installment, Rocky has lost the championship and is trained by his former arch-opponent for a comeback.
But, there’s more to it. Rocky, in fact, has to learn new skills. Specifically, he has to be quicker, more agile, and learn to move rhythmically. He also has to package his new skills into a whole new fight strategy. But first, he has to pick himself up emotionally.
I think this is a good metaphor for surviving the recession. Businesses that may have lost their “championship” standing may need to pick themselves up, learn new skills and package them into a whole new business strategy.
Actually, learning new skills should be part of a continuous process, and business strategies should be continually reevaluated and refreshed. Then, the business would be well-positioned to survive adversity -- even a really bad recession. Personally, we have always been prepared to shift the focus of our practice within appropriate areas of our expertise and to selectively implement new technologies to deliver services more effectively.
So, I learned about litigation from Rocky and about management from Rocky III.
To think that I could have saved all that time going to business school and law school if I had only paid more attention to Rocky.
image courtesy allposters.com
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