“What ever is he talking about?”
Western business schools, and especially the training programs of large global and publicly-traded companies, do a much, much better job than do law schools or law firms of training people (1) to plan work and (2) to get it done. Or even to value that.
Do we lawyers know how to get things done, done right and done on time? Do we even value that? I wonder.
I am not talking here about the simple “keeping face” and survival requirements of meeting client deal or court deadlines, or even about the cliches of working hard, creative thinking, “out of the box”, working smart or being persistent. I mean structure, a real standard, and “practicing structure” every day–the discipline of (1) having a plan or strategy for any one project, client or non-client, (2) meeting internal project deadlines no matter what, and (3) applying the will to work that plan and timetable.
And making it a habit until it’s natural–and (gulp) fun.