The Eternal Optimist: Sniff the air

One of my favourite films is Being There, featuring the late Peter Sellers as Chauncey Gardner, a man with seemingly simplistic views that prove prophetic as the story unfolds. In some ways he reminds me of my father, an old “lion” who no longer roars at the dinner table, but when he speaks, now appears to have greater wisdom in his words. As we parted recently, he reminded me to “smell the roses and the manure too”. I’ve pondered that a lot recently.

It doesn’t seem that long since most of my conversations with legal firms revolved around recession, lack of business and financial woes. Perhaps that’s one of the drawbacks of my approaching “a certain age”. It is though almost 15 years since the banking crisis, and around 10 since the recovery started. 

People in all walks of life tend to focus on what is immediately ahead, and conversations within the profession have for some time centred round extremely high work levels and the challenges of attracting and retaining staff. Our issues are generally around the boom which many firms have been encountering, and some of our younger colleagues have little recollection of the most recent of our recurring recessions. But history has taught us that nothing lasts forever, and it needs little commercial astuteness to see that more challenging times may be on the horizon.

Take a step back

A cycling trainer of mine used to say: “It is wise to look ahead on the road, but it’s foolish to try and see over the brow of the hill.” An understanding of what might lie in the near future, and a plan for once we see what does, seems to me a basic requirement for those of us both running businesses and advising others who do. There are currently real pressures due to volume of work that require to be addressed. Some may have no short term fix, but perhaps we should not act as if this market will continue indefinitely. As with so many purchases over lockdown, what costs and acquisitions might we look back on in a year or two and regret?

Some of us can forget what a blessing such busy times are. They bring the income to fund retirement or invest in our business. Higher income levels evidence that we are again making a healthy return for our efforts and entrepreneurial risks. While many are suffering under pressure of work, perhaps we need a moment to appreciate that this is what many of us wished for in 2009: the manure that goes with the roses, perhaps. Quieter times will no doubt return, bringing their own opportunities and challenges: opportunities to investigate new markets for our services, increase our skills, or simply take life a little easier to prepare for the next upturn. All easy to say, but what then to do?

You might recollect that I have made reference to the philosophy of stoicism before. In simple terms, I see it as an unemotional acceptance of the changing nature of the world: things happen; it’s not personal. The above is a case in point. Hopefully, then, we can take a moment to appreciate all that the recent market has brought. It has come not without multiple difficulties, but these difficulties have in themselves been a gift, assisting us and our practices to develop better and faster ways of dealing with our clients and their many challenges. Likewise, quieter times before (I don’t like the R word) have assisted us in developing lean and efficient firms, and lockdown, for all its challenges, catapulted the profession 10 years forward in its use of IT. Everything comes with its own measure of the good and the challenging; you can’t really have one without the other: no roses without manure.

Before concluding, I would like simply to acknowledge how challenging circumstances remain for so many of our colleagues in the legal aid field. For them, I hope, all that I say is true but in converse: their winter has been summer for others and hopefully better times will be on the horizon.

Changing seasons

So what would Chauncey make of today’s world and the challenges in the distance? As one character commented in the film, “I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we’re upset by the seasons of our economy.” I think that is very much in point where we are now. If things are busy, enjoy them the best we can; when things become quieter, take time and recover. Prune where necessary, but not so much as to damage the plant.

More importantly though for the profession we all operate within, “As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.” To me that is about remaining true to our professional values. Things are changing; they always are, but the values of professionalism and client service that we have provided to our communities have and always will serve us well whatever season we might be in.