Pulling together several ideas about how law departments can come up with new approaches

A notable summary comes from an article in the McKinsey Quarterly, 2008, No. 4, at 131, by two Stanford professors that has to do with what facilitates positive change. “First, [leaders] can think constantly about how to develop the most successful blend of existing ideas rather than the newest and most radical ones. They can also set a public, inspiring, and difficult goal and then break it down into manageable chunks. Finally, they can boost the odds that innovative ideas will spread, by encouraging their organizations to identify affordances that help people learn about, understand, and applying new products, systems, and procedures.”

Each of these three methods make eminent sense for general counsel to adopt (See my post of Feb. 14, 2009: combine familiar ideas into new approaches; Feb. 23, 2009: establish BHAGs for law departments; Feb. 5, 2009: nurture affordances; and Feb. 23, 2009: collect and distribute ideas.).