March 2011

-Merck & Company, Internal Management Guide

I want to … express the principles upon which we in company have endeavored to live up to … Here is how it sums up: We try to remember that medicine is for the patient. We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have remembered it, the larger they have been.

-George Merck II

Imagine that all of us were suddenly transported to the year 2091. Much [of our strategy and methods] would have been changed by developments we cannot anticipate. But no matter what changed might have occurred in the Company, I know we would find one thing remained the same—and that thing matters most: the … spirit of Merck people … A century from now, I believe we would fee the same esprit de corps. … I believe this, above all, because Merck’s dedication to fighting disease, relieving suffering and helping people is a righteous cause—one that inspires people to dream of doing great things. It is a timeless cause, and it will lead Merck people to great achievements during the next hundred years.

-Roy Vagelos

• Success at Legal Authority depends on embracing the Core Value of getting attorneys jobs-Whether or not we realize it, the people who succeed and do not succeed here are people who embrace and understand this value. Present and future (long term) success has its symptoms:
  1. quality of advice,
  2. work ethic,
  3. ability to identify with others,
  4. how closely you are willing to look at the job market,
  5. how selfless you are,
  6. long term commitment,
  7. work product,
  8. contribution on multiple levels—aside from just being on phone,
  9. results.
• Understanding the importance of work-Work is the most important component of life—it takes the most of our time and determines the quality of our existence. Helping others to work is among the most important tasks there is. We better the lives and futures of others.
• Because the most important part of our jobs is to get attorneys jobs, every action we take should be calculated towards this-It is inappropriate to look at our jobs as serving only our self interest. As Employment Advocates, we should be adding a tremendous amount of value to the process of getting an attorney a job. The value we add:
  1. Having done research to assist attorneys find jobs,
  2. Having the persuasive power to get attorneys to apply for certain jobs,
  3. Having the ability to construct persuasive presentations to law firms,
  4. Understanding the nuances of the job search process and counseling candidates of the appropriate steps to take each step of the way,
  5. Closing deals on both sides and making action occur.

• Market dominators are well branded-Consider the recent success of Yahoo!, Starbucks and Kinko’s. Each of these businesses pursued a relentless branding strategy.If you ask 100 people what their preferred choice of a search engine is, a large proportion of them are likely to say Yahoo! This result came in the market despite the fact that many other search engines such as AltaVista, Northern Light and others were consistently rated better.Yahoo!’s entire business strategy was based on branding. For years, Yahoo! lost millions of dollars, much of it simply getting its name out. It published Yahoo! Magazine and ensured that bookstores and newsstands displayed it—effectively creating billboards. The company ran millions of dollars of television commercials each year that delivered a simple, brand-driven message: “Do You Yahoo!”And we do.
• Distinction between products and services-The typical product possesses one trait: it is tangible. As a result, we buy products because of their inherent qualities and their symbolic ones—the Coach briefcase, Hermes scarf, Volvo automobile. People buy these because of how they perform and also because of what they say about their owner.Products are made; services are delivered.Products are used; services are experienced.Services are invisible to everyone. We do not try and keep up with the Jones’ choice of an orthodontist, Internet service provider or therapist. (Indeed, our relationship with therapists, doctors, lawyers and others are protected from public scrutiny by rules of evidence and laws.)Services differ from products in one important way: control. You own the product you buy. You control it. Your services, however, are most apt to control you. The doctor or dentist determines what you need and when and how you will receive it. If you seek advice from a service, you find yourself at the provider’s mercy.We crave control, but feel a lack of it with services, so we feel less comfortable in or relationship with services. We need their reassurance that they will use their control intelligently, and in our best interest. With few exceptions—our choice of amusement parks, comedy clubs, and some restaurants, for example—we need to know the service is serious, experienced, consistent and reliable.
• Why Legal Authority must be the best branded attorney outplacement business and dominate the market:
  1. People need to find us;
  2. Consumers will choose the most familiar business;
  3. People who work here will be proud of company;
  4. Company needs to survive;
  5. Will enable us to influence more people;
  6. Will make us an authority in our field;
  7. Will make people believe we are reliable;
  8. Will make people believe we are serious;
  9. Will make people believe we are experienced;
  10. Economic rewards.
• Key Legal Authority brand component questions:
  1. Uniqueness-Is our brand unique?
  2. Vividness-Is our brand vivid?
  3. Simple-Is our brand simple?
  4. Does it communicate a clear and powerful message, in the way we most want and need to communicate?
  5. Is it inviting?
• We must connect with people-consumers buy more than things; they purchase connections. (The remarkably named businesswoman Silver Rose described this perfectly. “I think adults invented work,” she observed, “so that they could play together all day.”)Our lives seem increasingly disconnected. Our drive for connection grows more intense. Making genuine, human connections becomes more important everywhere—not the least of all in our businesses every day.
  ·Advertising ·Content ·Being viewed as experts ·Being the only logical choice for attorneys ·Being in multiple places at once (law school, unqualified attorneys) ·Having access to the most attorneys ·Continually growing

An almost stupefying pace of change ensures that any business concept, no matter how brilliant, will over time, lose its economic efficiency. Starbucks rapidly became America’s premier coffee brand. The average Starbuck’s customer visits the store 18 times per month. Picture all the brand managers sitting in Switzerland, less than a decade ago, running Nescafe’, the world’ best selling coffee. Do you think they ever thought they could entice throngs of students and bus drivers to line up to pay three dollars for a cup of coffee. While they were worrying about things like market share, Proctor & Gamble and what color cans to put on supermarket shelves they were losing market share.

Industry leaders exploit the protective urge, any hesitancy on the part of the oligarcy.

• We must understand the weaknesses of our competition and exploit this-We are defined by what we are as much as we are defined by what we are not. The weaknesses of our competition are:
  1. Complacency;
  2. Lack of investment in infrastructure;
  3. Protectionist thinking;
  4. A lack of a core value that demands getting attorneys jobs;
  5. A desire for money over doing their work well;
  6. The inability to get enthusiastic about their candidates;
  7. The lack of a realization that the profession of recruiting is something that is just as important—if not a more important profession—than the practice of law;
  8. The inability to continue improving at all times;
  9. The inability or lack of desire to continually improve;
  10. getting people on board who are committed with doing the absolute most exceptional job possible in the recruiting arena;
  11. getting rid of people not committed to doing the best possible job in the recruiting arena;
  12. adequately branding their business;
  13. The inability to constantly question what a recruiting firm should be;
  14. The inability to do things as they should be done all the time.

• We respect technology at Legal Authority and realize its value to who we are as a group-One of the first things that happened with the founding of this company was the investment in technology. This investment continues to this day.
• The database is one of the most significant ways in which we communicate and assist with community building-Use the database to your advantage and realize its benefits.
• Constant awareness in the need to invest in products and ideas will drive us forward.

• In order to succeed here in a meaningful way, you must have a fervent belief that you and your peers are here to get attorneys jobs-Our team is dedicated to getting attorneys jobs.
• In order to succeed here in a meaningful way, you must have a fervent belief if doing your job as well as it can be done-Our team is dedicated to doing our jobs as well as possibly can be done.