The following is an excerpt from Gene Commander’s August article in Attorney at Work. The article explores the idea of embracing strategic slowness and the positive outcomes from pursuing this mantra in today’s law firm environment. The article in full can be read here.
Law firm leaders often move from decision to decision at breakneck speed. Now, two Stanford management professors are turning heads by offering a counterintuitive recommendation: adopt a mantra of “strategic slowness.”
Earlier this year, Stanford’s Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to counsel leaders of all stripes to ease up, bucking Mark Zuckerberg’s notorious “move fast and break things” philosophy. Sutton cites examples such as Elon Musk’s “impulsive missteps” at X and Elizabeth Holmes’ maneuverings at Theranos as compelling reasons to avoid the harsh consequences of “hurry sickness.”