The Extreme Peril of Being Early Adopter
EOs Now Number 5
In business there’s the mythology of the extreme edge of being an “early adopter.” Smirk.
Xerox was one of those with the graphical user interface (GUI) in computing. But it was Apple, orchestrated by Steve Jobs, which made the technology a commercial success with the Macintosh.
See, with early adoption there’s also extreme peril. The Xerox brand took a major hit because it wasn’t able to run with the ball on that great innovation.
Other early adopters which were shamed by dropping the ball range from Kodak (digital camera) to Nokia (mobile phone).
And, here we are.
Amid the unfolding policies in the Trump administration, unfortunately, there have been a number of what we might think of as Accidental Early Adopters. They include so many sectors such as universities, government agencies and, yes, large prestigious law firms. Forced to manage surprise edicts, they have struggled with what to do. Given there are no precedents it has been all too easy for too many constituencies to leap in and assess their solutions without objectivity.
Take the matter of executive orders against prominent law firms which impact their ability to 1) conduct business since security clearances are involved and 2) hold on to the business they have since clients don’t want to be involved in being perceived as anti-administration-anything. There are now five, the latest against Wilmer Hale. As Bloomberg Law reports:
“The president targeted the firm [Wilmer Hale] over its ties to Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who led a probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s alleged coordination with Russian state officials.”
The others have been Covington, Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss and Jenner and Block.
Covington has taken a low profile. Perkins Coie, with its lawsuit about the legality of the Order, a high profile. Jenner and Block may also go that route.
Paul Weiss wound up putting in play a multi-dimensional controversy with its decision to make a deal with the Trump administration. Others could follow that model. After all, as The New York Times documented, so far Paul Weiss hasn’t lost a client or a star partner. And, as usually happens, the public relations crisis finally abated, at least for the current time. So, Paul Weiss had a couple of very bad days …
In being an Accidental Early Adopter, only with different approaches, both Perkins Coie and Paul Weiss have become immersed in time-consuming tasks that have nothing to do with their core business. Time is money. That is time the two businesses will never get back. In addition, the story is only beginning. Depending on how other law firms, as well as other institutions handle edicts, history will write their legacies. Not those in charge of their websites.
Meanwhile, attention now shifts to auto companies with the announcement of tariffs. So far, GM has been the one absorbing the most negative impact. It could find itself yet another Accidental Early Adopter. That could be challenging for a corporation known to move slowly.
Of course, there have been unique benefits to being an Accidental Early Adopter. With the late 1980s corporate downsizing my generation of middle-aged middle managers had nowhere to go in corporate. We were forced to be Accidental Entrepreneurs.
With no experience and no precedent for that sort of massive undertaking we made our own rules. For instance, we introduced the home office. With that saving in fixed expenses, we Davids could underprice the Goliaths.
The outcome? Many of us, since we’re in control, continue to work for income, unlike those who had been employees who, as Pro Publica predicted, were eventually forced out anyway. And they can’t manifest entrepreneurship.
Takeaway: With so much in flux, being an Accidental Early Adopter could become standard. The embrace of that new reality usually is soul-wrenching, not an adventure.
UPDATE:
As noted in this column, other law firms could follow the example of Paul Weiss and negotiate. Under scrutiny by the Trump Administration, Skadden could be traveling that route. The New York Times reports:
“The elite law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has had discussions with President Trump’s advisers about a deal to avert the type of executive order that the White House has been imposing on many of its competitors, according to five people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.”