David J. Hooker


If you can’t find David J. Hooker in the office, it’s probably because he’s out trying to learn what more Thompson Hine LLP can
do — either for its employees or for its clients. Hooker, the $172 million business law firm’s managing partner, believes that the
best way to produce a vision for tomorrow is to take time today to listen to both the marketplace and its people. That drives his
desire to build consensus with the 850 employees across the firm’s eight offices. Smart Business spoke with Hooker about how
to create an environment where everyone is involved and about the importance of repeating the vision.

Build a consensus, build a happy company. You
need to bring people together and help
them form a common vision and a common direction. That’s what makes an
organization successful.

The most important thing is to create an
environment where everybody feels a part
of the firm. We want people to understand
how everyone — whether they are a secretary or a senior partner — can contribute.
You have to look at individuals and make
sure that we understand each one and
what his or her career aspirations are and
how we, as a firm, can help them meet
those aspirations.

We have a program where we ask the
associates to meet by themselves to identify the issues and concerns that they have
about the firm. That process is invigorating
for all of us because we have great dialogue
on things they want us to work on, which
they might not have otherwise had the
opportunity to bring to us.

We document the meetings and report to
the entire firm about what was raised and
what our responses were. We’ve made
changes coming out of that meeting
because associates have suggested it.

Alternatively, there’s been times we can’t
make a change, but we say, ‘No, and here are
the reasons.’ Our associates feel like this is
something that really distinguishes our firm
because of the openness with which we
approach this communication process.

Listen to everybody. One of the most important skills is to be able to listen to people.
That’s listening to people both inside and
outside the firm.

A leader has to be able to form a vision for
his or her organization but that cannot be
done in a vacuum. You first need to listen to
people in the marketplace to set and revise
the vision to keep the organization competitive. You really have to soak up as much
information as possible on what clients
want and what your competition is doing.

Then you have to listen to people in your
own organization because you have to
understand where they’re coming from —
what their fears and concerns and needs
are — so that, as you communicate with
them, you help them understand what we’re doing so they can buy in.

If you find out something, or if you develop a point of view that things are happening in the marketplace, you have to survey,
you have to ask questions, you have to
probe to put yourself in a position to make
a conclusion.

I often meet with clients as the managing
partner of the firm. I do that to express our
appreciation for the confidence they place
in us but also to make sure that I understand
what they’re thinking so I can respond to
any issues or problems they have.

Fix today’s problems through tomorrow’s plans.

The trick is to put today’s problems in context of the vision for tomorrow, and what
that means is, you first have to have the
long-term vision in place as you deal with
the daily problems that come up.

If we’re all in agreement of the longer-term plan, then we can really solve today’s
problem in that context. We know what
we’re trying to achieve, and the decisions
become easier.

If somebody comes in with an opportunity to hire a new lawyer, well, if you have
this vision of the firm that you’re trying to
build, you can pull back and say, ‘Does this
lawyer fit in with the vision of what we’re
trying to build?’ And it becomes a much
easier conversation.

Repeat your communication. You have to communicate to make sure that everything is understood across the firm. I know that
takes repeating things so that everybody has
the opportunity to hear it, think about it, ask
questions and, ultimately, embrace it.

I know it’s successful when I hear others
talking about it. It takes a lot of work to get
there, but it’s a great feeling when you hear
someone explaining the vision in the same
language you started with or when you see
it being communicated by others around the
firm. Then, of course, as groups get together
in the firm, and I sit in on meetings, I always
take that as an opportunity to reinforce the
messages that we’re focused on.

Make new employees feel at home. We’ve
developed a process to bring new people
into the firm and integrate them into our
practice — and the key is the integration
piece. Too often, firms will hire an experienced lawyer, they’ll come in, get their
desk and computer, and the firm will say,
‘Go to work,’ and then nobody pays any
attention to them.

We have a process where each new person has an individual integration plan. And
that process looks at the clients they’ve
been working with, the clients we have, the
people in our firm who have similar or complementary skills sets, and then we map out
the first year of their tenure to take advantage of their specific skills so both sides can
get the most out of that time.

Say what’s on your mind. Don’t be reticent to
say what you think. When a new leader
takes over an organization, he or she naturally wants respect, but he or she can’t be
shy about what their vision for the organization is.

You have to get out there and say what
you think. People look to leaders for direction, and the leader has to give it. There are
going to be times you need to refine your
direction or vision based either on judgments or market forces pushing you in different directions, so you have to be willing
to go out in front of everyone and say, ‘Hey,
we have to make a change in plans, and
this is what we’re going to do.’

HOW TO REACH: Thompson Hine LLP, (216) 566-5821 or
www.thompsonhine.com