Lawyers who are or aspire to be leaders must learn to self-manage. Especially when stressed or under pressure (and who isn't, at least part of the time?) it's easy to let self-management slide in the face of provocation. Some attorneys I know offer a blanket apology to staff and colleagues - something like, "I'm feeling stressed, so please excuse me if I blow up or yell at you or throw things, ok?" I don't recommend that approach; it's been than nothing, I suppose, but it's actually announcing that bad behavior is coming, apparently largely unchecked.

High Altitude Leadership, published late last year, seems to have hit the market at precisely the right moment. Drawing on observations made during mountaineering expeditions (including Mount Everest ascents), the authors identify eight dangers that climbers and business leaders face. Although the observations are phrased in business terms, they're certainly applicable to legal practice as well.

Before you agree to speak or to write an article, you must ensure that your time will be well invested. Ask yourself the following questions:

Daniel Goleman gained notoriety in the mid-1990s for identifying competencies related to "emotional intelligence," or the ability to perceive, regulate, understand, and work with emotions to enhance leadership. Those competencies are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Based on research by the consulting firm Hay/McBer, Goleman identifies six distinct leadership styles, each of which uses a unique combination of the emotional intelligence competencies.

Before engaging in any rainmaking activity, you must determine the investment to payoff ratio. Simply put, what results will your investment of time and energy buy you? Is there another activity that likely has a better yield? Your goal is to determine whether a given activity is likely to move you closer to your rainmaking goals in proportion to its expense in time, energy, and money, recognizing that your estimate is only an estimate.

Overwhelm can tank a day faster than just about anything else. When you have more email than you can handle, an out-of-control task list, and phone calls that just won't stop, it's almost impossible to operate effectively. Even if you manage to limp along, you may find that you're distracted and that things are falling through the cracks. Over the years, I've honed in on a variety of methods to beat overwhelm, and these are the top 10, based on my own experience and client feedback:

While in Teton National Park last week, I noticed a trend among serious hikers. I parked at several trailheads during my vacation, and I noticed that the parking lots for the more intense hiking trails featured a surprising number of Subaru cars, all with outdoorsy names like Outback. I've never seen so many Subarus in one place, and I'm not at all sure that I've seen more than a handful elsewhere.

How do you ask for business? We all know intuitively (or through training) that those who don't ask typically don't get business. However, many lawyers are leery to come out and ask for business explicitly, and rightly so. Asking can disrupt a relationship if the answer is "no," and, under some circumstances, asking can even be an ethical violation. Even when those concerns are not in play, some lawyers may feel pushy if they ask for business. And yet, the inner voice cautions, if you don't ask, you don't get.

The Essential Little Book of Great Lawyering is aptly named: at just 52 pages (including the title page, copyright, and table of contents), you'll need less than an hour to discover the essential skills of great lawyering. Some readers may be wondering why anyone would need a book to learn what great lawyering is, and some may be thinking that great lawyering "obviously" means possessing enormous technical expertise, good judgment, and years of experience in which to develop those attributes. That is what most lawyers mean by great lawyering. But what do clients mean?

Have you ever been in one of those deadly conversations in which a lot of words fly about and yet nothing happens?

Or when decisions are made and strategies are crafted, but everyone sitting around the table knows that nothing will actually change because everyone is talking around the real problem? What a waste of time!

I heard a lot of response to last week's suggestion that networking is the most important thing a lawyer can do to grow a practice. A few disagreed with my assessment, but most responded by asking how to network well. Some introverts mentioned their discomfort in walking into a room of strangers. Others said that they'd tried networking but didn't see good results, and they wondered what went wrong. And a few said they worried about being obnoxious or being cornered by pushy or mercenary people.

One of the keys to success is practice is efficient and effective action. We all know that's true in billable work, and we study time management and time mastery to find ways to optimize daily activity.

Leaders are better rainmakers. Bold statement, isn't it? But think about it. Would you easily place your trust in someone who manages a team of worker bees who don't make much individual contribution - knowing that if the manager goes down, the team will at best miss a few beats? Or would you select someone who is skilled in assembling a strong team and evoking high performance from its members?

I've been doing a tremendous amount of business development coaching recently, and I often tell my clients that rainmaking is all about relationships. I also tell clients that good relationships, personal or professional, should be nurtured - even that low-level employee of a corporate client may prove to be a valuable contact one day. This past weekend confirmed that for me.

I've talked with several lawyers recently who didn't see "it" coming: the layoff, the departure of a major client, or the exit of a key rainmaker with a number of top clients. The predictable fallout can be devastating... Panic, fear, a rush of adrenaline as it becomes clear that action is necessary right now, or else. Most of the lawyers with whom I've spoken have been able to land on their feet, but the cost has been substantial. Each would prefer to have avoided the crisis by taking necessary action before it became urgent to do so.

You've probably heard it before: it's much easier to source new business from an existing client than from a non-client.

You may also know that many clients judge their lawyers based largely on the day-to-day interactions between you - how well you serve the client, in other words.

When we speak of transparency and creating a culture of candor, we are really talking about the free flow of information within an organization and between the organization and its many stakeholders, including the public. . . . For information to flow freely within an institution, followers must feel free to speak openly, and leaders must welcome such openness.

Corporate America is far ahead of law firms in systematically studying leadership and organizational effectiveness. As law becomes more of a business - and as leadership becomes even more critical at all levels of a lawyer's practice - it makes sense to consider what corporations know that lawyers and law firms may not. For instance, what distinguishes the great from the merely good? What factors contribute to sustaining success in today's rapidly changing economic environment?

Last week I spoke with a client who was struggling with his business development activity. Nate (as usual, the name and identifying details have been changed to protect his privacy) had experienced great success in converting acquaintances who heard him talk about the kind of matters he handles into clients, and he decided that if speaking casually to small groups works well, speaking formally to large groups would deliver even better results.