Power Grids
How Successful Lawyers Build Powerful Networks that Drive Reputations, Relationships, Referrals, and Revenues.
Available Now
Using the metaphor of a power grid, Eric Dewey lays out and synthesizes all the interdependent approaches and processes needed to be successful – including the key ones that he has tested over his long career that really work, and ones that he’s invented in collaboration with his clients and is sharing with us for the first time.
Written in an inviting-to-read style, Eric speaks to each of us as a personal business development coach, working with us every step of the way. He knows how lawyers think, the pressures that face them, what motivates them to action, and how they learn.
Power Grids is more than just a how-to-connect book. Dewey shares models to help you better understand industry structure, your practice’s competitive position, and how to align value with the client’s changing needs. He debunks certain outdated approaches that he knows are a waste of time and encourages us to envision practice-specific selling strategies rather than a one-size-fits-all sales approach. He urges us to learn the language of business, understand the context in which legal solutions must work, and work to become both a trusted advisor and an embedded partner to our clients. Power Grids provides everything you need to know to be an effective business developer now and in the future.
What Readers Are Saying
"Power Grids is phenomenal. Dewey expertly connects the dots between uniquely powerful tips and tricks that I know work with compelling analysis and the "why" they work. For any lawyer, this book should be the foundation of a successful law practice - and client-development strategy. I'm envious. Power Grids is the book I wish I had written."
Patrick Fuller, Vice President and General Manager, ALM Intelligence
“Power Grids is excellent – no, it’s fantastically great! Eric Dewey pulls together all the useful approaches to business development – separating the wheat from the chaff – and packaging it in an easily digestible form. If you could only read one book that provides all the tools needed to gain new clients, develop new business, and be the first person called when a client needs help, Power Grids is it. In the field of law firm business development, Eric Dewey is one of the geniuses.”
Bruce Heintz, Heintz Consulting LLC, Strategic Advisor to 30 of the Top 100 U.S. Law Firms
“This book delivers on its promise of how to build powerful networks! If you value practical guidance for building your professional practice, you definitely need to read this book!
Some of the parts I really enjoyed included 'Evaluating the Market Position of Your Practice' which included exercises that provoked you to answer specific questions; 'Planning your Outreach Conversations' with 12 pages of great questions to think through; and his ‘Monitoring Unusual Business Activities,’ which covers 26 hidden legal opportunities.
This book gives prescriptive and practical outlines for how to make and grow your personal connections, from attending industry events to reaching out on LinkedIn and even how to be successful with people you may not know. You also get insightful instructions on everything from asking for referrals to obtaining client testimonials.
The analytical quality of Eric Dewey's work makes this a serious book on how to build and develop your personal network of powerful connections.”
Patrick J. McKenna, Advisor to premier global law firms and author of Industry Specialization: Making Competitors Irrelevant
"Eric Dewey transforms your network from a well-worn afterthought into a far more powerful network - a nimble, always useful, and constantly re-generating "power grid".
Steven H. Shapiro, Corporate Practice Group Leader, Duggan Bertsch, LLC
“Eric Dewey's Power Grids is chock full of thought-provoking counsel and helpful guidance. Just what you'd expect from him!”
Linda Hazelton, Linda Hazelton Consulting
“There is so much good information in this book. I only wish I had this book when I was an associate.”
Andrew Stewart, Partner, Sidley Austin
“One of the smartest guys I know put a lot of his wisdom into an amazing new book! So many incredible insights into how a lawyer or any professional can improve their business development efforts. I loved his story about the need to develop the “habit” of developing new work. Totally agree. If you don’t get into the habit, you will never improve.”
David Kaufman, Director of Global Strategies, Nixon Peabody, LLP