A few years ago, I walked in on my son watching “The Walking Dead.” He was old enough that I wasn’t upset about it, but I remember looking at the television and thinking, “Seriously? This is what you’re watching?”
There were zombies eating people, flesh being ripped off, blood everywhere. Not exactly my idea of quality television. He insisted the show was really good, and I basically shrugged and said, “Okay, that’s fine,” and moved on with my life.
Then recently, for whatever reason, I decided to give it another shot, and oh my God, it’s so good.
Once you get past the zombies eating people’s faces, which admittedly takes a little getting used to, you realize that “The Walking Dead” really isn’t about zombies at all. It’s about people, human nature, the good and evil that can exist in all of us, and the importance of loyalty, leadership, community, trust, family, and the decisions people make when everything around them becomes difficult.
Somewhere along the way, I also started realizing that there were some pretty significant lessons for lawyers trying to build a book of business and create a legal career that gives them more control, satisfaction, and enjoyment.
I never thought I would be getting business development ideas from a zombie show, but here we are.
Lesson No. 1: Being Alone Is Dangerous
One of the most consistent themes throughout “The Walking Dead” is that surviving alone is incredibly difficult. People who wander off by themselves tend to get picked off, while the people who have a better chance of surviving generally create communities where everyone contributes something different.
One person knows how to grow food, another understands medicine, someone else knows how to build or repair things, and others become the leaders, protectors, problem solvers, or connectors within the group. Their collective knowledge and resources allow them to accomplish things that none of them could have done nearly as well on their own.
Business development works much the same way, although hopefully with fewer crossbows.
One of the biggest mistakes I see lawyers make is trying to figure everything out by themselves. They sit in their offices trying to determine which networking events to attend, what they should post on LinkedIn, how to generate referrals, how to follow up with people, what niche they should develop, and what their overall business development plan should look like.
Meanwhile, someone two doors down may have already figured out half of it.
Growing a book in isolation is difficult because you are limited to your own experiences, ideas, and perspectives. Having other people around you who are also focused on growth can expose you to better systems, new approaches, accountability, and solutions you may never have considered otherwise.
That could mean creating a small business development group inside your law firm that meets once a month to discuss what everyone is working on and what is actually producing results. It could mean finding a coach, joining a peer group, or becoming part of a community like the BE THAT LAWYER Community, where ambitious attorneys can learn from lawyers dealing with many of the same challenges.
The point isn’t that there is one right group or one right way to do it. The point is that lawyers who surround themselves with other growth-minded people generally have more ideas, more support, and a better opportunity to improve than lawyers who decide they need to figure everything out alone.
Lesson No. 2: Creativity Keeps You Alive
Another thing I love about “The Walking Dead” is how constantly everyone has to adapt. There isn’t exactly a Home Depot open down the street, so when something breaks or a new problem develops, they have to figure out a solution using whatever they can find.
They learn how to grow food, protect communities, find clean water, manufacture ammunition, repair equipment, communicate over long distances, and keep moving forward when the resources they once relied on no longer exist.
They survive because they become resourceful.
Lawyers need more of that same creativity when it comes to business development because the legal marketplace is unbelievably crowded. There are thousands of talented attorneys who may be perfectly capable of handling the exact same type of matter, which means that being a good lawyer by itself does not necessarily make someone memorable or give a prospective client a reason to call.
Sometimes the difference is how creatively you communicate who you are and the value you bring.
That may mean using LinkedIn in a way that sounds like you rather than posting the same firm announcements everyone else is posting. It may mean developing a podcast, writing articles, producing short videos, creating a niche, speaking to a specific industry, or finding a way to connect something from your personal life or interests back to your expertise.
For years, I’ve watched lawyers make business development far more boring than it needs to be. They look at what everyone else is doing, copy it, and then wonder why nobody is paying attention.
Creativity doesn’t mean becoming gimmicky or doing something outrageous just to get noticed. It means being thoughtful about how you communicate your expertise, personality, and point of view so that the people you want to meet have a reason to remember you.
In a crowded profession where many lawyers can provide similar legal services, standing out in an authentic way can make the difference between becoming just another name in someone’s inbox and becoming the person they want to meet.
Lesson No. 3: Find Your People
Maybe the biggest lesson running through the entire show is the importance of finding your people.
Throughout “The Walking Dead,” families are separated, communities fall apart, and characters constantly find themselves searching for the people they trust. Along the way, they also meet complete strangers who eventually become as important to them as the families they started with.
That idea has a lot more relevance to a legal career than I ever expected to find in a zombie show.
Finding your people may mean finding the right law firm, particularly if you are currently somewhere that doesn’t align with your values, personality, or goals. It may mean taking a harder look at the clients you work with and deciding whether you want to spend the next 10 or 20 years serving people who constantly nickel-and-dime you, ignore your advice, or treat you like a commodity.
It also means finding the right strategic partners, referral sources, colleagues, and other professionals who operate in a way that feels compatible with how you want to conduct yourself and your business.
Some of the best relationships I’ve developed over the course of my career have come from people with whom there is a natural level of trust, respect, and compatibility. We may have very different businesses or personalities, but there is enough alignment in how we operate and what we value that the relationship becomes both professionally productive and personally enjoyable.
I feel the same way about many of the lawyers I coach. I enjoy the people I work with; I care about what happens in their careers, and I genuinely want to see them succeed. That makes the work more meaningful for me, and I think it makes the relationship better for them as well.
Lawyers spend an enormous percentage of their lives working, so the idea that you should simply tolerate the wrong environment, wrong clients, or wrong relationships because “that’s the profession” makes very little sense to me.
Finding your people doesn’t mean finding people who agree with you about everything. It means finding the people with whom you can build the kind of relationships and career that make all the work feel worthwhile.
Who Knew Zombies Could Teach Us This Much?
“The Walking Dead” obviously isn’t for everybody. If watching zombies eat people’s faces isn’t your thing, I completely understand.
For me, however, I’ve discovered two significant benefits. First, there are 11 seasons, which means I don’t have to spend the next six months scrolling through Netflix wondering what I should watch next. I can just keep going.
More importantly, underneath all of the zombies and violence is a surprisingly human show. Much of it is about relationships, trust, leadership, finding common ground, protecting the people you care about, and figuring out how to rebuild when circumstances change.
That’s probably why I’ve become so hooked on it.
And while the zombie apocalypse and legal business development are obviously very different situations, there is something useful in the idea that we are generally better off when we surround ourselves with good people, remain creative enough to adapt when the old way isn’t working, and become intentional about finding the clients, colleagues, partners, and communities that make both our businesses and our lives better.
If nothing else, that’s a pretty good return on a show I originally thought was just about people getting eaten.
Build your book. Own your future. BE THAT LAWYER.
Steve Fretzin is a five-time bestselling author, host of the BE THAT LAWYER and Future Rainmakers podcasts, and a business development coach who works exclusively with attorneys. For more than 18 years, he has helped lawyers build strong books of business without selling, pitching, or chasing, using his proven Sales-Free Selling™ approach. His clients consistently become top rainmakers and credit his coaching and systems for driving meaningful, measurable growth. Steve can be reached directly at steve@fretzin.com, or through his website at bethatlawyer.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin. His ALL NEW BE THAT LAWYER Community is changing how lawyers develop the skills never taught in law school. Learn more at bethatlawyer.com/community.
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