Why Creating Our ‘Vivid Vision’ Was Ashley’s Favorite Moment of 2023

The Creation of Our Vivid Vision

Last November, I went over to Russell’s house bright and early on a weekend morning. We covered his kitchen table in butcher block paper, pulled out multiple whiteboards, and set a copy of “Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future” by Cameron Herold on the table. Then, we picked up our dry-erase markers and got to work.

I spent more than 12 hours at Russell’s that day, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had since joining BLF in 2017. Our mission was pretty simple: We wanted to put our three-year vision for the firm into writing so that we could share it with the team, other attorneys, our vendors, our clients, and potential new hires, keeping everyone on the same page. We asked questions like:

• What does The Button Law Firm stand for?
• What kind of service do we want to provide?
• What is our mission?
• What do we want our team to look like in three years?

Then, we brainstormed and brain-mapped our answers, scribbling down our thoughts into little bubbles. If you’ve ever seen a vision board created that was covered in pictures and quotes cut out of magazines, you have the right idea!

How We Organized Our Thoughts Into a Plan

The next day, we started to turn our brain dump into a concise, easy-to-read, nine-page pamphlet. I worked on the copy and design for weeks, getting it ready to roll out to the team. But I’m not going to lie — Russell and I were really nervous about sharing our “vision.”

We’d never put our goals for BLF on paper before, and I wasn’t sure how the team would react. Would they love what we wrote? Would they find things we could have done better? My palms were sweating a little when we called the team into our conference room in January to watch the presentation over breakfast.

How the BLF Team Reacted

But they received it really well! Everyone was excited about our plan, which covered everything from expanding the role of our operations team so that Russell and I can spend more time on our cases to events we want to attend in the community. After the presentation, we went around the table, and each person talked about things they were particularly excited about.

As a leader, that moment felt SO good! I’ll never forget the energy and enthusiasm that filled the conference room as we discussed how we’d build a better firm for our clients and partners — you included. I’m celebrating six years with BLF this month, and it was one of the best moments of my entire career here. (One of the other best moments was finally settling a deadly premises liability case that lasted all six years. The mother and daughters we represented are like family to me now, so it meant a lot to secure a life-changing amount of money for them.)

Looking back on my time with BLF, I’m incredibly proud of everything we’ve accomplished since 2017. The future will be so good, and I’m happy you’re a part of it. Thank you for reading, and thank you for a fantastic six years!