Note from ILTA CEO Joy Heath Rush

NOTE FROM ILTA CEO

Amazing Days in New York City

BY: JOY HEATH RUSH, ILTA CEO
JHR

Dearest ILTANs!
As we speak, I am sitting at LaGuardia waiting to return home from three AMAZING days in New York City for ILTA’s Inaugural “mini events” - ILTAVATION, Women Who Lead, and Young Professionals.

I am exhausted, but even more so - I am exhilarated! These events checked all of the ILTA boxes: access to information, relevance of information, meaningful connections, diversity, and resources. Plus, they were just plain fun!

We kicked off the week with ILTAVATION, our practical approach to actionable innovation. More than 60 attendees representing dozens of roles from finance to lit support to KM shared common challenges in carrying out practical innovation.

Building on the E-I-E-I-O framework (Explore, Ideate, Experiment, Iterate, Optimize), groups identified business issues facing the practice of law, then used “Might We” statements to inspire solutions. Critical to the process was “scrambling” the room multiple times throughout the day, so that each individual was exposed to multiple business challenges, varying approaches to resolution, and new teams of colleagues with whom to collaborate. Maybe we call this the “steps” approach to innovation! A highlight for me was the “Best Innovation Advice” wall where attendees shared their wisdom. We wrapped up the day with a reception with new friends and colleagues!

The second day of our wonderful week was devoted to Women Who Lead. A special salute to the three men among the almost 80 women who participated in learning and networking! A second special salute to WWL event co-chairs Michele Gossmeyer and Catherine Monte, as well as the whole WWL Steering Committee, for ideas and leadership!

One of the coolest (is that still a word?) aspects of WWL was the Leader Lending Library. Participants could sign up for 10-minute, one-on-one coaching sessions with our speakers. I was honored to be a part of that experiment. My sincere thanks to all of my checker-outers - your questions challenged me; I enjoyed talking with each and every one of you!

My greatest honor was to give the keynote, A New Leadership Paradigm: Using Your Skills for Good. We explored the “super skills” you can acquire to develop into an extraordinary leader, as well as “Joy’s two rules”... If there is bad news, I want to hear it from you first, and never let me be taken by surprise.

We rounded out the week with our Young Professionals event, which attracted a diverse group of more than 30 professionals on the road to leadership stardom. BTW, did all us oldsters know that FB is sooooo 2015??? Our participants developed individual elevator pitches, gleaned some tips and tricks for improving meetings, and discovered the secrets to making unreasonable requests (and having those wishes granted). We also had more than a few laughs!

No wrap-up would be complete without a heaping helping of gratitude to Matt Homann and Todd Baumann of Filament. Matt Homann is the best facilitator I have ever seen (even better than me, if I may be so bold); and Todd is an artist par excellence. Thanks to you both!

And another hearty serving of gratitude to our sponsors! You supported the event in every way possible - including the excellent contributions of your staff who attended and were part of the collaboration teams. The following companies sponsored one or more of the events:
Aderant
Conversant Group, LLC
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 
DocsCorp
Fidelus Technologies, LLC
Kraft Kennedy
Litera Microsystems - many, many thanks for supporting all three!
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Traveling Coaches

If you work in or around Toronto, Phoenix, or San Francisco - or can easily get there - be on the lookout for these events in your area. Take an ILTA Road Trip!!

Hope to see you there!

May 3, 2019

BACK TO WRAP-UP PAGE