Rainmakers for rent

Weil Gotshal had 95 years, about 1,200 lawyers and more than $2 billion in revenue. It is winding down anyway.

This was not a bankruptcy. It was a walkout.

Private equity partners left for Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher over the summer. In September the corporate chair left for Cravath with five partners. Top partners at rival firms can now command more than $25 million a year. Once the rainmakers moved, merger talks failed and leadership recommended an orderly wind-down.

Most people will read this as a story about lawyer pay. I read it as a story about where the brand actually lived. This applies to all categories.

Clients said they hired Weil. In practice, many hired the brand. When those people moved, the brand moved with them, because the name on the door was not doing the work.

Marketing teams build the same fragility. A star growth marketer or storyteller who owns the funnel. One creator driving most of a launch. A paid channel that fills the pipeline. That is rented demand. It looks great on the dashboard and leaves without notice.

Brand is the part that stays and that makes Growth tactics work.
Do you invest in it or just rent it?

Three questions worth asking:
- If your top three marketing people or channels disappeared tomorrow, what share of pipeline would go with them?
- Do customers ask for your company by name?
- What are you funding that compounds after the campaign ends: reputation, community, a point of view people repeat?

Talent drives the engine.
Brand keeps the engine running and steady.
Do you invest in the talent?