Don’t Be an April’s Fool

INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.

Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Daniel A. Cotter, Attorney, and Counselor.

The Daniel Cotter Commentaries

Welcome to “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.” I am Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC.  For more information, please visit howardandhoward.com.

The finals of the both the Men’s and Women’s Finals of March Madness confirmed what we had to say last month, the teams with the strongest talent from top to bottom, including the head coaches, won.   This month, want to discuss the need for business leaders and teams to listen to their trusted advisors, who are not the place where ideas go to die, but bring to bear their wisdom and experiences in dealing with various matters and fact patterns to best advise the business folks of the pitfalls and opportunities of a proposed course of action.

At times, the business leader is focused on one route and is not interested in what the advisors, whether legal or accounting or tax, have to say.  It is the leader’s prerogative to make that determination and call. But at times the advisors have seen the gameplan and how it has played out and are trying to avoid a similar calamity for their client.  While foul trouble did not help the Iowa Women’s team in their game against LSU, the penalty there is someone fouls out or has to sit for a while, and it might result in a  loss. On the business stage, trusted advisors are trying to avoid worse- a firing, a major penalty from regulatory bodies, and other bad results to the leadership and business.

If the leadership wants a simple transcription of whatever is dictated or a blessing of something someone else drafted, the hiring of the trusted advisor is a waste of money.  Lawyers (and other professionals) are not trained to be simply monkeys typing away.

Business leaders should not be April’s Fools, and should use their trusted advisors to bring April showers (of advice) on their plans (figurative flowers) so that those plans can bloom, unimpacted by thorns and weeds and fallow fields.  We have counseled clients of all sizes and industries over the last 28 years and advised that doing the upfront work, getting solid advice, listening to it, and taking into account the input provided, not only saves money in the long run, but also is more likely to result in less third party and regulatory scrutiny, less headaches and troubles in the future, and a more likely chance of the business being a champion, shining above its competitors, reflecting a company that runs soundly and without major hiccups in the end.

The team including the trusted legal advisor needs to be able to help the business team win and do so without fooling out of the game.

This is “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.”  I am Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC, and your trusted advisor.  Please visit howardandhoward.com for more information.

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