David Meyer is the Founding Principal of Meyer Wilson, a law firm devoted to the prosecution of class and mass actions and the representation of investors with claims against the securities industry in Cincinnati, OH and across the country.
Meyer Wilson has gained a national reputation successfully representing investors who are victims of investment fraud and is responsible for winning the largest jury verdict in Ohio history — a whopping $261 million.
There’s no question that David is committed to the success of his law firm, but I wanted to dive in deeper to better understand the “ah-ha moment” that made him decide to elevate. In the newest installment of Playing a Bigger Game, I do just that.
Q: David, I know you’ve got an incredible story. At what point in your life did you decide to go all-in and just play a bigger game?
It was a book that you recommended called Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman. I read the book, and I’m pretty sure it was at your recommendation.
The book, at least what I take from it, says it takes two types of entrepreneurs to run a successful business: one is a Visionary and the other is an Implementer. When I read that book, I realized that as my firm was growing and we were doing things, I had some issues with the integration there in terms of really trying to grow the firm.
At that point, I was 20 years in or so with the law firm, things were going well, our clients were happy, our intake was steady, but I kind of felt like we were sort of on autopilot.
I thought, “Do I stay in the middle lane and kind of get on cruise control and just move forward for hopefully another 20 years? Do I stay in that center lane or do I step up?”
I read the book and just decided with the support of everyone here that we were just going to try to step on the gas and transform our firm. I built this firm on just my gut reaction. I made some good decisions, and I made some not-so-good decisions from an operational standpoint, but now there’s a process for everything, and that’s how true businesses operate.
Successful, growth-oriented, entrepreneurial businesses operate with systems and processes.
It’s unbelievable how many really good lawyers and good law firms that are out there that are doing good work for their clients, but really haven’t grasped the idea that they can really transform their firm.
Q: What do the next 20 years look like for you?
I just hope that we continue to provide great service for our clients, and I want the people here to grow at the firm and just be part of a growing organization that does great work, and they’re rewarded for their effort and for their results. My hope is that everyone loves coming to work and that we continue to do great things.
