It’s convenient to care for others during times of prosperity, but it speaks VOLUMES to continue caring during moments of crisis. Now more than ever, those around us are counting on their leaders to take the initiative and step up for the ones who need us most.
Attorney Reza Torkzadeh joins me in the latest installment of Leading Through Adversity to talk about the opportunities he and his firm have had to make a difference in the lives of those around them — and what it really means to take ownership during difficult times.
Check out our full conversation here.
1:25 – What we do. We always talk about our “why?” Who is TorkLaw, and why do we practice personal injury law? Our answer is: because we get to change people’s lives. They come to us at the worst time of their lives. We get to be there for our clients and for the community. When COVID hit, our frontline workers started putting themselves in harm’s way. On the other side, you have the small business owners who are getting decimated now. We thought, “What a great way to help out the small mom and pop shops, and also say thank you to our frontline healthcare heroes.”
2:21 – Give back to the community. We started delivering lunches and meals. We would identify a local mom and pop shop and purchase meals from them. We’d then go to the hospitals or other facilities that are treating COVID patients and deliver the meals to them. It’s been an incredible response, because once we started doing that, other firms and other companies called us and said, “We want to help. How can we get involved?” That is really inspiring to see during a time like this — everybody stepping up collectively, wanting to help.
4:33 – Great opportunity. It is a great opportunity right now to truly show the community, your clients, and your entire audience who you really are. Are we a firm that says we care in our advertising, and we say these things and never deliver — or are we really those people? What an opportunity right now to show who you are as an organization, who you are as attorneys, and who you are as members of the community.
5:46 – Be a leader. I could never do it without our staff. You can never do it without the folks that are with you that have been there for you. The very first thing I did is called an all-hands meeting with the team. I said, “Look, there will be no layoffs. It’s full steam ahead, and we all have to pull together.” They appreciated that because, as a leader of an organization, you have to instill confidence in your people.
11:13 – Lessons learned. The most important lesson I’ve learned is this: let people thrive right now. You have people within your organization right now with great ideas that are innovating, that are being efficient, that are setting amazing precedents for things you’ve never tried or thought to try. Look within your organization. Look for those leaders. Look for those folks that really are making a difference every day for you.
12:34 – Come out stronger. We’re going to come out of this a lot better, a lot stronger, and more efficient. There’ll be things that we won’t be doing anymore, in terms of the way things are handled with the courts. Just as companies and organizations, we’re going to find a lot more efficient ways to do things that we used to waste a lot of time doing.
If you’re viewing this challenging situation the same way Reza and I are, text me directly at 404–531–7691 to tell him what you’re doing to step up for your team, clients, and community during this time.
