These are not just abstract ideas, as the lawyers in those articles demonstrate, and the principles apply to basic blocking and tackling in your marketing activities. Barry Schneider examines how to make a speechmaking event an opportunity to truly connect with clients, prospects and allies - not just a showcase for yourself. And Janet Ellen Raasch, reporting Debra Fine's insights on the art of networking conversation, centers not on you, but on making the other person the centerpiece...playing the host and asking questions. In the fine art of referrals, the second principle of wisdom applies, according to Mike Cummings: build from your strengths he affirms, those contacts most willing (because of the strength of your relationships) and most able (because of the strengths of theirs) to make connections for you.

Finally, in Larry Bodine's tech tip, you can find a somewhat different path to wisdom, as the rich data sources he discusses let you hone in on the detailed complexities of your prospects' and clients' legal or business concerns, while also knowing more about your strengths and weaknesses relative to other attorneys. And then there is the flip side covered by Darryl Cross and Allan Boress, who describe some of the un-wisdom all of us can fall into, and aim to remedy it.

So find your path in these articles, advance to the tree of wisdom. Learn the wisdom exemplified by the source of our quote of the month. Serve your clients from your strengths, and climb to the topmost limbs in your career.