In the Age of digital marketing and AI, legal directories still matter
Last week, three different colleagues sent me variations of the same ChatGPT update. Each message contained just one word: “Thoughts?”
The truth is, I didn’t have thoughts. I had a growing sense that I was supposed to have thoughts.
Today, nobody working in professional services is immune to AI overwhelm. Legal marketers and business development teams often feel this pressure more intensely. We’re expected to understand what’s coming next, have a clear plan, and project confidence about technologies that are evolving at extraordinary speed.
The result is a constant feeling of being behind, even when progress is being made.
But adopting AI doesn’t require mastering everything at once. The most effective approach is much simpler: take one bite, then another.
Below are three practical shifts I’ve seen in teams that are introducing AI with less panic and far more success.
Bite One: Stop Waiting to Be Ready (You Won’t Be)
The AI landscape is moving too quickly for anyone to feel fully prepared.
During a recent coaching session, a senior partner admitted they were struggling because they had no idea what to do with AI. This was someone who had built their entire career on knowing the details and being prepared.
That’s the challenge: AI disrupts the traditional professional mindset of waiting until everything is understood before acting.
Your first attempts will likely be messy. You will feel outside your comfort zone. And you may not have polished results ready for the next leadership meeting.
But paralysis is often worse than mistakes.
Give yourself permission to not know what you’re doing yet and start anyway.
Bite Two: Start Small and Start with the Problems
A mid-sized firm I recently spoke with had multiple AI initiatives running across different departments. Yet despite all that activity, there was no shared definition of success, and the team still felt they were falling behind.
The issue wasn’t effort. It was where they started. Rather than beginning with technology, the more effective approach is to start with problems.
You don’t need expensive software or a six-month IT implementation plan. What you need is one task that is boring, repetitive, time-consuming, and slightly maddening.
If a task takes more than 20 minutes and makes you want to throw your laptop out the window, that’s a strong candidate.
Ask yourself a simple question: “Could AI help me with this?” Often, the answer is yes.
Your To-Do List Is a Good Starting Point
If you’re unsure where to begin, your to-do list can reveal opportunities immediately.
Gather everything you have: Outlook tasks, handwritten notes, sticky notes, and the mental list in your head.
Feed them into an AI tool and ask it to organise them into one structured list, estimate how long each task might take, suggest a logical first step, and identify which tasks AI could assist with.
This simple exercise can instantly turn scattered work into a clear action plan.
Bite Three: Collaborate With Your Peers
AI overwhelm thrives in silence.
Many professionals assume everyone else has things under control while they’re the only ones struggling.
In reality, most people are experimenting, learning, and occasionally failing.
One marketing team introduced a 15-minute weekly AI check-in where team members simply shared what they had tried. No slides. No formal presentations. Just honest updates like: “I used AI for this task — it was terrible” or “I tried asking it to do this — and it actually helped.”
Within a month, the tone shifted completely. Instead of pretending they had everything figured out, people started learning together.
Interestingly, the firms integrating AI most successfully aren’t necessarily the ones with the most technical expertise.
They’re the ones with teams willing to experiment and collaborate.
Moving Forward
AI isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.
But overwhelm doesn’t have to be the default response.
The elephant may be enormous.
But you don’t have to eat it all at once.
You just have to take the next bite.