READERS will recall that in previous articles we examined the reasons for creating a strategic business plan, as well as its contents and use as a strategic tool for communicating with investors. Today we will seek to flesh out a strategy for developing critical management talent that is also culturally informed.

Our approach for accomplishing this proceeds in two steps: we will first offer guidance on how to begin to nurture the in-company expertise that will be needed to help prospective clients adequately protect intellectual property rights internationally as they try to create value in external markets.

Next, we will explore a few practical strategies for sharpening effectiveness in navigating some of the cross-cultural complexities involved in orchestrating a customer value proposition in the global marketplace.

Step 1: Beginning to nurture expertise in intellectual property law

The “inner voice”, your invisible but trusted companion, has been urging you for quite a while to begin developing talent critical to managing your business. You decide that the intellectual property law dimension of your management advisory services venture requires strengthening.

Ideally, you wouldn’t mind deepening your own limited knowledge of the area. But such a course of action risks spreading yourself too thin: being managing consultant, business development officer, HR manager and now to take on the role of intellectual property rights specialist? No, this is asking too much, you prudently conclude. Another affordable option will have to be pursued.

Serendipitously, one of your favourite nieces -a teenager living in North America – contacts you and proudly informs you of consistently scoring high marks in literature, history, sociology and economics. Tentatively, you think to yourself that, among other things, this predisposes her to a career in law.

Beaming with pride, you enquire what she would like to do for a career. Hesitation follows at the other end of the line and so you surmise that offering a bit of level-headed advice may be appropriate. You probe further, seeking to find out what would bring her satisfaction and at the same time create a positive social impact. Playfully, her first response is a career in Hollywood, but that is quickly followed by a preference for law.

You suggest the possibility of a career in business law and, self-interestedly, specifically intellectual property law. You list undergraduate law school courses that include but are not limited to the foundations and mechanics of copyright law, fairness and personality theories, authorship, fair use and remedies.

Sensing a heightening of curiosity, you rattle off additional details, emphasising that the best North American law schools have high admission requirements. Dauntless, she asks you to set out the next steps. You explain that she should begin preparing to sit the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) with the objective of scoring highly. Purposefully, she requests a detailed road map and you share the following:

Mastering the LSAT

To master the LSAT, your neice first needs to understand its purpose, structure and how to take control of it.

The Purpose of the LSAT

The LSAT is a skills-based test that is used, together with other differentiators, by the governing body of North American law schools to make admission decisions. It is relied on to unearth the astute reading and critical thinking competencies required to succeed in the first year of law school where much time is devoted to analysing casebooks.

It is not intended to test one’s vocabulary, grammar or numeracy. Instead, it is designed to test the ability to select the ‘best’ answers from the options provided. In terms of duration, it consists of just a tad under three hours of multiple-choice testing together with a 35-minute writing sample.

It is a rather gruelling endeavour and could easily rattle one’s confidence – unless there is diligent preparation, wise strategising and assumption of control of the entire test. This piques your niece’s interest, prompting her to seek a deeper understanding of the LSAT’s structure.

The LSAT’s Structure

There are five multiple-choice sections, with two involving logical reasoning, one to do with logical games, one reading comprehension component and one experimental section. The experimental section is not graded but is included in order to pilot questions intended for future tests. There is also a 35-minute Writing Sample.

The logical reasoning section tests one’s ability to understand, analyse, evaluate and manipulate arguments. Its importance stems from the fact that during the first year of law school she will be called upon to analyse arguments contained in legal cases.

Meanwhile, the logic games test how rules create systems of order and place limits on the range of possible outcomes. A very keen eye for detail is necessary.

The reading comprehension section tests skills in reading as well as understanding (often turgid) scholarly passages and ferreting out the gist as well as the underlying purpose, structure and logic. Specialised knowledge is not a requirement. The experimental section is easily disguised and although it is not factored into one’s raw score, she would do well to give it her best shot.

Finally, the writing sample presents two positions from which one should be chosen, after meticulously laying out the evidence that demonstrates its superiority. Although the writing sample does not require specialised knowledge, a copy will be attached to her raw score and sent to the law schools to which she applies.

You assert that the LSAT is highly predictable. You go on to make the point that there are always five answer options, each worth one mark, regardless of the degree of difficulty. Implicitly , if there is a question that proves to be unanswerable, guessing presents a 20 per cent probability of selecting the ‘best’ answer.

With due care, you explain that questions answered correctly go towards computing one’s ‘raw score’ which will lie somewhere within the range of 120-180. You add that the test is graded on a pre-set curve, implying that her raw score will be associated with a specific percentile. By way of an example, you inform her that a raw score of 164 corresponds to the 90th percentile, suggesting that only 10 per cent of those who sat the test scored at or above that level. In like manner, a score of 172 is associated with the 99th percentile, meaning that only one per cent of test-takers scored at or above this level.

You now proceed to examine some helpful strategies for your neice to take control of the test.

Taking Control

It is possible for your neice to assume control of the test in a number of specific ways. First, by spending time trying to decipher only those questions that one is confident about, while guessing the others. Second, she should deliberately set out to score points on the easy questions first, returning afterwards to the more difficult ones. Third, she should aim at building confidence through disciplined training in selecting as many correct answers as possible, while maintaining that delicate balance between speed and accuracy. Fourth, she should recognise that it is the answer choices that define the questions and therefore carefully scan the answer choices first. Fifth, she should use only the answer choices provided to select the ‘best’ available answer. Succinctly put, she should never assume anything outside of the material specifically given.

It is important to bear in mind that for the purposes of the LSAT, ‘best’ means best among the five choices provided.

You then return to the matter of the LSAT’s predictability. In order to consistently validate the relationship between a test-taker’s raw score and their first year law school examination grade, every LSAT sitting demands that the same exercises are carried out in the same way. For this reason, through proper planning and wise strategising, it is possible to turn up for the examination with a mental framework (structure) to produce a writing sample consisting of the following elements:

I. Positions

II. Condition 1

o Evidence Item 1

o Evidence Item 2

III. Condition 2

o Evidence Item 3

o Evidence Item 4

IV. Summary

You commit to working closely with her and promise that upon her graduation from law school, you would be minded to assign her the role of developing the intellectual property law dimension of your management advisory services venture.

This, you recognise, would strengthen your own resolve and provide the impetus to build a successful business in order to fulfil the undertaking confidently given to your niece.

Having offered guidance on how to initiate the process of developing in-company know-how in intellectual property law, we will later elaborate on step two which is to tease out some practical strategies for navigating cultural complexity.

Care to bounce your new business idea off me? Then write to: ‘Ask Your Management Consultant’ via philipruddy@hotmail.com. Please include a contact email address.

CAPTIONS

Dr Phillip Baker

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The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) at the Jampro building on Trafalgar Road in Kingston