Today's conversation with John Griffith dives into the heart of what makes his law firm thrive amidst challenges. After starting as an insurance claims adjuster, John navigated a significant shift in the legal landscape, leading him to establish Griffith Law and build a thriving practice in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Journey to Independence
John’s journey began in a well-established firm, but the abrupt change in workers' compensation law prompted him to take a leap of faith. "I knew at that point that I kinda needed to strike out on my own," he shares, emphasizing his commitment to crafting a culture that aligns with his values.
He reflects on the challenges of starting with just a few clients and growing to a team of thirty-four, achieving a growth rate of 25% to 30% annually.
Crafting a Culture of Excellence
One of the pivotal moments in John's journey was the implementation of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). This system transformed his firm by establishing clear procedures and accountability. John notes, "Before EOS, I was just winging it… but now, if something’s off, we’re already starting to inquire why."
Building a strong culture was fundamental for John. He prioritizes finding lawyers who fit within their firm’s culture, even if they have to say no to those with impressive resumes. "I can find a smart lawyer pretty easily, but having the right lawyer who fits within our culture is much more difficult," he states.
Core Values as a Guiding Principle
John emphasizes the importance of core values in shaping decisions within the firm. They’ve established four core values: honesty and integrity, excellent client communication, superior legal service, and a team-first attitude. He explains, "Every decision we make is based upon our four core values," highlighting how these values serve as a constitution for the firm.
The Hiring Process
In hiring, John employs a thorough three-interview process to ensure candidates align with their values. He shares a recent experience where, despite two successful interviews, he retracted an offer upon noticing discrepancies in the candidate’s attitude during the final interview. "I could just see some things that they hadn’t reported to me in the first two interviews," he explains.
Reflection on Leadership
As a leader, John acknowledges the importance of owning up to his mistakes. He believes that recognizing his humanity fosters respect among his team. He shares, "I think when your team can see that you’re recognizing your own, you know, humanity, and addressing that, it’s just so huge for morale."
Conclusion
John Griffith’s journey illustrates the power of intentional culture-building in a law firm. By prioritizing core values and open communication, he has created an environment where both clients and employees thrive.
Resources:
Profit from the Core: A Return to Growth in Turbulent Times by Chris Zook with James Allen (Book)
Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution by David Ball and Don Keenan (Book)
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman (Book)
The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack (Book)
Don’t Eat The Bruises by Keith Mitnik (Book)
Rick Friedman (Book collections)
What’s Your Law Firm Worth? Get a Free Instant Valuation in 5 Minutes
Want to attract more of the right clients? Download our free client attraction playbook
Connect with Darren Wurz:
Connect with John Griffith:
About John Griffith:
Starting his career as an insurance claims adjuster, he saw how his decisions could impact people's lives, positively or negatively, after they'd been seriously injured by someone else's carelessness. That's when he began to realize the frustration of working for insurance companies, whose main products are promises in exchange for money and those promises of coverage were broken far too often.
As a result, John decided to focus on combating those broken promises by attending law school and committed his career to standing up for injured victims. Now, as an experienced personal injury lawyer, he fights on behalf of deserving people who have been treated unfairly by those same insurance companies. And for John, his clients are more than a case number, which is why he stays in touch with many of them and regularly calls former clients to simply catch up and see how they're doing. In 2026 his firm, GriffithLaw, celebrates their 10-year anniversary and was named Best Customer Service in the 2026 Best of Music City Awards.
Family and hometown roots mean a lot to John, who grew up in New Johnsonville in Humphreys County, Tennessee. When he's not in the office, you'll find him pursuing his love of music, playing the guitar, and making music with his family. He also enjoys practicing jiu jitsu, working hard on his farm, and spending time with his family and beloved Australian shepherd, Buck.
Transcript:
Darren Wurz (00:00.312)
Today's guest turned down a lawyer with a perfect resume after two great interviews. But the reason why is the secret to the culture that's growing his firm 25 to 30% a year. All right, welcome back to the Lawyer Millionaire Podcast. I'm super excited to have John Griffith with us here today. He's built an incredible law firm in Nashville, Tennessee, and he's here to tell us all about it. Welcome to the show, John.
John Griffith (00:28.226)
Hi Darren, thank you so much. I'm glad to be with you.
Darren Wurz (00:32.074)
Absolutely. So as I understand that you started out as an insurance claims adjuster and then went to law school and eventually got into personal injury. You know, way back then, did you envision yourself here, you know, at at the helm of such an incredible operation? Did you set out to build a business or did that just evolve over time?
John Griffith (00:56.652)
Well, I will tell you that I was in a firm that I was very happy with in the early in the two thousand, two thousand ten ish decade. Everything was going good. We had a a good flow of new clients, we did workers comp and personal injury, and then there was a shift in the law in two thousand twelve where Tennessee pretty much just did away with fair compensation and workers' compensation cases.
So that caused a rift with my law partner. And I'm like, what are you gonna do? Your your business just basically got removed with the stroke of a pen. And he said, I don't know, what are you gonna do? I said, Well, I'm writing a book, I'm meeting with lawyers, I'm trying to grow our business. I I like, what else would you like me to do? You know, just sleep less and and worry about it more. So
I knew at that point that I kinda needed to strike out on my own and so I set out and I mean I was I sa I started out with very few clients and just built a firm from three people to I mean, I won't say we're huge, but we've got thirty four staff currently. we've got a lot of cases and a lot of and we're growing at a twenty five to thirty percent clip per year, which is
I'm very thankful for that. I'm taking a lot of work with my team. anyway
John Griffith (02:28.726)
Did I foresee this? Yes. Did I envision it? Yes. Okay. Am I where I want to be? No. Do I still have higher vision? Yes. So I'm I'm on the journey and just trying to enjoy it.
Darren Wurz (02:40.536)
That's amazing. Yeah. And just you just celebrated your ten year anniversary, is that right, at Griffithlaw?
John Griffith (02:47.118)
Ten year with Griffith Law, yes. I had another firm where I owned that before it was a different partner, but yeah, ten years with Griffith Law and that's been it's been phenomenal. It's been it's been a good run. And the main reason you know, before I I wanted to be able to control the culture at the firm and I didn't feel like a prior firm and I'm not bashing it, but I just didn't have very much control over the culture of the firm. Okay.
And I remember one time my law partner went out of town for about ten days, two weeks, and I started having meetings and we started like you know, and I just felt it felt right. And I felt this is what it feels like to enjoy coming to work. And so I love coming to work now. I've got a great team, great staff, great out attitude, great culture. I really work harder on culture than I do well, I try to be we try to be excellent lawyers in in all that we do, but
I can find a smart lawyer on pretty easily, but having the right lawyer who fits within our culture is much more difficult. And we've said no thanks to many lawyers who fit the criteria skill wise and education wise, but just not a good fit. So
Darren Wurz (04:01.56)
Wow. Interesting. So so you kind of had a flavor of what it was like to own a law firm before. You kind of came into this. This was kind of a a clean slate. It was an opportunity to build from from ground zero, build the culture and the team and the and the firm that you really wanted. Is that right?
John Griffith (04:18.882)
Yes. Okay. Just kind of craft that the way you want. And I think the you know, there was a big turnaround about five years ago whenever we launched EOS and and I was kind of dragged into that, but one of the best things I ever did. And so I've got a team that's got a lot of responsibility and they've re we've you know, our procedures have developed and progressed rapidly. We've recognize we recognize problems. almost instantaneously. You know, before EOS I would have an SEO problem that lingered for four months and I didn't know it. wow. Now something gets off in one week, we're already starting to inquire, like, why is that number so far down so quickly? Yeah. What can we do to fix that? So
Darren Wurz (04:58.424)
Yeah.
Darren Wurz (05:09.499)
What is EOS for those who may not be familiar, who may be listening?
John Griffith (05:13.76)
It's off Geno Wickham's book, Traction. It's the entrepreneurial entrepreneurial operating system. They call it EOS for short. And it is fantastic. so if if anybody's not doing something similar to it, you it's I would advise. Because before, basically what it is, it's just a method of operation for your office meetings and for running your business. And before I was just winging it and say, okay, we need to change our policy to do this.
But things wouldn't get followed up on and so have a whole whole show on ROCS and all the KPIs and stuff that DOS endorses.
Darren Wurz (05:54.164)
Absolutely. Did you guys self implement it? How did you roll that out? Did you bring in an implementer, professional implementer? Or, you know, how did you get that going in your business?
John Griffith (06:04.514)
We brought in an implementer because I didn't trust myself, Darren. I'm like I'm not gonna do this. I know my procrastination, my ADHD, I'm gonna put it off and have great intentions, but it'll never get done. So yeah. Yeah, we we pay him a lot of money, but I think it's well worth it.
Darren Wurz (06:23.842)
Yeah, absolutely. When you implemented EOS, well first of all you said you you were kinda drug into it. What what what made you reluctant about putting that into practice or or you know implementing that system?
John Griffith (06:37.538)
Well, I was in a mastermind group with Ben Glass at Great Legal Marketing. Mm and he and Brian implemented that years before and they would tell us about how great it was and Okay. I would I would look at the cost and like, man, that's not I I think I can do that on my own, you know, I don't need to do that. So I read the book Traction, didn't do anything to implement it or tried to and did a very poor job. And then I'm like, I finally after about two or three years of listening to all their talk and and pushing it.
I thought, yeah, why not? Why am I I'm still struggling with this.
Darren Wurz (07:12.376)
Yeah. It it's a constant learning thing, of course. when you implemented it, what changed in your firm? You you started to notice problems earlier. Did it did it make a significant impact on the actual growth and profitability of the firm? What did you see happen? Was it was any effect was there any effect there?
John Griffith (07:35.63)
I would say yes, it has a direct impact on our growth and profitability. I would say once you you've got first of all, you've got a culture of your firm, whether you've got it in writing or not. There is a culture to your firm. Yeah. So the first thing is to identify it and then we come up with our core values, and your core values become your constitution of sorts. And so every decision we make is based upon our four core values.
and gosh, you put me on the spot. It's honesty and integrity, excellent client commun communication, superior legal service, and team first attitude. Glad I got that right. But so all of our employees are evaluated upon that. and every decision we make, I mean, is this the right decision? Is it integrity? And when we evaluate an employee.
Darren Wurz (08:06.606)
What are those, if if you don't mind me asking?
John Griffith (08:31.298)
How's their honesty and integrity? What's their client services? Like superior client services, excellent client communication. are and do they have a team first attitude? Are they just being selfish or are they causing problems by gossiping and destroying our team? Yeah. So it that's just been a big help and and gives us clarity in what we're doing and what's expected. And then what happens is.
The next step is you come up with your policies and procedures. I mean, you we already had some, but then we refine them. And as you grow, you have more issues that weren't considered as possibilities in those first set of policies and procedures with each new dynamic that comes up. But you you come up with your policy and procedures, and what I found over time is that as your policy and procedures evolve and and become more integral with your firm. They're the people that are within your organization will either conform or they'll work themselves out of a job. And some people didn't like the fact that we were monitoring their KPIs, for example. They didn't like the competition. Some attorneys did not like the fact that we were keeping a scoreboard of who was producing what. And they thought that was not in the best interest of the clients. And
You and those are the people that actually recently just left too. They didn't like the competition, their numbers weren't good, and they will eventually work themselves out of a job.
Darren Wurz (10:11.338)
Absolutely. Yeah. So how do you so is you use scoreboards to measure these things and how do you bring these core values to life and get team members to recognize them? Is it just at the quarterly review meetings where you're reviewing their performance, or is there are there other things you're doing on a regular basis to reinforce these values?
John Griffith (10:34.082)
Yeah, quarterly reviews. We are every office meeting we go over our core values and just touch on them. Test our our office on those occasionally, but yeah, they're they're all doing a really good job with that. they're written on the wall, they're painted on the walls. Everybody knows what our core values are. Okay. No question.
Darren Wurz (10:57.858)
Have you ever had an employee or you know someone in your firm call you out for not you know embodying those yourself? I mean, I I don't know. I've I we have core values in our firm, and I find like having those raises me to a higher standard too. I'm like, I've got to make sure I'm embodying these all the time too, and and that's
I like it. I like the pressure. I mean, have you have you felt that? Have you ever received that from from other members, team members?
John Griffith (11:32.278)
Yes, I I know exactly what you're talking about. It does
Darren Wurz (11:37.334)
Yeah.
John Griffith (11:39.902)
One thing I can't stand in the practice of law and the practice of life is a hypocrite. I just I don't like it. Hypocrites do so much damage. And I try I mean, I'm getting older. I've got a younger office, and I try to be the leader and the mentor for them and I r it is very important for me to be consistent with my values to them. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So there was a situation where I called myself out one time I'm like
I think I took a little shortcut there and I shouldn't have done that. Yeah. And I I wasn't proud of that. But I did own up to it and, you know,
And I think there's greater respect there because you do. Yeah.
Darren Wurz (12:24.13)
I think I think when your team can see that you're recognizing your own, you know, humanity and and addressing that and you're willing to own up to your own mistakes, that's just so huge for morale. so that's really great. and then in the hiring process, when you're when you're looking for people, how do you really how do you identify people with these values? I mean, i it can be hard to I just
Ask people like, Are you an honest person? I mean, that's kind of hard to judge. How do you judge some of these? That that's tough.
John Griffith (12:58.616)
We go through a three interview process for our attorney specifically, and there have been recent interviews where we had two attorney interviews and they went great with this lawyer. And I met with him the third time along with the rest of my EOS staff. And I could just see some things that were coming out that they hadn't reported to me in the first two interviews. Okay. And so we wound up after two great interviews and having that final third interview and an offer was on the table, we wound up retracting our offer. And I hated to do that. Thankfully he hadn't left his prior firm. But I just could tell there was going to be a lot of
Darren Wurz (13:38.392)
Wow. Yeah. Yeah.
John Griffith (13:52.574)
maybe selfishness and maybe not a team first attitude player. Yeah. And some I mean, you don't know. And people are gonna lie and they're and they're gonna put it's like dating. You go out on a date, man, you get the best foot forward and then, you know. And then half the marriages wind up in divorce, you know? Yeah. You see somebody's true colors later on. And so you're not always gonna see everything, but we try
Darren Wurz (14:11.593)
Yeah.
John Griffith (14:19.934)
And and we'll never be a hundred percent perfect, but we do spend a lot of time try to get to know people and get to I mean, really get to know them and have some deep deeper conversations. And that I would say that we're not perfect, but we've gotten a lot better at it. And I've got a good team and and staff. My EOS team, they do a great job. My leadership team, they do a fantastic job.
Darren Wurz (14:44.77)
Yeah.
Darren Wurz (14:49.44)
Yeah. I'm curious how do you strike the balance between where you know where an employee should be and where they are? You know, some employees that they're they come in and they're really good and they they do tremendous work and they don't need it they don't need anything. Like they they can hit the ground running. And then others come in and you c start to realize they're not quite where they should be. Like they're gonna need some training and development. and some people get there and some people do develop and you and and they do grow.
But others may not. I mean how how do you strike the balance between we're gonna we're gonna train and inv invest in you and we can see you growing and you're you're not gonna or you're not gonna get to the level that we need you to get to.
John Griffith (15:31.308)
And that's a great question because I have really learned a lot over the years, Darien, on how to improve in that regard. And the one thing that I realize is an employee needs direction, needs direct communication. And the way that I used to handle it before was, well, they know what they expect of me. I I think they do. And then one time I had this interview with an employee and we were just not seeing eye to eye.
And I said, I want you to rate yourself between one and ten on these things. And she scored ten, she scored herself ten on everything, and mine's were two and threes. We are obviously not communicating here. Yeah. And the reason was was it was my fault because I didn't tell her exactly what I was measuring and what was important to me. Yeah. So we rectify that now through our leadership team by having very
specific key performance indicators, rocks or goals that they're supposed to have and measurements that we they know that we're tracking. So I would say and just discussions during our quarterly meetings with them as well and like where they're going. But I would say the main thing is just keeping them abreast of what is expected of them.
I recently had an attorney leave last week. I had had a meeting four or five weeks ago and told him, you know, your numbers just aren't there. We need to pick it up. We've talked with you about this before. Our process is X, Y, and Z, and you're doing the you're not doing that. And then that culminated in instead of doing better, him leaving the firm. So
And I hate it. I I really r like this fellow a lot, but it's just not a good fit. And he's been struggling for the last four years just to keep up with what we expect. Okay. And you know, like I said before, when you do this EOS and you hold your leadership team and your own feet to the fire, you're gonna have people that work themselves out of a job. And but on the flip side, the people that are here are bought in.
Darren Wurz (17:48.408)
Yeah, yeah.
John Griffith (17:53.494)
Yeah. So one thing I'm I probably shouldn't talk about this, but one thing I'm thinking about doing now is doing a employee stock ownership plan. I just talked with a gentleman last week and he was talking about how, you know, he's got an offer to sell his business. It's not a law firm, but his employees are going to walk away with some pretty big checks. Man, what a great idea to give to have I mean, that's what we want. We want cohesion, we want uniformity, we want all the rows or
pulling in the same direction. Yeah. And if we could have that with our employees who have bought into it, man, I just think that would be a great idea. So I met with a fellow last week and we talked about this and I'm hoping to do that for my employees, but don't tell anybody.
Darren Wurz (18:38.734)
We won't. We won't. Just between you and me. That's right. you know, that is that's excellent. it's difficult to achieve in law unless you have kind of separated out the the management functions versus the legal functions. I I think you've done that, right? Have you you've kinda gone the the MSO route?
John Griffith (18:59.116)
Yep, MSO. I'm very thankful for that. I'm very thankful for my financial team that really got me with that. Alex Jones and my accountant. Man, I've got I was introduced to a couple of guys years ago who've literally changed my life financially because of the MSO and yeah tax strategies that they've done. great. Yeah.
Darren Wurz (19:20.802)
Right. So the w one of the books that we read this year and we've just talked about on the podcast, and I talked about it at at the the the mastermind was The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and his concept of open book management and he's a really big proponent of the employee stock ownership program and that's how he built his business and they got you know everybody involved and you know small manufacturing
you know, company, you know, these people were were bought in when the company was was very very low value and then it grew over time and you know people retired with great wealth, you know, and and it's created a lot of of ownership in in the business. So definitely worth worth checking out. And if you're listening to the show, you know, we'll link some of those some of those episodes in the show notes for you. W what do you do now in terms of
you know, getting the employees bought in, right, to the to the profitability and the the financial success of the business.
John Griffith (20:25.964)
Well, short of an ESOP that I just mentioned, I would we do instead of annual bonuses, we do quarterly bonuses based on profitability. And so you can really feel a push at the end of the quarter. It's like, hey, we're getting close to the bonus. Sure. And so that's been that's probably been that has definitely been a good turn for us. make it more just a one time a year
Darren Wurz (20:42.741)
Yeah, yeah.
John Griffith (20:54.562)
bonus based on profitability is is just insufficient to yeah motivate someone in February.
Darren Wurz (21:00.92)
Definitely, definitely. Yep. So quarterly, quarterly bonuses, is that right?
John Griffith (21:05.294)
Quarterly bonuses based on profitability and we've got certain formulas for that that
Darren Wurz (21:12.054)
Is that profitability for the whole team or or just for individual like pods or how do you break it up?
John Griffith (21:18.378)
it's it's first team and then it's within for the people that produce. 'Cause what I used to do is I used to do the same bonus for everybody, but then you've got you got givers and you got takers, and it's just it even though somebody gets a bonus, it just is lessened by the fact and this is just human nature. It's lessened by the fact somebody else that's lazy and just not showing up and doing their
Not as dedicated getting the same bonus. It reminds me of something I told my this is a mean lesson I taught my daughter one time, but I said, Honey, I can give you a scoop of ice cream and I can make you cry because I gave you that ice cream. And she said, No, you can't. She was six years old. And I said, Yes, I can. I said, I'm going to show you. And so I get got a bowl out and got put some ice cream in it, one little scoop. And I called her sister and I said,
So here's three big scoops for you. That's not fair. I didn't get that. Like I'm like, honey, you're right, it's it may be not fair, but this is what happens when you try to covet what somebody else has. I was just trying to show her to be thankful for what she has. Yeah. And so that's just a just a n lesson in nature that we all have a tendency to go to.
Darren Wurz (22:45.55)
Definitely. Yeah. Very interesting. you're you're kind of at the size, John, of f of firms where you may be getting approached by private equity, people trying to buy you. Have you had people approach you? And what do you think is the long term exit play?
John Griffith (23:06.038)
Well, to answer your question recently, yes, I have been approached, but I'm not interested at this time anything close to selling the firm out. And we're not as big as I want to be, you know, to to sell anyway right now. but in Tennessee you can't you can't be a non lawyer and own a law firm, but through the MSO system, that's the that's the workaround. So I've already implemented that for
various other reasons, not that. So yeah. just something you know, that's all the more reason too I wanted to consider the employee stock options 'cause I don't I don't have any I here's the problem. I I love being a lawyer. I love doing this. And I'm getting older, but I still feel like I'm at the top of my game right now.
Darren Wurz (23:59.266)
Mm-hmm. Okay.
John Griffith (24:00.866)
I've been working harder than normal these last three weeks and like when I walk out of some of these depositions like, dang, I can't believe I get paid to do this. That was so fun. Destroying an expert, you know, or something for the defense. And I enjoy it and I just I just still haven't met all of my goals legally that I want to do and and growth wise and I'm still wanting to beat my last verdict. You know, I wanna do better. I wanna I I'm
I'm just I don't have the itch to slow down right now.
Darren Wurz (24:35.16)
Has there been a place or will there be a place where you feel like you've made it or or what does ultimate success really mean for you?
John Griffith (24:46.014)
The older I get, the more I think about that. I had two of my children get married last summer, and I remember going to bed and thinking, Man, I can die a little bit happier tonight with this memories that I have. And so I think I you know, success is a funny term because we can't take any of this stuff with us. So that's the first thing I acknowledge. And secondly is success to me is being thankful for what you have.
Darren Wurz (24:58.167)
Yeah.
John Griffith (25:15.406)
So if I don't grow a a penny larger than we are, I'm I'm very thankful for what what I have. God has blessed me beyond measure with my wife, my children. you know, I deal in chaos and death and destruction every day. And yeah, I always think what a miracle it is for my kids to have five kids, my youngest is nine, to have gotten to the point they have and not had some terrible life altering hardship in their life. I mean, I deal with
kids that are killed this last week a fourteen year old got hit head on by a tractor trailer. It's just it just breaks my heart. And I have I have children in that age range and it I have trouble sometimes because my emotions get firmly attached to these cases. And and when I'm taking a case to trial, you know, the defense lawyer says, Well it's just a, you know, a shattered ankle. I'm like, well you know
I enjoy my physical life. What would a shattered ankle be worth to me, John Griffith? What would it be? Yeah. I wouldn't take three hundred thousand for that. Are you crazy? That's it's not even close. Yeah. so these are things I take to heart. I think I'm meandering off your question now, Derek.
Darren Wurz (26:30.136)
Fine. No, I mean, so so you you seem to really still enjoy the practice of law. You know, one of the biggest challenges of law firm owners is delegating the things that they don't enjoy and keeping the things that they do. I'm curious, what does the day to day now look like for you at you know at this level?
John Griffith (26:49.132)
Yeah. So I went through that exercise early in EOS too. I made the four quadrants, things I love doing, things I like doing, things I don't like, things I hate, got rid of the hates. You know, it it took a while. I didn't just I didn't wake up one morning and do that. I still had to do the things that I hated and didn't like. Yeah. But with my great staff, I get people that are numbers people. I'm not a numbers people. I'm not a doctor I and cross the T guy. Yeah. But got people for that now. And so I don't do that. So now I do what I love. I handle
Big cases. I train my lawyers as much as I can. I try cases and I love doing cross examination of defense experts, whether it be an IME doctor or a a metallurgist or whatever. I just I love that. The law is so wonderful because you learn new stuff all the time. Yeah. And I I'm just always challenged by that. And so those are the things I love to do.
I mean, I spend a lot of time and it it's it's nerve wracking. I mean, last week I was up till one thirty getting ready for to cross examine a big senior owner of a large football team. and man you just got a lot on the line and you gotta do a good job. You cannot go in there unprepared. Yeah. And I really enjoy it.
Darren Wurz (28:16.034)
Great, great, awesome. Thank you for sharing that. when you're not in the office, I understand you practice jujitsu and I know many law firm owners that do actually. How has that helped you, do you think, to become a better lawyer and a better business leader?
John Griffith (28:33.9)
I love jujitsu. I love practice. Don't don't you practice, Darren? You you've got the build for it's why I asked.
Darren Wurz (28:37.792)
No, I don't
John Griffith (28:43.17)
But it's I think for personal injury litigation, you know, there are a lot of similarities that I've noticed over the years. it's usually people who were athletes and competitors in high school and college. Not saying that's what it's gotta be. I'm not making a false category here, but yeah, there's a lot of ex football players, particularly that I seem to gravitate towards and with grappling
It's man, it's man to man. It's it's it's it's so competitive. And I you know, I got into it for my son. I wanted us to be able to do something and I've longed to do it for a long time, but he went into that was his senior year in high school and he went into summer sport, spring sports that he was having lacrosse. Mm-hmm. And I was hooked. I couldn't stop. So I just I
do that. I compete every chance that I get. And it's a lot of fun. And I wouldn't I'd be lying if I didn't say on occasionally sometimes when I'm in the on the in the ring, I'm pretending it's a certain defense lawyer or two that I don't like very much. And I just have this very much I go up to eleven or twelve on my strength generation during that. But it's a lot of fun. And yeah I I'm thankful to have an outlet. I try to do it
Darren Wurz (29:58.712)
Sure.
John Griffith (30:09.568)
at least three to four days a week. Great. Great. it is a great stress relief and I love it.
Darren Wurz (30:18.782)
Awesome. Awesome. Well, I've got one last question for you, John. we talked a little bit about the book Attraction by Gina Wickman. I'm curious, maybe that's the one, but maybe but maybe there's another. You know, what's one book that has that you would say has changed the trajectory of your life or your business?
John Griffith (30:42.296)
I would have to say it's more legal related, but it's every book by Rick Friedman. the books that he's written have changed my life as a lawyer, as a cross examiner. that would be my go to the Don Keenan books, The Edge, the Reptile books.
Darren Wurz (30:48.845)
Okay.
John Griffith (31:09.57)
Those really gave me a structure when I first started practicing law. I was practicing these new techniques. Mm-hmm. And it just it I was started hitting big verdicts and nobody else I mean, I was hitting a a lot of them doing this and nobody knew what I was doing. And so Edge Reptile Don't Eat the Bruises by Keith Mitnick. a lot I have thirteen books that I require my lawyers to read. Okay. And so
As far as a business book, man, I it would just have to be traction, I think, because that that has made the most difference in my my career. It really has.
Darren Wurz (31:50.734)
Well thanks for sharing, John. We'll we'll put all of those in the in the show notes for our listeners. is there anything else you want to leave our listeners with before we go?
John Griffith (32:00.6)
No, I would just say that I don't know. I mean, there are a lot of lawyers more successful than I am. but every day success is some days are a little bit up, some days are down, some days are up down, but just over the long term, the gap in the game. Yeah. Don't just concentrate on the today's date, look at the long term and don't lose sight of your vision. That is the most important thing for me. And it just gives me hope and inspiration.
But I'm still thankful for where I am. So even if I stayed static, I would well, I wouldn't be I wouldn't be excited being static, but I've always said if you're not growing, you're dying. And yeah. so being thankful, being content. Another thing I do that's really kinda changed my life, and it's just seems so crazy, but it's kind of the I'm I'm not Jewish, but it's Jewish tradition of honoring the Sabbath and and keeping it holy. I I don't
I would always work seven days a week and I felt so guilty doing that. And then I was just getting just burnt out. And now I've just got a rule. Sunday is my family day and nobody's gonna touch it. Unless I have a trial the following day. Then I might break that. But other ninety percent of the time I just give myself the freedom to not to just totally enjoy myself. And I do enjoy myself during other days too, but I just don't I don't I just
Darren Wurz (33:10.978)
Yeah.
John Griffith (33:27.488)
I have no guilt. I'm not gonna do anything that day. I'm not gonna check my emails. I don't I hardly have my phone. I'm either I'm just being with my family.
Darren Wurz (33:37.154)
That's wonderful. Yeah. Thanks for sharing, John. And thank you so much for being on the show.
John Griffith (33:42.286)
Thanks, Darren. Appreciate you.
Darren Wurz (33:43.798)
All right, and a huge thank you to John Griffith, founder of Griffith Law in Nashville, Tennessee, for joining us today. You can find his firm at GriffithIndjury Law.com, and the links to his free consumer guides and every book he's recommended today are in the show notes waiting for you. And friend, I do love this conversation because as we talked about, core values cut both ways. You know, we have core values in our firm, and I found that they
Hold me, the owner, to a higher standard every bit as much as they hold everyone else. And John's quarterly profit bonuses are the great game of business in action. When your team can see the scoreboard, they start playing to win. And here at the Lawyer Millionaire, that's exactly what we help of firm owners do. Know your numbers, build the scoreboard, and get the whole team rowing in the same direction toward profit.
Then we make sure profit doesn't just sit in the firm. We help you turn it into real wealth for you through an integrated business, tax, and financial plan. If you want help building that kind of profitability in your firm, book a call with our team using the link in the show notes. And if you're not ready for that yet, join our insider email list for weekly tips, growth ideas, and invitations to special events like our marketing master classes. That link is in the show notes.
Well, that's it for today, friend. And remember, if your law firm isn't growing you wealth and freedom, well what the hell are you doing? Can I get an amen? All right. Now go make it happen. And I'll see you next time.