Are You an Outlaw? Meet Robyn Addis

Who has redefined what it means to think outside the law (aka OUTLAW) and is helping each of us in the process?

Meet Robyn Addis, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Legal Internet Solutions, Inc.

Robyn provides the strategic leadership and guidance to the marketing and business development teams at LISI, as well as for their outsourced legal marketing services clients. She is responsible for all aspects of business development, marketing communications and events efforts, and leads a team that is responsible for creating and implementing innovative business development and marketing strategies that enhance and gain exposure for LISI and its clients. Additionally, Robyn provides the leadership, management, and vision to ensure organizational excellence for the LISI team. She leads operations, finance, and human resources functions, and is responsible for the measurement and effectiveness of all internal and external processes. She also provides overall leadership and guidance to the Human Resources function by overseeing talent acquisition, career development, succession planning, retention, training, leadership development, and compensation and benefits.

We asked Robyn a few questions, and her answers can be found below. Enjoy getting to know this Outlaw!

Q: What would you consider your greatest achievement?
A: Aside from being a mom to my three amazing kids, I’m incredibly proud of the team I’ve helped build at Legal Internet Solutions Incorporated (LISI) and the things we are accomplishing together. When I joined the agency in the fall of 2019, Jason Lisi, the founder and CEO, was very clear on why I was there: to 5x the company by 2025. 

In order to do this, I had to reimagine how the business operated. Over the past two years I’ve created five new lines of business, reimagined elements of our business and pricing model, and brought on seven new team members. We are growing by leaps and bounds and it’s thrilling. Every so often I’ll do a temperature check with the team, either 1:1 or as a group, and the feedback is the best reward: the team loves working together, loves the work we are doing, and is excited to help build the LISI of our dreams. 

My greatest accomplishment is leading this amazing, energized, motivated team and loving my job every day.

Q: Your favorite virtue?
A: Honesty and authenticity. I love people who are real and speak their truth. I don’t always agree, or see the world in the same way, but I don’t have to. I really value people who are authentically themselves and confident in their own skin. True story: It used to drive me crazy as a kid when movie plot lines hinged on some ridiculous misunderstanding. I’d sit there and scream at the TV “WHY AREN’T YOU TELLING HIM YOU MISSED THE TRAIN!?” and other such nonsense. That’s a peek into my psyche: Be open, honest, tell the truth even if it hurts, and always be yourself.

Q: What is your motto?
A: What’s a motto with you? (Lion King? No?) 

But seriously...My motto is “Live every day to the fullest.” My husband “jokes” that I normalize the crazy and then add on more, but I view it as living in every corner of what’s possible in my life. Who knows what happens after all of this, so I want to experience everything I can here and now. Three kids? Sure! Pandemic puppy? Why not! Start a completely new career, volunteer on multiple boards, and serve as homeroom mom? You betcha!

Q: If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: George Washington. Even though I am a history lover, it only recently sunk in how great of a leader he truly was. I grew up outside DC so I was saturated with all the history of the founding fathers--so much that it didn’t really mean as much to me. Watching Hamilton and visiting Mount Vernon again this summer, it all started to resonate with me: the power he had and the choices he made that paved the way for our country. It would be fascinating to sit and hear him talk about all of those things.

Q: Finish this sentence: “If I could have one super-power, it would be…”
A: To be a mind reader. I find communication fascinating and I’ve always felt as if I could read someone’s mind, I’d better understand what they’re actually thinking and trying to convey. (Again, this goes back to my preference for always speaking the truth.)

Q: Who is your real life hero?
A: It may sound cheesy, but my parents are my real life heroes. My Dad’s story is far too long for this feature, but suffice to say he led an amazing life and is the leader I model myself after. A career in the army, only to be medically retired after his kidneys failed while our family was stationed in China (I was one). Then, surviving with a kidney transplant (for 33 years), all while building a high-ranking civil service career in the Department of Defense...every time I think about it I am overcome with awe. 

And my mother is equally as heroic to me because without her none of that would have been possible. At his retirement ceremony, my father -- a man who I only saw cry twice in my entire life -- was choked up when thanking my mother for her support and partnership. She made his career possible. She influenced who I am today. She is an inspiration.

Q: Who would you have liked to be?
A: I’m pretty jazzed about being me :-)