Blog
Ensure Job Security In Your Career
“If you don’t manage yourself, someone else is going to manage you.” At a recent conference I was speaking to a man who had worked for a large company and had been downsized after about twenty years. The loss of his job had been devastating to him. He felt there was nothing else he was qualified to do for a living and had absolutely no idea what to do next. He had gone home, tried to regroup and went back to looking for a job the way he had twenty years before – by looking through job listings. Nothing appealed to him.
Fortunately, a good friend of his sat him down to talk through all possible options. Doing this helped the man...
Why Some Things Trigger Us - And Others Don't
True to form, after thirty minutes on the phone we had barely moved past the point where I had repeated my name and account number to four different people. Then, after another hour on the phone while attempting to solve my problem, the technical support representative...
People Skills Can Make All the Difference
It is you – and no one else that creates your thoughts, your feelings and your actions. – Peter Shepard Yesterday my colleague called me up for a vent session. She had prepared a really complicated tax filing for a client and the client responded by sending a list of about fifteen things she thought was wrong with it. Well, the clients concerns were all unfounded and my colleague patiently and politely addressed each and every complaint. The client apologized for her snippy e-mail and stated that taxes made her anxious.
It was really nice to get an acknowledgement from the client that her behavior was unacceptable. Everyone gets snippy once in a while and its entirely forgivable. Unfortunately, this particular client...
How To Pick A Mentor Invested In Your Success
People who are ‘brutally honest’ are more interested in brutality than in honesty. – Alan Cohen Every now and then a new attorney reaches out to me and asks for career advice. I am always happy to help, since mentoring is rare in the legal profession and I remember how difficult entering the profession was for me almost twenty years ago. It is not uncommon for attorneys of all experience levels to need support, either. After all, a competitive firm culture can turn into a cutthroat one fairly easily. There is a good reason why there are the same number of attorneys leaving the profession each year as entering it. The legal work isn’t the problem – it’s the fact that...
Five Myths About Gender That Inhibit Workplace Equality
Despite practicing law for the past 20 years, I have never viewed law as a means by which we can change human behavior or the way people think. Plato said, “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the...
Anxious During Firm Interviews? Try This To Calm Down
Hitting the Glass Ceiling At Your Firm?
Recently I made the monumental...
How to Overcome Bias
“Preconceived notions are locks on the doors to wisdom.” Forty years ago, when I was in grade school, I remember learning about the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement. I remember thinking about these recent historical events as struggles that were now resolved, since, surely, everyone would have learned by now to view people as equals. I chuckle thinking of my naivete. I have often wondered, over my thirty year career, if issues of discrimination and bias have really changed or if they ever will.
I believe that the most effective and lasting way to combat bias in an organization is for its members to bring their own personal prejudices to self-awareness. The result? On a micro level, members’ treatment...
Is Your Boss a Perfectionist?
There is a difference between a person with high standards and a Perfectionist. High Standards people are positive people who appreciate and strive for excellence....
When to Say “No Thanks” To A Job Offer
I still remember the devastation I felt after finally realizing that my very first job offer to practice law was never going to arrive. I had spent weeks telling everyone about my new job and had finally...
