The Road Not Taken: Try A Little 'Configance'

What is "configance," and why do you need it as a lawyer? In-house columnist Celeste Harrison Forst explains.

Confidence is a job requirement for lawyers. We are frequently the front-line soldiers in the battles our clients cannot fight. We cannot go to war without believing in our tools, our weapons, and ourselves. Confidence makes a career that involves opposing intelligent people, persuading others, and providing guidance on significant choices survivable. If we doubted ourselves and our abilities, we would be paralyzed with anxiety. Confidence is necessary.

Confidence is organic. As we grow in our profession and lives, our confidence grows. We find we can take on larger challenges. Confidence is not destroyed by a single misstep. Confidence is what allows us to appreciate our successes and learn from the less successful experiences without internalizing the result as a personal failure. Confidence allows success to be an infinite resource. Your success does not decrease my opportunity for success.

Confidence, however, walks closely with arrogance. Arrogance is not organic. It stems from entitlement and, some say, insecurity. I don’t believe that insecurity is a necessary element for arrogance. Rather, I believe that arrogance fills the space where confidence should be. If we are not confident, something has to go in that space. That something is either arrogance or servility.

In law, the meek do not inherit the earth. In law, the meek are destroyed. A servile nature breeds meekness, timidity. In our profession, if you do not have confidence, the only manageable alternative is arrogance. Nobody wants a timid lawyer. This is where “configance” comes in; a mix of confidence and arrogance that can get you through those times when you don’t know what you are doing, and don’t believe in yourself, but you still have a job to do.

It’s the age-old instruction of “fake it til you make it,” but with some thought. Many people who haven’t yet developed confidence don’t know what it looks like, and their poor imitation comes off either as contempt or aggressive social awkwardness. So, what’s the difference between confidence and arrogance? Generally, arrogance requires another person because arrogance needs comparison. Arrogance feeds on a sense of superiority to and condescension of others, even those who may be one’s superiors. Confidence is internal. Confidence is between yourself and the task in front of you. The performance of others is not the measure of your capabilities.

Arrogance manifests as a complete block against other positions. For people in an arrogant frame of mind, it isn’t enough that others agree with them, they also require concessions from their audience that they are the smartest in the room. For people in a confident frame of mind, an opposing position is not a personal affront. Confident people can consider opposing positions, even while advocating for their own positions.

If you don’t yet feel real confidence, what does this mean for you? Practically, when your boss gives you her notes on your memo, “configance” means saying things like, “Good points, I appreciate the feedback,” instead of, “You don’t understand the point of this. I don’t think these revisions are necessary.” Or, when dealing with an adversary, “configance” is maintaining a calm, strong composure instead of becoming upset or angry, even when opposing counsel oversteps boundaries and tests limits. For those who lean toward timidity instead of arrogance, “configance” would be presenting a summary of your work product to your boss or client and opening the door for feedback, instead of pre-emptively apologizing for what you see as probable defects in your work.

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We have to be strong to do our jobs. We are warriors and a scared warrior does not win battles. Confidence is true armor, built on experience. Arrogance is the picture of armor, built on an illusion of superiority. Confidence will protect you in a real battle. Arrogance may protect you in the way displays of strength between wild animals may scare away a competitor, but will not protect you in a real battle. With each individual moment of “configance,” you will build genuine confidence which, in turn, will make you a better lawyer.


Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly atC.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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