As happens with so many of us, I have come to a point in my life where something has to give. Work is too busy, life is too intense, and either my activities suffer or I suffer.
I’ve written The Road Not Taken for almost two years. That’s a lot of columns about work, careers, the practice of law, and the practice of interacting with other humans. I know from the emails I received that many of you appreciated my weekly nibbles of insight. I appreciate everyone who took the time to write to me. It is a special feeling, to know that I may have made someone’s day better, or career easier.
As lawyers, it can be tough for us to admit when we think we’ve made a mistake, don’t know what the next move should be, or when we’ve taken on too much. We see these feelings as weaknesses and we know our adversaries, colleagues, and sometimes friends will pounce when they sense the frequency of weakness in the atmosphere. All this leads to strong personalities with strong positions and little room to reflect on the merit or wisdom of these positions. Personally, I still struggle with admitting my mistakes, but I’ve become better at knowing when to admit when I don’t know the chessboard well enough to make the next move and being able to confess that I’m not Wonder Woman: I can’t save the world, turn liars into truth tellers, fly an invisible plane, and keep up a full-time journalism career all at the same time.
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Law is not the easiest career and lawyers are sent out into the world without much guidance beyond: (1) get good grades; (2) get a summer associate position through OCI; (3) ?; (4) profit.
That route doesn’t work for everyone and even those it does work for may not get a career that makes them happy through the standard method. I believe that most lawyers can bring something valuable to an organization, but lawyers have to learn how to identify their skills and show their value to non-lawyers. It’s a new era in the legal industry and we have to learn to adapt to survive. I want to be one of the survivors, not one of the ones left behind complaining about the deficit of opportunities and resenting the success of others.
Although it will be on a reduced schedule, I’ll continue to find ways to share how I’ve seen lawyers be a value-add to organizations, pitfalls and mistakes to avoid, and figuring out what makes someone a good lawyer, a good leader, and a good businessperson.
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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 at [email protected].