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BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ - Making the Hours of Your
Life Worth More ™
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Issue # 25 - THINK LIKE AN OWNER, NOT AN EMPLOYEE
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To subscribe to "Beyond the Billable Hour" ™ go to
http://LawyersLifeCoach.com
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INDEX:
1. Ellen's Keynote Speech to the Florida Association
for Women Lawyers
2. "Patchwork Parachute: Weaving a Law Degree into a
Nonlegal Job" by Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D. published in
the Winter 2003 issue of Perspectives, the publication
of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.
3. Article: Think Like an Owner, Not an Employee
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All previous issues of "Beyond the Billable Hour" ™
are archived at http://LawyersLifeCoach.com
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Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., Editor
Ellen is the founder of LawyersLifeCoach.com ™
Personal and Career Coaching for Lawyers Determined
to Achieve Professional Success AND
a Fulfilling Life
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OUR PERSPECTIVE
Most attorneys -- especially women -- live impossibly busy lives.
Finding a balance between work and life without sacrificing
professional success, deciding on the best practice area or
work setting, and making career transitions can be a daunting
task, even for the most gifted and accomplished lawyer.
Just as every person deserves the best possible legal
counsel, every attorney deserves professional, dedicated
support in accomplishing her most important goals.
You know how hard you've worked to get where you are --
you serve others, both personally and professionally.
You've earned the right to both career success and
a fulfilling life.
This newsletter is intended to help you create a
satisfying life -- within, or outside of -- legal practice.
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1. Ellen's Keynote Speech, "Finding Balance," presented
at the midyear meeting of the Florida Association for
Women Lawyers in Miami FL, January 17, 2003 is
available at:
http://www.fawl.org
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2. "Patchwork Parachute: Weaving a Law Degree Into a
Nonlegal Job" by Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D. is published in
the Winter 2003 issue of Perspectives. If you're
wondering what you can do with your law degree, you'll
want to read these interviews with many women lawyers
who made successful career transitions.
Perspectives is published four times a year by the ABA
Commission on Women in the Profession. Subscriptions
are available at:
http://www.abanet.org/women/newsletter.html
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3. Think Like an Owner, Not an Employee
First say to yourself what you would be, and then
do what you have to do.
Epictetus
It's easy to understand the resistance of most professionals
to taking a more business-oriented approach to their work.
As a traditionally-trained psychologist, I expected to practice
psychology. My goal was to become excellent in my profession.
Then managed care rode into town and reminded all of us that
doing our best work wasn't enough - it was possible to be
professional, proficient and unemployed.
Lawyers today face a similar conflict. Most likely your working
identity is that of a professional, not an entrepreneur. But the
law as a profession has changed and unless you adapt to these changes
and make them work for you, you may find yourself struggling to
find an opportunity to do the work for which you were trained.
As an attorney in the new millennium, you can't afford to become the
best lawyer you can be. This is still necessary - but it's not sufficient.
If you make the mistake of leaving it to your firm or organization's
management team to think about business issues, you're likely to
run into some harsh surprises.
It's not astonishing when young associates do this - they're struggling
to learn how to practice law. But I've seen younger partners run into
the same problem - although technically they were owners, they
relied on their firm's rainmakers to supply them with work, or didn't
anticipate the shrinking market for their practice area. Then, even
as owners, they found themselves marginalized. As the disparity
between their compensation and that of their more proactive peers
widened, they felt increasingly demoralized and stymied.
Wherever you are in your legal career, it's important for your success
to be thinking like an owner, not an employee. Here's how you can
do this:
1. Consider a Personal Parallel
Imagine for a moment that your child had a medical problem for
which she was receiving inadequate care. You probably wouldn't
wait passively for your physician to do something. You'd develop
as much expertise as you needed to be able to make good decisions
about her care. You'd be your child's advocate if insurance companies
denied care or doctors were unresponsive. You'd do whatever
it took - because you'd feel responsible for your child's welfare.
Now use this as a model for approaching your own career.
If you can do it for your child, you can do it for yourself.
2. Develop a Career Vision
Just as organizations have vision statements to guide their planning,
each lawyer needs a career and life vision to provide direction,
a sense of purpose, continuity and strategic planning.
Decide what you want your life to look like five years from now.
Develop a clear vision and imagine it as if you'd already achieved it.
Now reconstruct the steps that went into creating it. From the
perspective of having accomplished your goals, what did you do?
What skills did you develop? What alliances did you forge? What
opportunities did you seek out? Where did you set limits?
If you'd like a format for writing your own personal vision statement,
email Ellen@lawyerslifecoach.com with "Vision Statement" in
the subject line.
3. Seek Learning Opportunities
An owner wouldn't wait for the organization to provide training.
Just as you'd learn all you could to take care of your child, you can
create learning opportunities for yourself. Ask for the kind of work
that interests you; volunteer to participate on projects that expand
your expertise; strategically participate on committees that provide
opportunities for the development of leadership skills; attend
CLE programs to broaden your knowledge base; hire a coach to
guide you in acquiring proficiency in business development.
Actively seek out advice and people who can help you develop your
skills and become politically savvy. Develop relationships with
mentors, coaches and advisors.
Many partners feel too pressured themselves to feel they have time
to develop a protégé. If you're a woman or an attorney of color, there
may not be people in your organization with whom you identify.
If you can't find support within your firm, look outside. There are
resources everywhere - you just have to take the initiative to
find them.
If you'd like tips on finding mentors, send email to
Ellen@lawyerslifecoach.com with "Mentors" in the subject line.
For a lawyer's skill development plan, send email to
Ellen@lawyerslifecoach.com with "Lawyers Skills" in the subject line.
4. Study the Culture
Understanding the culture of your firm or organization is critical for
your success. First of all, you're bound to be unhappy working in
a firm where the institutional goals and values are very different
from your own.
Secondly, you need to know the unwritten policies and procedures,
how decisions get made and who wields power and influence.
Without this knowledge, you're bound to feel like a child lost in
the woods with no tools or know-how. Understanding how
your organization functions allows you to develop relationships
with people who can help you achieve your goals. This same
understanding is essential if you hope to have influence on
matters of importance to you - like work/life balance policies.
5. Understand and Take Responsibility for the Business
Understanding your firm's business goals can help you feel like more
than just a billing unit. When you know the purpose of the work you're
doing it becomes more meaningful and satisfying.
Thinking like an owner allows you to take responsibility for the
financial soundness of your firm. This is important for a number of
reasons:
* If you want to continue to work there, you want the firm to
be economically viable.
* If you feel responsible for your firm's economic health,
you'll naturally ally yourself with senior people, and will
stop thinking of yourself as nothing more than a fungible
unit being leveraged for someone else's gain. This is empowering.
* You'll have more credibility and influence with decision-
makers if they perceive you as understanding their concerns.
You can demonstrate that you're worthy of your partners'
confidence by building trust through your actions.
* You'll be attuned to the relationship between your
own individual practice specialty and the overall goals
of the organization. You can take the initiative to ensure
that the two mesh.
* You can make yourself "unfungible" by choosing a
specialty in which you're genuinely interested and which
adds value to the firm. If you're the only expert in that
particular area of the law and there's a market for your
expertise, you've created your future.
6. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
This may sound trite, but you can't afford to only work in those
areas in which you feel entirely knowledgeable and confident.
Whatever your current practice area, you have to be prepared to
anticipate and respond to changing markets by modifying the nature
of your practice.
Don't wait until you know everything before you take a risk.
Making incremental changes can allow you to master your discomfort
and develop new competencies one step at a time.
Professional coaches can be particularly helpful with this.
7. Add Value
Decide how you want to benefit your organization. In what
ways do you want to be unique? What distinguishes you from
others? You can add value with your area of legal expertise,
your leadership or training abilities, your willingness to
pitch in where help is needed or your capacity to develop
exceptionally strong client relationships. Identify your particular
strengths - especially the ones you enjoy using - and develop these.
8. Be Open to Unexpected Possibilities
Don't allow your plan to blind you to unanticipated opportunities.
Develop a mindset that allows you to notice people from whom
you can learn, and to recognize projects that will stretch you and
afford you chances to showcase your expertise.
9. Take Initiative
Whatever you're trying to accomplish, you need to take control of your
own destiny and act on your own convictions. If you think like an
owner, you won't passively wait for opportunities to come to you -
you'll seek them out. You won't let obstacles stop you - you'll seek
out the resources you need to overcome them or find some way
around them. Make things happen so you achieve your own vision
of success.
Remember, you're the CEO/Managing Partner of "You."
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BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ is published monthly by
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., founder of LawyersLifeCoach.com.
She brings 20 years of experience assisting women
attorneys to her work in Lawyers Life Coach ™.
LawyersLifeCoach.com is a professional and personal
coaching firm specializing in working virtually (by
phone with email and fax backup) with women attorneys
interested in developing strategies to find greater
satisfaction in their careers within the law or
in exploring career alternatives for lawyers.
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D. established Lawyerslifecoach.com
to coach busy lawyers who might benefit from the
insights gained from 20 years as a psychologist
combined with her experience and familiarity with
the legal profession.
Ellen holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
from the University of Rochester and is a managing
member of Metropolitan Behavioral Health Care, LLC.,
a multispecialty, multidisciplinary psychotherapy
practice in Washington, D.C. and suburban Maryland.
She is a member of the International Coach Federation
and a graduate of the Mentor Coach Program ™.
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NOTE: BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ is intended
for informational and educational purposes only.
It is not a substitute for a personal consultation
with a mental health professional and should not
be construed as a form of, or substitute for,
counseling, psychotherapy, or other psychological
service.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D.
LawyersLifeCoach.com
Phone: (301) 578-8686
email: Ellen@LawyersLifeCoach.com
Web: http://LawyersLifeCoach.com
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(c)Copyright 1998 - 2007 Ellen Ostrow. All rights reserved.
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