What I Looked for in Associates
When I was practice group leader and the partner in charge of attorney development in my firm, our HR director asked me for the one attribute in associates that separated the future stars from others. What do you suppose my answer was?
Sometimes it is hard to boil down what separates the best from others to one attribute, but for me the answer was easy. I replied: "The burning desire to keep learning and growing as a lawyer." I intuitively believed that was the one attribute. I later learned scientists believe it also.
In a July, 2008 New York Times article: If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow, the writer shares findings by Stanford professor, Carol Dweck on people with a fixed mindset and people with a growth mindset. "People with a growth mind-set tend to demonstrate the kind of perseverance and resilience required to convert life’s setbacks into future successes." You can't practice law for an entire career without setbacks.
All the associates who have worked for me and the lawyers I have coached are talented. Yet, the associates who stand out are not content with what they have achieved or learned. They do not waste time proving how good they are or get stressed comparing themselves to others. Instead, they have a passion for learning, believe success is a long term commitment and they are open to my help. The lawyers who do not have the burning desire to learn, are also generally more stressed out. Why? They feel the pressure to prove themselves over and over and they are constantly comparing themselves to others. I cannot really help those lawyers.
If you want to be a future star, focus on learning, growing and becoming a better lawyer each and every day.
