I had the honor of coaching attendees at the National Diversity Women’s Leadership Conference in Washington DC.
Then I led an alternatives career workshop at the DC Bar – which was awesome!
My coaching booth at the conference. I felt like Lucy from Peanuts. “The coach is in.”
It was fun and fulfilling to help women move through a career issue in short sessions.
A theme from the conference was this: Do not discount yourself.
Penny Pennington, the incoming Managing Partner at Edward Jones, shared a story of when she publicly opted-out for a significant leadership promotion.
That evening she told her husband about what she had done. He encouraged her to fix it.
She went back to that leadership team and said, “I discounted myself. I want a shot at that job.” She got it and has contributed to ascend.
I’m here to bring you that message… If you want to leave big law, no more discounting yourself.
I’ll say it for myself too…no more discounting ourselves!
If you want to be the force for healing and repairing our world…
No more giving yourself away. Beware of relationships, people and obligations that drain you.
No more going above and beyond for a firm or job that does not elevate you.
Your challenge (pick ONE!):
- Start giving 10% less to others, and bank that for you!
- Take a walk or meditate.
- Sleep. Engage in self-care.
- Day dream, map out your ideal business or write your MANIFESTO!
- Assess very carefully all the things you say “yes” to.
- At the conference, a woman said “We say ‘yes’ to all the things that are in our comfort zone. GROWTH happens just beyond the edge of our comfort zone. Go there.”
If you want to leave big law you have to invest in your growth. It won’t happen by scrolling LinkedIn.
To solve this problem you have to invest the time, hire people to guide you, secure training and coaching to make it happen.
If you keep thinking the same thing – you will keep getting the same results. Or as Albert Einstein said…
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
To create new thinking, invest in YOU. You are too important to discount.