“In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.”Jack Kornfield, author and teacher of Buddhism Every successful professional faces disappointment—in themselves and in others. Clients might fail to appreciate your...
“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats.I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”Neil ArmstrongMost lawyers love the law. For many, their careers overtake their lives to the point where they carefully eke out “vacations”, while still plugged in. They may have...
“Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.” – Anonymous I believe the ultimate elixir for depression, stress, and pressure is humor. If you can keep a sense of humor, dealing with challenges and defeats is far easier. I find thinking of people in my life...
“Loyalty is a fine quality, but in excess, it fills political graveyards.”Neil KinnockBritish PoliticianIn my career, I have been criticized for being too loyal to colleagues who later turned out to be untrustworthy. It is admittedly one of my faults. I have a deep feeling...
“You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible.”Anton ChekhovThere are more sayings about trust than we could ever quote. But without trust, Chekhov was right. Life would be impossible.Those who were critical of the risks I took cautioned me I should not...
“There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” Henry Kissinger Like most lawyers, I am driven to succeed with my clients and colleagues. That creates daily internal stress. When I added moving a practice, my stress levels increased because I was now...
“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”David Mamet We all live with stress. In most situations, stress levels are similar from person to person, regardless of their chosen profession or activity. That assumes we measure stress by outside pressures....
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” Benjamin Franklin Without a doubt, the most challenging part in transitioning is fighting a feeling that you no longer matter, that you are becoming invisible. In my case, while I do not think I...
“We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.” Daniel Kahneman This blog takes a moment to discuss an important aspect of negotiations that we often forget. It’s what Harvey Mackay called the “blinding glimpse of the obvious” -- something we...
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Yogi Berra In late 2017, I began planning my transition. Rather than wait for someone from the firm’s Senior Management Team (the “SMT”) to knock on my door, I contacted the Global Managing Partner. ...
