Skill Sets # 14: Understanding Ambiguous Loss
Nature’s first green is gold/ Her hardest hue to hold/Her early leaf’s a flower/ But only so an hour – Nothing Gold Can Stay – Robert Frost We hear a lot these days about ‘rounding the corner’, the development and distribution of a universal vaccine, and the lessening of the hurt and harm of the […]
Skill Sets #13: Belling the Cat
There is a strong connection between mentorship and storytelling. Mentorship is all about relationships. Relationships are all about communication. And storytelling plays an important role in communication: “Stories are about connections. They trace the connections of people with each other and their society. They create a continuum between the past, the present and the future. […]
Skills Sets # 12: Beware the Bear
Interview, who’s interviewing who/ Are you interviewing me/ Or am I interviewing you Cyndi Lauper The art of interviewing a prospective client, a skill central to our business and performance, must be included in the support and training provided to our students, new associates and junior colleagues. Because there are many ways to conduct an […]
Skill Sets # 11: How to Succeed in (Our) Business
The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them. Holden Caulfield I like watching younger lawyers reach. I don’t like watching them fall. […]
Skill Sets # 10: Courtesy, Collegiality and Collaboration Post-COVID–19
Come gather ’round, people/Wherever you roam/And admit that the waters/Around you have grown – Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A Changing In our collective efforts to serve the interests of our clients, our profession has at times struggled with a tension (often uncomfortable) between the art of civil persuasion and the tug of forceful […]
Skill Sets # 9: Resilience
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter/Dancing through the fire Katy Perry – Roar Our associates or junior colleagues, in addition to other tools I have been addressing in these posts, require the tool of resilience. Resilience Resilience has been described as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, […]
Skill Sets # 8: Judgment
“I read the news today, oh boy” A Day in the Life, Lennon and McCartney The human brain contains at least 90 billion neurons, each an information processing device interacting with approximately 1,000 other neurons. It weighs about 1.36 kg., takes the shape of a cauliflower and has a texture like tofu. If you set […]
Skill Sets # 7: Meeting the Challenge
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World These are, as John Lennon wrote, “strange days indeed”. And by all accounts they will be with us for longer than most of us are for the moment prepared to acknowledge. There are many things that will […]
Skill Sets # 6: Law, Preparation and Anxiety
“But I know this, a man can’t worry and hit home runs”. Jane Leavy, The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. Events at home and around the world have of course confirmed (assuming there was any doubt) that we all experience varying degrees of apprehension and anxiety at work and at home. […]
