By: Michelle A. Lawless
Founder, The Law Office of Michelle A. Lawless LLC
Who do you turn to when you have a career question? A question about office politics? Work-life balance? Your career trajectory? Or how to advance to the next level? For many young attorneys it is often colleagues, friends, or a mentor who serve as sounding boards and a source of support when questions or issues arise. But what if you had a strategic, diversified range of opinions and perspectives to tap as you navigated the different phases of you career? What if you had a collection of top-tier talent who could lend advice and ideas both about where you have been and where you are going? This is your personal Board of Directors.
The concept of building your own personal Board of Directors is not new. For years, seasoned professionals have been employing personal Board of Directors, masterminds, and group coaching programs to help them navigate their careers in line with their stated goals. Your Board does not have to be formal, however. In fact, those individuals who you consider a member of your Board need not even know that they hold such a position. It is not necessary to have “Board Meetings.” Your Board is your own – and it can function however you want. The most important factor is that it works for you.
Why do you need one?
Career cruise control after a certain number of years practicing law is not abnormal. Contrary to the rigorous “law student track,” which includes four years of college, three years of law school, clerkships, bar exams, securing an associate position, and making your mark as an associate, the path forward may become a bit less paved. While the next step may naturally be to make partner, the partnership track may not be as clear or definitive as past steps, and it may also not be tied merely to merit or performance. Sometimes just understanding the criteria for making partner at a firm may be a challenge. This is where having a personal Board of Directors could make a difference.
While associates may have mentors, practice group leaders, managing partners, or junior or senior partners who help guide their first few years at a firm, building your own personal Board of Directors to help you take the next “leap” can help provide support and guidance. It can also provide you with a strong network to help your career advance beyond that next step of making partner. After all, you have an entire career ahead after you actually make partner.
Who is on your Board of Directors?
Your Board should consist of a diverse array of individuals, one of which should fall into each of the following categories.
- Supporter. This is your unabashed cheerleader – the person who supports you no matter what and always has your back. Everyone needs a cheerleader. But more importantly, when looking to make partner, this is the person who is going to support your advancement to the practice group leader, executive committee, or managing partner. This will be the person who talks you up and who can depend to put out the word that you are ready.
- Strategist. This is the person who you go to when you need to talk through a career issue or a problem. He or she may or may not be at your firm, but they are an individual who you respect, is probably older than you, and can offer concrete, tactical advice on steps you need to take to work through a problem or achieve a goal. They are a critical thinker and have a fair amount of experience so that you can reasonably rely on their strategic advice.
- Critic. This is the person who can give you honest, straight-forward feedback, and might be someone who is not necessarily close to you, but who you know will be forthcoming. It may be a partner who gives you quality assignments and is honest with your performance. Ideally, this is a person who you can go to with a potential solution or strategy and you know that they are going to give you the critical feedback you need.
- Mentor. This is the person who, either in an informal way or through a formal mentor program, is one or two career steps ahead of you and who you can go to and ask advice without fear of repercussion. A mentor is usually someone who is there to give you advice and feedback for a longer period of time, and attorneys may often have one or two mentors throughout their careers.
- Connector. This is the person in your network who seems to know everyone. They can put you in touch with high quality people to help you meet your goals and can also help you expand your external network for business development purposes. When you are looking for either a referral for a particular client or someone to do a specific job, this person is going to have someone for you.
- Someone who has known you a long time. It is so important when seeking advice or opinions that you also talk with someone who has known you a long time. We all have blind spots which people who are not in our professional lives can spot and point out to us. Your law school classmate or professor you have stayed in touch with, or even a friend from college who knows you well, can ask questions which may cause you to think about things outside of your career tunnel vision.
- “Competitor.” This may be an associate at another firm whom you respect or who you go up against on cases, or a former classmate with whom you have stayed in touch and is in a parallel similar situation. Seeking advice from someone in a similar situation but not in your own firm can be beneficial to gain a different perspective. While all law firms may seem “the same,” they most certainly are not, and gaining perspective from someone who is in a different, yet similar, environment can put an issue or goal in a new light.
- Innovator in Your Practice Area. Innovation is all the rage these days and it is important to have someone you can talk to about advancement in your particular practice area, changes in the law, and changes in the overall practice of law. Showing that you are thinking about the future and how your firm will adapt shows your interest in the future of the practice of law. It is also wise for you, as individual, to keep up with innovative changes in the law beyond your law firm if you want to be a future leader.
- Someone who is where you want to be. It is always important to identify people in your industry who are doing what you want to be doing one day. Not only does this help you keep your goals in perspective, but it also gives you a loose roadmap to follow. This person may be your Mentor or your Strategist, but if it is not, adding this person to your Board will not only be inspiring, but will also allow you to keep your eye on what you are ultimately looking to achieve.
- Colleague. It is so important to feel like you are in the trenches with others, especially if you are at a mid-size or larger firm. Having colleagues with whom you speak frankly and freely and bounce ideas off will help you both mentally and emotionally. The practice of law is a grind. Knowing that you have others on whom you can collegially rely will make it feel less of one.
There may be someone on your personal Board of Directors who fills more than one role. For example, someone who has known you a long time may also be your Connector or your Critic. But try to not have too many overlaps. You should strive to have at least six different people on your board, and having a different person in each role is ideal. It is also highly advisable to have people who are not just employed at your firm on your Board.
How to build your personal Board of Directors
If you don’t easily have someone to slot into each role, don’t worry. You have ample time to fill each role. And now that you know you are looking for someone specific, you will be surprised who comes into your life.
Networking is an excellent way to find people who are in different fields, but also highly qualified and experienced. Professional organizations often have formal mentoring programs where a younger member is placed with a more senior member. These mentoring programs can be fantastic ways to not only grow your network, but also be introduced to someone who willingly wants to mentor a younger attorney.
If there is someone who you admire or want to have on your personal Board of Directors, but you don’t know how to approach them, first see if someone you know can make an introduction. If not, simply offer to buy them a cup of coffee (or have a virtual meeting in this COVID era) and let them know that you would like to pick their brain about a certain topic. You will be surprised how willing people are to help younger attorneys.
Joining professional organizations and committees which are related to, but outside your main practice area, is an another excellent way to connect with like-minded individuals. You will instantly have access to a wide range of professionals who are also looking to connect with others. By working side by side with these individuals, you will be able to assess if someone emerges as a prospect with whom you regularly want to consult.
You have your personal Board of Directors – Now what?
The beauty of having assembled your own personal Board of Directors means that you can use it however you want – it can be as formal or informal as you wish. However, there are some parameters that you would be wise to follow. First, know each person’s purpose and how they fit into your individual goals. For example, if your goal is to make partner, your Mentor and Strategist might have been chosen because they are going to help propel you to that next level. And while your Connector and Innovator might have some interesting advice, you need to weigh what they are saying if the advice they are giving is not in their wheelhouse. To that end, know who you should go to and when.
Don’t be afraid to let each person know what you need from them. If you want to make partner within a certain number of years, or you are coming up on the year when you believe you will be considered for partner, don’t be shy about making your Supporter know that is your goal and asking your Mentor for advice on how to figure out if you are on track or need work in a certain area. People are happy to help and give advice, but know exactly what you need from them.
Offer to reciprocate. Make sure you ask your Board how you can help them. You may think that you have nothing to offer someone with several more years than experience than you, but that is not the case. Even though your Connector may know everyone under the sun, and that is why you want them on your Board, don’t assume there is no one who you can introduce them to. As for your Colleague, make sure that you support them and provide advice when they come to you. After all, you could be on someone else’s own personal Board of Directors and not even know it!
Constant Evaluation
You will have several personal Board of Directors throughout your career. The Board you build to meet a specific goal such as marking partner may not be the one you will need as your career advances. It is important that as your career evolves you look for others who can be part of your personal Board of Directors depending on your goals. And there may be people who fall off because you simply do not need them anymore. Once you are ensconced in partnership you may start to focus on business development efforts and building your own practice. Your Strategist and Connector might change and you may look for a certain type of Innovator as the practice of law evolves.
The beauty about having a personal Board of Directors is that it can (and should) grow with you as your career grows.
Michelle A. Lawless, Esq. is a family law practitioner in Chicago, Illinois, and the Founder of The Law Office of Michelle A. Lawless LLC. Visit her at: www.malfamilylaw.com.
Grab your Path to Partnership Guide here.
Get more information on the Attorney’s Path to Partnership Workshop below.