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Russell Ford is an associate in the Immigration Law Practice at Troutman Sanders LLP. Prior to joining that firm in January 2004, Russell practiced Immigration Law in New York and Atlanta for four years. His practice focuses on employment-based immigration for multinational corporations, universities and colleges, and sports organizations. Russell received his undergraduate degree in 1995 from Stonehill College, a master's degree in 1996 from Boston University, and his law degree in 1999 from Tulane University School of Law.
Contact him at: russell.ford@troutmansanders.com.
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Unstuck! How Coaching Gave Me A Fresh
Perspective On My Law Career
By Russell Ford
CLICK here to read these sections
I think my story is typical for most attorneys. I woke up one morning three years out of law school and asked myself -"What the hell have I gotten into?" I felt completely stuck. But why?
Why Did I Feel Like I'd Chosen The Wrong Profession?
I was a third-year associate at a major law firm with a strong national presence. I was well paid. My performance reviews were on track. Plus, I was an established associate who routinely billed his hours and had a great reputation. From an outsider's perspective, I had no reason to be unhappy with my career. So why was I suddenly lost? Where was my old wide-eyed optimism and glowing sense of self? What happened from the time I entered law school with great expectations until the time I woke up that fateful day with emptiness and despair? Why did I feel like I had chosen the wrong profession? The wrong path? Where had I strayed from my original plan? How could I start to feel good again?
I entered law school full of hope that I would start a terrific career. But it had become painfully apparent that I had made some sort of misjudgment. I was bored and felt like I was not using enough of my own intelligence or abilities. As Orison Swett Marden (American author, 1850-1924, founder of Success magazine) said, "If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place." I needed to find my place.
I Could Not Attack This Problem With A Lawyer's Approach
For weeks I couldn't shake these thoughts from my head. I couldn't shake the doubts, the unhappiness, and the blankness. Finally, I realized that I could not attack this problem with a lawyer's approach, i.e. analytically. Sense and reason were not going to work. I had to look deeper. In the 21st century, that means the Internet. Off I went to the World Wide Web seeking the wisdom of millions of strangers. Unfortunately the Internet could not solve this problem either, though it did provide me with some guidance as to where to look next.
In this new era, the logical next step was self-help manuals and career guidance publications. I read Guerrilla Tactics For Getting The Legal Job Of Your Dreams, What Color Is Your Parachute?, What Can You Do With A Law Degree?, Zen And The Art Of Finding Your Career, Career Coach, Nonlegal Careers For Lawyers, Pathfinder, and Knock'Em Dead. I did, however, avoid Dr. Phil. All are wonderful publications and all helped me move forward in my search. But I needed more than words on a page or exercises in a notebook.
Books, Friends And Family Could Only Take Me So Far
So then I started to have conversations with colleagues, friends, law school classmates, and family. I started to realize through reading these books and talking to these people that I was not alone - not even close! This research lasted about a year but eventually the books and friends could only take me so far. Books try to reach a certain target audience and are a great place to start the search, but they could not provide the answers I sought. Friends are also a wonderful resource, especially if they are in a similar situation. But ultimately friends cannot give you what you need. Primarily because you must answer these question on your own, but also because either they have an interest in the outcome or they do not know you well enough to understand what makes you yearn for something.
It was about that same time that the Atlanta Bar Association hosted an event that included a career coach. This was an actual person who had practiced law and now was using her experience as an attorney and as a person who fought this same battle to help others with the journey. I immediately contacted the Atlanta Bar and obtained her contact information.
A Good Coach Tells You The Things You Don't Want To Hear
Why would a career coach be different than using the books or talking with colleagues? Everyone needs the coaching, mentoring, and encouragement of an unbiased and trusted companion. A career coach is different because she is a trained professional (Do your research!) who does not answer the hard questions for you. Rather, a career coach gets you to ask and answer the questions that lead you on the path that was meant for you. The career coach gets you back to when you first entered law school. Back to when you had an "ideal career" in mind. Back to when you could dream about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Finally, if the career coach is good, and mine was excellent, she allows you to explore those things that even you had forgotten about or suppressed. A good coach tells you the things you don't want to hear and asks you to do things you don't want to do so you can have the life you most want to have.
I Learned To Deploy More Of My Natural Talents
In My Current Job
The first step my coach had me take was a program known as The Highlands Ability Battery ("THAB"). It is a wonderful program that explores your natural-born or innate abilities. It places those abilities in perspective and helps you see areas where you have strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes. For me it was a truly eye-opening experience that I highly recommend to anyone. After taking THAB my coach and I looked at how I could bring more of my natural talents into my current legal work as well as incorporate outside activities into my life, to keep my natural talents in play and me more fulfilled.
For example, I am a performer. I need to be in front of people. It can't be explained; it just is. But in my then-current situation, I was not doing that. I was primarily a desk jockey and could do 95% of my work by computer, fax, email, and telephone - very efficient, but not very pleasing to my sense of self. My coach and I explored ways of putting this part of myself to use through presentations, workshops, and other ideas that allowed me to speak to groups and interact with people. It seems like a small thing, but you would be amazed what a small thing can do to change your perspective on your life and career. Just rekindling that little part of myself energized and transformed me. It provided me with a new outlook. Naturally, my coach and I explored my other abilities and ways we could deploy other unused talents as well.
Without Proper Coaching I Would
Have Left The Profession
It was this self-exploration with the guidance of a career coach that allowed me to see things in a completely different light. It allowed me to understand what made me tick and to do those things that most resonated with my sense of self. We are so busy after graduation seeking the appearance of success that we forget what our own definition of success is. Others' ideal of success may or may not be ours and may or may not align with who we really are. Forging a path impelled by the expectations of others is what led me, and what leads many others, into waking one morning and realizing we are lost. My coach was the consummate guide. Never judging. Never answering. Always leading. Always questioning. Socrates would be proud. Without the proper coaching and mentoring, I may or may not have ever realized what was wrong with my current situation. Without proper coaching I would have left the profession like so many others: unfulfilled, unhappy, and unsure of what it was about being a lawyer that left me feeling that way.
By Feeding My Abilities, I Was Able To Re-Energize Myself.
So what was wrong with my former situation and how did I get unstuck? In brief, I was working on too many activities each day that did not align with my natural abilities. Even though I could do them and do them well, they did nothing to enhance my sense of self. They did nothing to contribute to my growth personally, professionally, spiritually, or emotionally. By replacing old work activities that did not fit my natural abilities with new ones that did and by pursuing more outside interests that enhanced and fed them, I was able with proper coaching to regain my sense of self. By feeding my abilities, I was able to re-energize my commitments, my passions, my relationships, and most importantly myself.
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