The Creative Lawyer

They Never Write, They Never Call ...

My post in today's "Shifting Careers" at the NYT.com

Despite the prevalence of technology in our lives, career progress requires real interaction with real people. Technology is a helpful tool but you can’t shake hands over the Internet.

But what happens when you put yourself out there and the world doesn’t respond?

You apply online for a job but get no response (or worse, an automated “no thanks”); you send a flurry of emails to contacts close and distant, but your own inbox remains a forlorn and empty place; you invite people to lunch or coffee yet they can’t manage to tear themselves away from their busy, employed lives.

Career shifts always contains an element of isolation. It’s your journey, not someone else’s. As Herminia Ibarra  has written, you often leave one work identity behind before you find the next one.  But everything feels worse when you are waiting for the phone to ring or the inbox to chime.

People find new opportunities in recessions, but not people who spend a lot of time being depressed, whiny or angry. You need all the positive energy you can get. How to get past the non-responding negativity hurdle? A few recommendations:

Act like a human being. The best antidote to feeling disconnected is to connect with people. The end of the year is a good time to do this. So get out into the world. Yes, you should try to go to professional events, but also take a class, see friends, go to church, make it to yoga, call your mom. This is especially important for people whose work includes an element of isolation, including consultants, lawyers, writers and stay-at-home parents. Manifest as a person, not as an email address.

Lessen your dependence on the internet. If you are focusing solely on online applications, your job search hasn’t begun yet.  The quantities of applications that pour in to company and recruiter websites make it very likely that even highly qualified applicants escape notice.  Many job seekers get wrapped up in the idea that companies “should” notice them if they are qualified. Well, they might not. It’s a lot harder to make contact with a relevant person than it is to fill out an online application, but it’s infinitely more useful.

Assume that other people are busier than you are. A non-response isn’t a “no.” It’s just a non-response. Sometimes when people don’t respond in a reasonable time to your calls and emails, it’s because they are busy. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to help, it just means . .  . that they are busy. So remind them. Send another message, ideally one that won’t make them feel guilty or irresponsible for not having responded sooner.  I would try to attempts at one medium before switching to another (e.g. two emails followed by voicemail). 

 My rule of thumb is that, as a whole, you should assume a 5:1 ratio in job-search communications: five calls or emails going out for each one that will come in. 

Improve your own communications. Maybe you are not coming off as well as you think. A good networking communication is direct without being pushy; confident without being entitled; and friendly without being forward. And it always contains correct spelling and grammar. Consider asking a friend to read some of your draft communications or listen to your oral pitch, and to give honest feedback.

Make connections for other people. Whatever barriers you are facing in the employment markets, you are probably in a position to others in their job searches, whether through advice, referrals, or just being a friend. Helping others make progress is a good way to remind yourself that you do have an impact on the world.

Try Fedex.  Two people I know managed to break through the interview gates by sending letters by express mail to the people doing the hiring. Boldness sometimes pays off. Just don’t everyone do this at once.

See NYT readers' comments here.

Ready to be loyal?

My thoughts about what happens after November 4th, in the Huffington Post. 

Spotlight on KATHLEEN! And a great novel you should read

Today's blogpost is in honor of Kathleen, my client-turned-friend from the Upper West Side who has IMPLORED me to add more posts.  "I am a loyal reader!" she recently wrote to me, "and I turn to your blog RELIGIOUSLY!  So indulge us, please!" 

In the "is there anyone here in the Universe but me?" world of blogwriting in which I live, this is just the kick in the pants I need.  Cuz I do have lots of fascinating ideas to share with the world but occasionally, well, one's blood sugar drops and other things get in the way. So here are my thoughts for today.

I just read a novel called Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee.  I randomly picked it up from the shelf of a bookstore in Northampton, Massachusetts.  To say this novel is riveting is an understatement.  It's juicy, funny, moving and unputdownable!

Set in New York City, the book is basically about the lives, careers, loves and frustrations of a bunch of Korean-American people in New York. On another level it's about high-achieving people who go to places like Princeton and then wonder what the hell to do with their lives, to the alarm of their conventional hard-working immigrant parents (sound familiar?)  It is both very culturally specific and completely universal. I felt I had run across most of the characters (or that I have been aspects of many of the characters) in my own life. It's kind of like Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, but more interesting, more humane and with a lot of Korean people.  At 500-something pages long, it's the kind of book that I found myself rationing out so that I didn't use it all up at once.  So go get it right now, and that means you, Kathleen! I guarantee you will like it.

It was only when I read the little author interview at the end that I realized that the author, Ms. Lee, used to be ...(drumroll please)... a lawyer.  Another creative lawyer in action!  Honestly, I feel we are really onto something here.

My Rules for Living - in Video!

Or at least two of them.

My friend Gretchen Rubin, who runs the fantastic blog The Happiness Project (and who by the way is also a creative lawyer) is introducing a new feature called "True Rules," which are basically observations from various people about how life works.  Sort of like, "you gain fifteen pounds as a freshman in college," except more unique and unexpected. 

And her first video interview is with me!  So check me out right here, where I talk about my "Grocery Store Rule" and my "Law School / Baby-Having Uncertainty Principle." 

Creative Lawyer Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Since 1992 she has been a professor at New York Law School. She teaches American Legal History, Criminal Procedure and Property, among other courses.

She is also a famous historian who has written pathbreaking, scholarly works. In 1997 she published Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (University Press of Virginia). Her new book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W. W. Norton) has just come out.  It follows four generations of Hemingses from the early 1700s to 1826. One her goals in the book was to tell the story of individuals, to “see slave people as individuals” as opposed to incidental figures in some larger social drama.

One Jefferson scholar quoted by the New York Times calls Prof. Gordon-Reed's new book “the best study of a slave family ever written.”

Hats off to the intelligence, diligence and originality of creative lawyer Annette Gordon-Reed!  Read the Times article about her and her book here, "Seeing Past the Slave to Study the Person."

Saudi Arabia Hearts Oprah

In the dabbing-away-tears department, a cute story about Oprah's popularity among Saudi Arabian women (and presumably their secret gay male friends), from today's New York Times. 

For a clear-headed description of what's going on in the financial markets

See this Freakonomics column. It's still complicated, but now I get it. Mostly. 

Network and you, too, can be Vice-President!

Anyone who doubts the efficacy of networking should check out an article by Philip Gourevitch about Sarah Palin in this week's New Yorker:

"According to 'Sarah,' a biography by Kaylene Johnson, Palin had got into politics after she befriended the man who was then mayor [of Wasilla, Alaska] and his police chief at a step-aerobics class. She made them her allies and ran for City Council."

Just remember, people -- use your powers for good!

 

Tabatha Coffey on Management and Leadership

I work in the field of leadership development. Leadership is a topic that lots of people talk about, yet rarely does anyone define what they mean by leadership, or explain why it's important. People confuse leadership with hierarchy, yet there are plenty of people with authority who don't lead, and there are plenty of leaders who don't have positions of specific authority. 

Leadership really comes down to exerting a positive influence over people around you. It can include making good decisions amidst uncertainty, getting other people to move toward common goals, and bringing out the best in others.

Most books on leadership are fantastically boring and not especially insightful. Part of the problem is that leadership is hard to think about in the abstract. 

If you want to really understand what leadership looks like in action, tune in to my favorite new reality show, Tabatha's Salon Takeover, on Bravo. Each week Tabatha Coffey, an Australian hair stylist who looks like she used to hang out at Danceteria in the 80s, takes control of a sinking hair salon (all of which seem to be located in either New Jersey or Long Island).  It's lively and kooky but at the same time is really the most interesting and clear-headed portrayal of leadership, management and the principles of small-business ownership that I've seen. 

Gail Collins Demonstrates Why Real Journalists are Better than Political Bloggers

Here are some reasons why New York Times columnist Gail Collins is my hero:

She's smart.
She writes well.
She has a point of view.
She's witty.
Probably if we had gone to Valencia High School together she would have sat across from me in Math Analysis.

Here is link to a wonderful column by Gail Collins from today's New York Times, basically on the theme of "Don't freak out, Democrats." 

There are tons of political bloggers now, including many big liberal ones, with supposedly millions of readers. There are seemingly tens of thousands of people who add their opinions in the comments section.  There's lots of material, at least in word count. 

But I have to say that what I feel reading political blogs is exhaustion, a mild sense of panic and a pervasive sense of meanness. I question whether political bloggers and their followers have any actual connection to politics on the ground, or are merely lots of people yelling at each other over the computer.

In contrast, when I read things written by real, trained, edited journalists (a category that does not include TV "journalists"), I usually get something out of the experience.  They think critically and as a result I do too. And I'm probably more likely to actually do something.