The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction

Praise for Michael Melcher and The Creative Lawyer......Page 2
Title Page......Page 9
Copyright......Page 11
Dedication......Page 13
Contents......Page 14
Acknowledgments......Page 22
About Michael Melcher......Page 24
Part 1 Self......Page 25
Chapter 1: What Happens Now?......Page 26
Being the Creative Lawyer......Page 27
Why a Second Edition......Page 28
Exercise: A Snapshot of Where You Are Now......Page 29
Chapter 2: 20 Minutes a Day......Page 31
The Limits of Critical Thinking......Page 32
The Big Picture: Creating Your Master Plan......Page 33
The Details: 20 Minutes a Day on Your Career—Not in Your Career......Page 34
Exercise: Make Your Pledge......Page 37
Take Positive Action......Page 38
Tasks......Page 39
Working and Living More Effectively......Page 40
Chapter 3: Who You Are Now: Identifying Your Values......Page 42
When Do You Like Being You?......Page 43
Your Peak Experiences......Page 44
Detail Your Peak Experiences......Page 45
Derive Values......Page 46
Exercise: Interest Questionnaire......Page 47
The Evolution of Values over Time......Page 48
Evaluating Your Shoulds......Page 49
Exercise: Values Summary......Page 50
Examples of Values......Page 51
Chapter 4: Living Your Values in Work and Life......Page 55
Lessons from Child Rearing......Page 56
How Close Are You?......Page 58
Creating a Values Fulfillment Plan......Page 59
Exercise: Brainstorming Your Values Plan......Page 60
Debrief......Page 62
The Unlikely Story of Betsy Chao......Page 64
Disaggregating Your Job’s Characteristics......Page 65
Low-Level Values Conflicts......Page 66
Career Annoyances......Page 67
Exercise: Career Annoyances You Can Live With......Page 68
Violations of Your Bottom Line......Page 69
Living with Ambivalence......Page 70
Evaluation Point: What’s Going On in Your Career?......Page 71
“How My Job Works for Me”......Page 72
Exercise: “How My Job Works for Me”......Page 73
Alicia Walks into a Dream Job......Page 75
Vision and Ambivalence......Page 76
Goals versus Visions......Page 77
Creating Career Visions......Page 78
Examples......Page 79
Your Career Vision Possibilities......Page 80
Exercise: Additional Vision Research—Doing Market Research on Yourself......Page 82
Exercise: Brainstorming Your Board......Page 83
How Visions Reshape Themselves......Page 84
Exercise: Interim Vision Assessment......Page 85
Part 2 Work......Page 86
From Aramaic to B-Corps......Page 87
Exercise: Work Styles Quiz......Page 88
The Insight of Type......Page 90
Extraversion and Introversion......Page 91
Sensing and Intuition......Page 92
Thinking and Feeling......Page 94
Judging and Perceiving......Page 95
Exercise: Stretch Yourself by Building on Your Strengths......Page 96
Master Plan Intervention!......Page 97
The Thinking Majority......Page 98
Tips for Feelers and Thinkers......Page 99
Sensing/Intuition......Page 100
Tips for Sensing and Intuitive Types......Page 101
Exercise: How Do Things Fit?......Page 102
The Value of Differences......Page 103
Chapter 8: The Habit of Experimentation......Page 106
How Career Experimentation Works......Page 107
Debrief......Page 109
Experimenting Enough......Page 110
Deepening Experiments......Page 111
The Experimenters’ Journeys......Page 112
Emotional Intelligence: Get It or Get Behind......Page 114
Exercise: Getting Curious about Your Colleagues......Page 115
Relationships Get Work Done......Page 116
Exercise: How You’re Connected......Page 117
Ingredients of Solid Relationships......Page 118
Exercise: Identifying Needs......Page 119
The Special Relationship of Mentoring......Page 120
Relationships Enrich Your Life and Make You Happy......Page 122
Exercise: Sketch Your Circle of Support......Page 123
Additional Exercises......Page 124
Chapter 10: Networking and Social Capital......Page 126
Awkward? Perhaps. Essential? Yes.......Page 127
Building, Maintaining, and Accessing Relationships......Page 128
The Value of Non-lawyers......Page 129
How Your Network Shapes Your Learning......Page 130
The Strength of Weak Ties......Page 131
Exercise: Analyze Your Network......Page 132
Finally, about Those Networking Events …......Page 134
How Communications Make or Break You......Page 138
How Well Are You Describing What You Do and Who You Are?......Page 139
The Positioning Statement......Page 140
Business Development......Page 141
Personal Goals......Page 142
Creating Positioning Statements—Tips......Page 143
Master Plan Intervention!......Page 144
Is “Busy” a Boring Brand?......Page 146
Time Management—What’s the Real Problem?......Page 147
Exercise: Analyze Your Energy Flow......Page 149
Breaking through Procrastination......Page 150
Exercise: Force-Rank Your Priorities......Page 151
Attention Management......Page 153
Mindfulness, Multitasking, and Focus......Page 154
Exercise: Technology Habits Review......Page 155
Part 3 Growth and Transition......Page 158
Chapter 13: Learning Inside and Outside the Job......Page 159
Exercise: What I’d Like to Learn......Page 160
Learning and Discomfort......Page 161
Articulating Competencies......Page 162
Getting Promoted......Page 163
Exercise: Competency Gap Analysis......Page 164
Making Your Professional Learning Plan......Page 165
Exercise: Ingredients of Your Professional Learning Plan......Page 166
Growth Outside the Job: Jennifer and the Dolphins......Page 167
Exercise: Brainstorm Methods of Parallel Growth......Page 168
Zigzag Learning: The Growth That Happens When We’re Not Expecting It......Page 169
Exercise: My Zigzag Learning......Page 170
Chapter 14: Knowing and Owning Your Brand......Page 172
Exercise: Assessing Your Current Brand, Part 1......Page 173
Is Your Brand Working for You?......Page 175
Debrief......Page 176
A Process to Revisit......Page 177
Brand Summary......Page 178
Can You Have Success without Failure?......Page 180
The Zigzag Journey......Page 181
How Do You Assess Progress?......Page 183
Are You Cocooning?......Page 185
Are You Willing to Interrogate Your Taboos?......Page 187
Money as a Distraction......Page 188
When Money Impedes Exploration......Page 189
When Money Serves as a Consolation Prize......Page 190
When You’re Not Conscious of How You Use Money......Page 191
Getting More Conscious about Money......Page 192
Status......Page 193
Preconceptions about the Degree of Change We Need......Page 194
Interrogating Your Taboos......Page 195
How Other People Help or Hinder......Page 197
Arriving......Page 200
Words and Reality......Page 201
What Happens Now?......Page 202
Growth and Exploration......Page 205
Tools and Resources......Page 206
Values, Vision, and Brand......Page 207
Growth and Exploration......Page 208
Tools and Resources......Page 209
Values, Vision, and Brand......Page 210
Growth and Exploration......Page 211
Tools and Resources......Page 212
Values, Vision, and Brand......Page 213
Growth and Exploration......Page 214
Tools and Resources......Page 215
Self-Management......Page 216
Index......Page 218