Are you happy and fulfilled in your career? Are you making the most of your talents?
The greatest demands on us often have little to do with client work, but with creating the right strategies for the business and ourselves, making successful relationships with colleagues, managing conflict, dealing with personal stress and managing the balance between our business and personal lives.
Professional firms are political organisations, and it is not always easy to be completely open about one’s ambitions, doubts, and personal feelings. We are the first to praise the value of skilled, independent advice when we are giving it, but do not always find it easy to find or take ourselves.
In a 30-year career, founding a firm which grew from a sole practice to become ultimately a key part of a national giant, I have had to face all of these issues and resolve them for myself and colleagues. Today, I have the privilege of acting as personal mentor and confidante to people in some of the UK’s best-known firms. Generally, I work with partners and associates, from Managing Partner to newly appointed. My objective, always, is to be a trusted guide and confidante. I bring to this work a reflective, listening ear, all my skill and experience, and total confidentiality. I strive to be empathetic, but also to say what I think and challenge people for their own benefit.
Watching the people I work with develop, become happier, more effective and successful is, without doubt, one of the most satisfying experiences one can have. You can read some of my published thoughts on mentoring here.