Legal career passion is essential for creating a thriving and fulfilling work environment. The best entrepreneur to work for is someone who has developed a business they are passionate about—someone who is doing what they love or has found a way to express their passion. The ideal workplace is one where you feel you make a difference, accomplish something meaningful, and maintain control over your future.
A great example of this is our friend Jennifer, an attorney. While Jennifer isn’t particularly passionate about the law itself, she has discovered how to empower, teach, and coach her clients and referral sources through her practice. This approach unleashes her legal career passion, energizes her, and inspires her team. Interestingly, ever since Jennifer found a way to incorporate her humanity into her legal practice, her firm not only met but exceeded its monthly revenue goals.
On the other hand, we have Lane, another lawyer friend who is deeply passionate about the law. Lane loves fact-finding, researching, and solving cases. However, he struggles with the “people” aspect of his job. We often say about attorneys like Lane, “business would be great if it weren’t for the clients.”
Lane’s legal career passion for the law was undeniable, but it wasn’t enough to run a successful business. He found it challenging to engage his team in bringing in and servicing clients, especially when he preferred to hide behind his desk. Lane knew something was missing, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. After months of reflection, he decided to hire a coach from his local networking group to help him practice law in a way that felt authentic, connected him with his clients, and, importantly, generated revenue.
In both instances, before these attorneys discovered how to align their legal career passion with their work, their teams expressed frustrations like, “I don’t understand, if she just DID the few things I need him to do, we could collect the final check and be on our way,” and, “I don’t believe him when he says he will do it, he never completes anything, he must not need this firm to succeed.” These were comments from hardworking, dedicated support teams who were frustrated by the lack of focus, motivation, and energy their attorneys were exhibiting. They felt like they were forcing the attorney to do something they hated, facing resistance every step of the way.
The root of the problem was that the attorneys were struggling to connect with their legal career passion. They weren’t excited, motivated, or energized to show up each day. Instead, they felt they were on a path of “obligation and duty,” serving their clients and supporting their team members out of a sense of responsibility rather than passion. Despite having a strong work ethic and integrity, these attorneys often frustrated their assistants by not completing tasks.
Getting real, authentic, and aligned with your legal career passion—and finding a way to express it in your job—can get you off the hamster wheel of simply working hard. It allows you to produce results that excite you and, importantly, pay you. It brings back your energy, hope, and focus, while also consolidating and motivating your team. Most support teams are willing to go the extra mile for their attorney and firm; they just need a leader who is aligned and passionate.
If you want to learn how to take action and stay in action—on a path that integrates your legal career passion with your profession—contact us for a complimentary passion evaluation. Stay tuned for our next blog, “How to Get Passionate About Your Work.”
P.S. Check out our free resources on our website, fire.h50.us/~hrgnmpwr/dev2/, for more tips on building a thriving legal team.
