10 Years, 10 Lessons, and Coronavirus

About 10 years ago I was laid off from a law firm and the economy was still suffering from the impact of the 2008 great recession, which despite its name didn’t make me feel great. It was a hard time. Really hard. And it was really, really hard to find another job at the time. Lots of companies had hiring freezes and for every open role, there were many candidates that had more experience and better resumes than me (they probably interviewed better than me too). 

Yes, this means that I do not have a perfect resume. That’s OK. Perfection is overrated. The comeback story is better.  

The layoff was not surprising given the economic climate and the shortage of corporate and transactional work I was doing at the time. To maintain a steady stream of billable hours at my then law firm, I worked on whatever type of work came my way - a litigation dispute, any kind of contract, or a bankruptcy matter. What I didn’t realize at the time was this was excellent training for being the first attorney for an organization and eventually a General Counsel.    

Since I announced that I joined Lexion (https://lexion.ai/), I have received several messages from attorneys and law students to connect and talk about my journey and career strategies. It turns out, a lot of practicing lawyers don’t like practicing law. This will not be surprising news to you if you’re a lawyer or asked a lawyer, “Should I go to law school?” The answer is almost always a “No!” Plus, law school is really expensive these days. 

Given current social distancing requirements and to scale me, I’m writing my very first LinkedIn article to share 10 lessons I’ve learned over the past 10 years:  

1. Lesson 1: Relationships matter - a lot. Be kind to everyone - a fellow student, your manager, your neighbor, the opposing party, a colleague (regardless of title, role, or hierarchy), the barista, etc. The world is small. This seems silly to have to include on this list, but I still see a lot of people in the business world treat people differently based on job title or perceived power or influence. Many do this not because they’re bad humans, but because they have been trained that to be successful you must be “visible” and “manage up” (especially if you work at larger organizations). While I am a proponent of building a personal brand and being an advocate for yourself and others, I personally think employees that focus on “managing up” are a distraction from what matters and have a material negative impact on the morale and values of a company. 
2. Lesson 2: A job loss isn’t the end of the world. You will be OK. You are not a failure. A job doesn’t define you. For some (like me), a job loss becomes a blessing in disguise because it serves as a forcing function to evaluate your values, passions, and build your hustle muscle. Yeah, you should update your LinkedIn profile, set up networking coffees (once coffee shops reopen), but optimize the time for reflection. For me, a job loss helped me build my mental and emotional resilience. My experience in 2010 showed me I can pick myself back up, learn from what didn’t work in the past, develop a goal, and focus on executing to achieve that goal. A few months after the layoff, I landed at a scrappy little startup called Avalara that shaped the rest of my legal career in B2B SaaS. 
3. Lesson 3: You learn from the good, and even more from the bad. There’s a lot of content out there that focuses on good managers, leaders, and companies. Great, if you have the option, of course you choose a good manager and healthy company. But if you’re not in a good situation, it’s OK -- don’t discount the incredible learnings you gain from trying times at a struggling company and bad managers. I have learned to be the manager or leader I do not want to be and do not want to work with from the bad ones. Strong leaders and managers shine when there are challenges. During this uncertain period, take mental note of how your company’s leadership rises to the challenge, and learn from their actions’ impact on employees, customers, and the company.  
4. Lesson 4: Your adversity is your superpower. If you’ve seen me speak at an event, you know that I am a truth teller and am not shy about sharing my stories, such as my low income childhood with immigrant parents (I learned it’s not normal for high school kids to catch the bus to pick up tax forms from the post office and help their parents do their income taxes) or awkward experiences with colleagues (identities are anonymized of course). I’m proud to speak about these moments because they’re real, and the skills acquired through working through these experiences is what has helped me to be successful (maybe even more than law school - sorry UW!). In my mind, it is not a weakness to talk about your adversity and how you overcame it. If I interview a candidate that can’t speak to dealing with any adversity in their lives, I question whether they have the emotional resilience and grit to be effective in the role and deal with setbacks and terrible people.    
5. Lesson 5: Focus on what you can control. My former PayScale legal teammates nicknamed me “Honey Badger” after the hilarious YouTube video released in 2011. Honey badger don't care. I know that I can’t control whether everyone will genuinely like me, so I don’t focus on it. Frankly, I stopped caring whether someone at work likes me or is my BFF. My mission at work is not to be the prom queen. Instead I focus on being authentic and kind and doing my best and what’s right though I recognize I’m not always my best self. Despite trying to do that, I have still experienced situations where me or the legal department was thrown under a bus or bad-mouthed. Why? Because legal is an easy scapegoat and often an undervalued function in businesses. So when times get tough for a business and when an individual behaves that way, it’s important to remember that it’s not about you -- it’s about them and they are likely trying to protect their job.   
6. Lesson 6: Lean in to your natural strengths. There is too much focus on achieving perfection. Meh. No person, job, or company is perfect - that’s an illusion regardless of a highly curated social media page. Through my experiences at different organizations, I have learned a lot about myself - what I’m naturally good at, the type of work I enjoy doing, my values, and what motivates me to get out of bed each morning (other than my rambunctious kids). I have learned over time that I am my best when I’m doing something I’m good at and love doing. And this happens to be working in environments of growth where I’m continually learning new things and wearing many hats. 
7. Lesson 7: Be self-aware and humble. Know your strengths and that you don’t have all of the answers, and acknowledge that there are others who know more or are better than you at different things. The most ineffective teammates, clients, managers, or leaders I’ve witnessed were the ones that lacked self-awareness and humility (probably because of their ego, which there is no shortage of in the legal or tech industry - oh no, I wonder if it’s worse in the legal tech industry). The best and most inspiring colleagues, managers, and leaders I have worked with were the ones that sought feedback, and, more importantly, really listened to and internalized the feedback they received. If I was evaluating a new role and someone told me your new manager is really intense in her communication style but listens to feedback, and my current manager was “nice” but didn’t listen to my feedback, I’d take the role with the new manager who listens 10 times out of 10 (all other variables being equal). 
8. Lesson 8: Operate in permanent beta. When you’re reflecting on your professional journey, think about the skills you’d like to add to your resume and pursue the opportunities that will provide you those skills (even if your job title or compensation takes a hit in the short-term). We can all improve in some way. A friend of mine who has worked at a law firm for her entire legal career once commented to me after I told her I was joining a new company that I’m always on the move and always evolving. I’m not sure she meant it as a compliment at the time but I received it that way anyway - cause you know, honey badger. Even if you stay at the same company, I encourage you to take on new projects and work with new people. I'm a believer in continual evolution in your self.
9. Lesson 9: There’s a lot to learn from big, medium, and small companies. I have a track record of coming in to build out the legal function for small and medium sized companies, but I also enjoyed my experience at a little company called Microsoft. I spent almost 4 years at Microsoft, which is the longest time I spent at any job. Honestly, I almost said no to the job offer with PayScale and stayed at Microsoft. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Microsoft as I was working with amazing clients and lawyers and enjoyed supporting Outlook. At Microsoft, I learned how to deliver a product used by millions each day and operate a company at scale. If you have the opportunity, I do recommend that you add to your resume bucket list working at a large company and gaining that perspective.  
10. Lesson 10: Remember to be thankful. When times are challenging, it’s easy to dwell on what’s not going well. This will make you insane - stop. Shift your mindset and be thankful. Focus on all that is good in your life and remember that there’s somebody in the world that has it harder than you or wishes they had your life or your job. One of the best things about scrolling through my Facebook feed the past few days during the coronavirus outbreak is seeing my Seattle friends enjoy the beautiful outdoors and enjoying home-cooked meals with their loved ones.  

On that note of appreciation, I have just joined Lexion and so far I’ve been impressed by how collaborative and supportive the team has been during this unexpected pandemic. Thank you Lexion for making me feel like a valuable member of the team even though I don’t know how to code.  

Thanks for reading my first LinkedIn article. Stay healthy everyone.