"The Fountainhead": I Did It My Way

This post is part of a series in which Influencers describe the books that changed them. Follow the channel to see the full list.

The book that impacted me the most as a high schooler had to be "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. Howard Roarke's independence and ability to set himself apart and to remain so independent when conforming would have been so much easier on him was inspirational and intriguing.

I cannot believe that it has been thirty-five years since I read it, and it still is fresh in my mind. The whole idea of being independent, earning respect while following your own compass was novel to me and it had an impact. Taking a pause from writing this blog, I did a quick search and discovered Ayn Rand had to be a bit independent and persistent to even get it published. How ironic, but how fortunate we all are that it got published. I am sure there are many other books of much greater value (the Bible, books about the start of the universe, writings of our great leaders like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.) but when asked what book I recalled as having an impact on me early on, this one came immediately to mind. There are others (Alas Babylon, Fahrenheit 451), but this one seemed real. I did not yet know my life's path, but I immediately gained confidence that whatever I did, I could do it my way, if I was persistent and dedicated, and if I truly believed in what I was doing.

I am so lucky to have found a career which lets me be me. My personal skills at resolving problems, communicating and diffusing often tense environments has served me well. But I know I do not do things the way everyone else does simply because things have always been done a certain way. There are many of my peers and elders I respect and whom I strive to emulate. But for a lawyer, especially a divorce lawyer, there are many moments behind closed doors when a client will ask us to lie, or to allow them to lie, or to seek custody when they really only want to scare the other side. How we handle those situations, especially when they are covered by the attorney-client privilege and no one else may ever learn what we said, is a true test of our ethics and our integrity.

We must be capable of independent and ethical thought and of sharing those thoughts, sometimes forcefully. We must be able to know we gave good advice, even if we can never tell anyone. That is my goal in each case, and while I am no Howard Roark, I think about him often.

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