In all but one case the very first words out of their mouths emphasized the importance of being seen as a "partner in the business;" 50 percent answered with comments such as:
Do the answers above surprise you? We have to admit, they surprised us. Men and women who are partners in law firms have since told me the same.
Having discovered The Missing 33%® of the career success equation for women, these answers shouldn’t have surprised me, but we weren’t sure the pattern would hold true in law.
Unfortunately, 14 years of studies indicate that this is not an area that is seen by managers and executives as a strength for women. Instead, women are noted for our ability to “engage the greatness in others” through strong interpersonal and team skills.
Does this mean that all women are good at engaging others? Obviously not. But it does mean that women benefit from the positive expectation that we will be good at building teams, using shared decision-making, working on diverse teams and other leadership behaviors requiring interpersonal and team skills.
Does the pattern indicate that no women have and / or demonstrate business, strategic and financial acumen? Again, obviously not. But, it does mean that we aren’t expected to. As a result, women have to work extra hard to demonstrate that we do understand the overall business of the firm, it’s strategy, the story told by the financials and that we make decisions and/or recommendations based on these understandings.
When you hold a senior position in a law firm or within a corporation, you are paid to be a leader of the business. To understand what this means, consider Leading Women’s definition of leadership: “Leadership is using the greatness in you to achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes by engaging the greatness in others.”
This three-part definition focuses attention on the importance of using your skills, knowledge and experience (greatness in you) to enable the firm to meet or exceed its strategic goals (achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes) by working effectively with clients, colleagues and other stakeholders (engaging the greatness in others).
This is exactly the same proportion as the earlier image depicting what’s required to get to the top in business1.
This matters to you because research tells us that decades of advice to women (including attorneys) have focused on everything but the importance of being seen as a business partner.
We used our three-part model of leadership to analyze the Top 10 most substantive Google returns for the search “career advice for women lawyers.” We added a fourth category for career advice in general (such as “take a lateral move to another firm”). see image left
What we discovered is that the advice women attorneys are given is disproportionately weighted with advice relating to “engaging others.” Even when including general career management advice, the pattern continues.
With advice like this, it’s not surprising that women in the law (as with women in many professions) don’t understand that, at some point, they have to make an identity shift. They must give up their identity as a polished professional attorney and take on the identity of a businesswoman. Making this transition can be hard. First, because you have invested so much into becoming an attorney and know what it takes to perform as a master in your area of law, and second, because you likely haven’t been told that you have to make the transition. But make the transition, you must! Our interviews demonstrated why with comments such as:
What can you do to facilitate this identity transition?
Depending on your level in the firm, here is advice shared by attorneys at the top:
So, put aside conventional advice offered to women and take to heart the advice of attorneys at the top. To become a partner in the firm, you have to become a partner in the business.
Have you successfully made the transition from the identity of an attorney to business leader? Tell us how. Are you finding it difficult? Tell us why.
1. If you’re wondering what other advice they gave: 25 percent addressed engaging others, for example:
Another 25 percent discussed personal greatness, for example:
First Published:
Colantuono, Susan L. (2017). 'A partner by any other name: Insights from the top on how to get there.' Women Lawyers Journal, vol. 102 (2).
Retrieved from
http://www.nawl.org/d/do/627