Several of our Rising Stars winners said in interviews that they loved their role. Many talked about the values they saw applied by their mentors, and developed in themselves. Query: are these two ideas connected?
The values cited included honesty, integrity, credibility, and professionalism. While the winners may have had a sense of these values on a human level, they appreciated learning ways to apply them in context. Among the litigators especially, the idea that they could be true to barrister ideals and still aim to win, as they had witnessed in their bosses, was reassuring. This may even lead to happiness.
If you are aligned to your values, and have support from others on sticking to them when situations get difficult, it becomes easier to adapt and succeed. This owes partly to the clarity that alignment brings to decision-making. You’re not going to go to those options that don’t feel right to you.
We all know lawyers who are unhappy in the profession, and this is regrettable when getting there is expensive of time and money. So it’s important to listen to those who are happy and successful for clues as to what might make the difference.