Much is made of coaching trees that derive from assistant coaches who have worked for prominent head coaches. The success or failure of the coaches that branch out after having worked under a particular head coach can bear significantly on the legacy of the head coach. Consider the former coach of the Green Bay Packers, Mike Holmgren. Two well regarded head coaches were once assistants under Holmgren: Andy Reid and Jon Gruden. Reid’s teams are perennial playoff contenders, and Gruden has won a Super Bowl. Each of those guys also has a coaching tree. John Harbaugh, Ron Rivera, and Doug Pederson worked under Andy Reid, and each has either won a Super Bowl (Harbaugh and Pederson) or led his team to the playoffs (Rivera).

There are other coaches whose trees are less fruitful. Bill Belichick and Nick Saban are extraordinarily successful head coaches who are renowned for turning out assistants who largely do not become successful head coaches. Of course, not every protege will go on to success. There can only be so many teams in the playoffs each year. But this reputation serves as a modest mar to the accomplishments of each coach.

What does your lawyer mentoring tree look like?

I recently scheduled a mediation with a lawyer in Montgomery. I didn’t know him, but he had a reputations as an effective mediator. After putting the mediation on my calendar, I went down the hall to my mentor and asked her about the mediator. I was surprised to learn that the mediator was my great-grand-mentor; he had been her mentor’s mentor. Since my mentor’s mentor is the founding partner of my firm and the person who recruited me, I know him well.

What this knowledge further ingrained in me is that there is a strong legacy of lawyers who precede me. They are all known to be good litigators and better people. They have great relationships with their clients. They get good results, not only in the courtroom but also in getting cases resolved that don’t need to make it to a courtroom. The lawyer mentoring tree on which I am a branch has a reputation for integrity. In the midst of adversity, they are stalwart.

So what does this mean to me? I’d better not screw it up. My reputation is not only mine. It is also the legacy of those who have mentored me, who have poured a part of themselves into me. My own reputation could either be a jewel in their crown or a black mark on their record. I carry that knowledge with me and use it to instruct my decision making.

Don’t be afraid to grow your own branches

Regardless of whether you’ve had good mentors or have had to make your way without any, consider mentoring other lawyers who have less experience than you. When done well, it can be a deeply rewarding experience that affects the lives of both the mentor and the mentee. Those you pour yourself into will become a part of your legacy. Not everyone you mentor into will go to be successful or will themselves have a good reputation. But what they have learned from you should spur them in the right direction.

Take stock of what your lawyer mentoring tree looks like. Look at both the limbs you have branched from and those you have mentored who will be associated with you. Are you building a legacy of lawyers helping other lawyers be better at their craft, better at serving their clients, and better at managing their businesses? If not, now is a good time. There is someone you could serve well by sharing your knowledge and experience.

Five Mile Creek is stalked by a yellow crowned night heron. Every morning she fishes there for crawfish, wading its waters looking for a good spot. One morning, I took my camera so I could watch her more closely. This is what I saw.

The heron perched on a submerged rock and waited, watching. For long minutes, she stood motionless. Water bugs and leaves floated past her. A school of minnows swam by. Still she stood there, statuesque.

Abruptly, she plunged her head through the surface of the creek. Just as quickly she pulled herself upright with a crawfish wriggling in her back. She tilted her head back, and the prey was gone. Then she returned to her stillness.

The heron used her experience to scout a fishing spot where she was most likely to succeed. She found a narrow channel where the water was funneled between two rocks. The current ran a bit stronger there, but her critters beneath the surface had little room to move laterally and avoid capture.

She was patient. She didn’t take the first thing that came along. She didn’t settle for less that she had set out for. She waited. When her target made its appearance, she was poised to strike.

The heron made her own opportunity. She did not sit in her nest and ruminate about how hungry she was. She did not wait for her partner (assuming for the sake of illustration that yellow crowned night herons have partners) to bring back for her the breakfast he had caught. No, she got out there early in the morning and positioned herself so when the crawfish awoke and started their morning, she would already be in place. She wouldn’t disturb or alarm them by getting into position. She made her opportunity and increased her likelihood of success.

Do you have a new practice area you want to expand into? A new client you want to work with? A new business or litigation strategy you want to implement?

Make your own opportunity! No one is more interested or invested in your success than you are. Do your market research. Discern how you might be able to build up trust equity with your potential client and begin to form a collaborative relationship. Do your work and position yourself for success. Do what is necessary to make your own opportunity and then capitalize on it.

I was sitting in my four-year-old’s room finishing up the square knot on his muslin-blanket-turned-superhero-cape. He looked at me with a twinkle and said, “Let’s play the jumping game!”

I put my hands on the ground palms down and assumed the posture of a silverback gorilla. Jack climbed onto my back, perched on my shoulders, and started counting.

“One. Two. Three. GO!!!” He launched himself as far as his little legs will push him and landed with a rolling crash, cape fluttering behind him. As only a small child can after such a collision, Jack popped up. His grin was extraordinary. He ran back to me and said, “I was brave about that. Let’s do it again!”

Whenever Jack does something new, whether it’s something adventuresome or just new and scary, he always comes back to me and says, “I was brave about that.”

What do you need to be brave about?

If there were a sliding scale with risk aversion at one end and risk taking on the other, I wouldn’t be the person hugging the sign that said “Risk Averse,” but I would be standing right beside that person. I have a low risk tolerance, and it has served me well. But I also see that it can sometimes hinder progress and development. So I purposefully push myself toward risks, or I align myself with people who are less inhibited than I am so that I will be pressured into taking risks I would otherwise “nope” out of.

There is great value in taking measured and considered risks. Even when I fail after taking a risk, the fallout isn’t usually as bad as I had anticipated. Scared about reaching out to that potential client? My imagined worst case scenario – they laugh in my face and tell me to get out. The realistic worst case scenario – they ignore my correspondence or tell me, “No, thanks.” And really, that’s not such a bad worst case; you will have lost nothing.

Thinking about doing a Facebook Live event to answer questions within your niche? Your imagined fears – you make a total fool of yourself and don’t know what you’re talking about. Likely worst outcome – only a few people show up, you have some technical difficulties at the beginning, then answer their questions. That’s not so bad; you’ve got some experience under your belt and are better situated for the next go-round.

Whatever it is you’re facing with some trepidation as we kick off the new year, don’t hold yourself back. Remember the words of my 4-year-old, and be brave about that.

Photo by USFWS Midwest Region.

You have ultimate control over your own success or failure. The locus of control is squarely within your domain. It’s important that you understand that. This isn’t to say everything you attempt will be successful no matter how badly you want it — certainly it will not. But there are things you can control for to determine your ultimate success. Here are three factors that contribute to your success.

1. Talent

You have no control over whether you have talent in a particular area. Or even the amount of talent you do or do not have. Talent is a genetic gift bestowed on each of us in different ways, giving us the capacity to do certain things better than others. But since you can’t control it, forget about it.

Steph Curry wasn’t born as one of the greatest shooters of his or any other generation. He’s undersized and has bad ankles. He didn’t attend one of the basketball blueblood schools. Even in his first couple years in the NBA, Curry was solid but did not evidence an ability to rise to one of the best couple of players in the NBA. He lacked the natural talent that oozes out of guys like Lebron James. But Curry didn’t resolve himself to being a good player. He sought out greatness. He worked tirelessly, daily, year after year. He honed his craft until his greatness was apparent to everyone.

If you want to achieve a skill or master a craft, do it regardless of talent. The guy with more talent than you may start with a leg up, but he doesn’t monopolize whatever space you want to occupy.

I am not the most gifted litigator. Plenty of people are inherently better orators than me. There are any number of better writers than me. But that knowledge does not give me permission to resolve myself to being a second-rate lawyer. It arms me with resolution to work harder and to become better.

If you want to achieve greatness, do it regardless of talent. Make talent inconsequential by being willing to put in the work.

2. Luck

You know what else is beyond your control? Luck. Whether good luck or bad. You can’t count on it, and you shouldn’t despair over it.

Sometimes you are going to have bad luck. You might be like me and buy your first house in 2007 at peak market prices right before the biggest economic decline since the Great Depression. Then you’re stuck with it for years before eventually taking a huge loss on it. That’s just bad luck. And sometimes there’s just not really anything to learn from those situations.

Or you might be like author Elizabeth Gilbert. She’s written seven books. One of them was a worldwide bestseller for more than two years – Eat, Pray, Love. None of her other books have seen the same economic success. Was that one book so much better than her others? Probably not. It was the right book at the right time, and it struck a chord with millions of readers. That is luck.

You can’t count on luck. But you can and must pursue your work so that when luck turns its eye your way, you are in a position to take advantage of it. Coleman Cox is attributed with writing, “I’m a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more it I seem to have.” Discount luck. Just do your work.

3. Work Ethic

You see where this is going. You may not be as gifted as someone else, or be handed the same opportunities. But you can let your drive and ambition guide you to outwork others. I’m not necessarily advocating that you work 60 hours a week, but that might be necessary. I’m certainly not suggesting you sacrifice time with your family or forego your health.

What I’m telling you is you need to work more efficiently and effectively than others in your space. But really, don’t pay them any mind. Put your head down and your blinders on. Do the work you need to do. Have goals so you know where you’re headed. Then do your work. Give no thought to talent or luck or any number of other things that you cannot control. Concern yourself only with what is at your fingertips. Be diligent and tenacious in achieving.

Now close your browser and get to work.

Photo by olivierbxl.