Today (Halloween) is the only day of the year where most people embrace fear. Haunted houses, scary costumes, and creepy chimes are celebrated by kids and adults. The rest of the year, many people live in fear but a different kind of fear.
Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of leadership change. Fear of (fill in the blank). Suffice it to say, fear can be a debilitating state of mind that stunts forward progress, and overall happiness. How is it that fear has become one of the leading causes of anxiety, depression, and anger? Is it the media? Social upbringing. One’s DNA? Whatever the reason, it is important to be cognizant of the fact that we can take fear head on and do something about it. I recently spoke with a client, Alexandra, who is a tax partner at a large international law firm. Alexandra shared with me an interesting challenge at work. One of her clients asked for help related to an IP matter. Alexandra graciously offered to help by finding someone at her firm in their IP group. One of the advantages of working at a large firm. The challenge for her became finding someone. She didn’t have any relationships with her IP colleagues which made the task of finding someone much more arduous and time-consuming.
After a day and half of searching for the right colleague, she eventually found someone who could help. Alexandra scored bonus points in helping her client, yet it was at a cost – several nonbillable hours trying to track someone down. If she had established a relationship with someone in the IP group in advance, she would have saved time and frustration during her search. It could have been as easy as one email or phone call. |
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November 2024
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