Getting the attention of those above you on the career ladder can be very challenging. I have heard this lament from many young lawyers over the decades that I have been meting out advice to them. The complaints usually start with “The partner just won’t listen to me” or something similar. I know that it is frustrating, and I have been on both ends of that particular ladder.
The practice of law is very demanding, as we all know, and it allows many opportunities for frustration and emotional responses. My answer, to this particular brand of frustration, always is strategic. The answer always stresses the importance of taking the long view. Winning the battle can feel good at the time, but winning the war should be the objective. In other words, you need to fight the impulse to lose your temper because you feel that you are not being respected when your ideas are not immediately embraced. You need to be creative and even a little manipulative. You need to try to make that idea your supervisor’s idea. It is not the time to get your feelings hurt. It is the time to get your idea over the goal line and into the end zone.
If your idea is a good one, and let’s assume it is, you should be able to explain it in such a way that engages your supervisor and gets his or her attention. And when it reaches that level of importance, it should not matter whose idea it is. It is better that your idea is moving along than if it is still stuck in the gutter because you were not capable of selling it and were not even interested in trying.
Some people do not buy this approach. I once had a fellow panelist vehemently disagree with me about this. That person could not believe that I would allow someone else to claim my idea. I could only assume that she preferred to see a good idea die a quick death, have herself a good sulk, and complain to all who would listen about an opportunity lost. Honestly, neither of those approaches makes much sense to me.
This does not mean that you should allow other associates to appropriate your ideas. Not at all, and I cover that scenario in my book New Lawyer Launch. On an even playing field like the one between associates, that is not to be tolerated. But selling your idea to a superior is in a different league. And it takes a different approach.
It is no secret that law firm partners do not feel compelled to listen to the ideas of associates. That is just a fact of life, although it sounds harsh. Law firm partners have a lot on their plates, and it can be difficult to get their attention. The same is true in the public sector where agency heads do not always have time to listen to the ideas of their reports.
Here’s how one of my favorite authors, Sue Monk Kidd, puts it, “If you need something from somebody, always give that person a way to hand it to you.” In other words and in the context of sharing ideas with superiors, if you want approval for your idea, make it easy for that person to embrace your idea, embellish it and hand it back to you as his or her own. Suddenly that idea is over the goal line and into the end zone. If he or she gives you any credit for the idea is not a given. But what you advocated for gets done, and you were part of getting it done.
At certain times in your career you need to be satisfied with a result like that. It may not be fair, but it is what you can expect.
