Three podcasts for a rainy day
And where do core competencies come from?
Three podcasts, three unique paths
I have three podcast episodes to share with you. One is from one of the top trial lawyers in the nation. Another is from a litigator turned juice bar owner turned general counsel of a fund. Another is from the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC.
Kalpana Srinivasan is Co-Managing Partner at Susman Godfrey. Here’s Kalpana on hip-hop dancing, making career gut decisions, and business development strategy (listen here)
Heather Stevenson is General Counsel at Red Cell Ventures. Here’s Heather on moving from law to business and back, learning new skills quickly, and negotiating contracts for bananas (listen here)
Samuel Levine is the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC. Here’s Samuel on the prestige trap, changing the law while in law school, and why every lawyer should learn how the law works for poor people (listen here)
Where do your core competencies come from?
In my podcast episode with Heather Stevenson, I asked her what her core competencies are and whether we should double down on strengths or shore up weaknesses. Her responses were compelling and got me thinking about my own strengths - that's when I noticed something surprising.
I'd say my three core competencies are in sales, networking, and writing. The first thing I noticed is that most lawyers hate sales and networking. So I'm supplying something valuable in demand.
But the most interesting thing about these three skills is that they were all weaknesses of mine.
I first stumbled into sales by working on a political campaign and knocking on doors. I had to learn how to size up and communicate with a variety of people. I learned how to build networks out of necessity in law school to break into biglaw. I was never a strong writer, but putting myself out there on LinkedIn honed my craft.
I shored up these weaknesses either by trying a completely new field, or by taking on extracurriculars.
So should others focus on their strengths or shore up their weaknesses? I don't have a clue. But the latter worked for me.