Anniversary Insights Week Three

Every week of March we will post three thoughts for three years of the company from our CEO. This is the third of those posts.

Balance

A lot has been said about work/life balance. People generally think of this as balancing your personal life with your work life – avoiding work eating too much into other things of import to you while still having a successful career.

In talking to friends and colleagues about a balance, it has come to mean more to me. I would attribute it almost as much, if not more, to colleagues than I would to my own, unique thoughts. People see balance in many different ways and besides the amount of time spent at work or at home, people have taught me that is also in how you are. One colleague, who I have always looked to as a pinnacle of balance told me how she never uses her phone for an alarm in the morning because it becomes too intrusive. I still struggle to meet that simple goal but the fact that someone else is able to hold that balance impresses me. Another colleague recently told me she took a trip to be in the mountains because there is so much more to life than the general day to day. She is focusing on what else is important to life; yes her career, but personal inspiration too. For me, it has become the balance of not only work and personal, but what will make my life as a whole feel meaningful and therefore balanced. Money used to be a huge driver of what I did – and no, I didn’t start a company to not make money. But all the decisions are less driven by getting money and more by what will give me, and my life purpose, a balance. Balance is something different for each person but the key to this point is understanding what it is that will balance your life. What do you want to put on the other side of the scale to make you feel level, with yourself. That’s something that I continue to strive for and something that everyone should answer for themselves.

Money Isn’t Everything

Great segue and interwoven with the balance item. As stated in the previous point, a lot of my life used to be driven by money. My wife, who grew-up in very meager surroundings taught me this one. I started writing my wife’s life history but then realized that is not for me to share, that’s her story. But what I will share is that she made clear to me that when you have enough to feed, house and clothe yourself and your family, you have enough. It is important to take perspective, deep perspective on what you have. What I wrote in the previous posts about being grateful and there being enough to go around for everyone (also a lesson from my wife) speaks toward reminding yourself of the things you do have and what others need. And that leads me to making choices that are not always driven by money – it has helped me level myself and brought balance.

Invest in the Future by Investing in Others

These three points for this post are clearly all hand-in-hand. It wasn’t done consciously but there is clearly a reason they all came up together. Balance and not focusing only on money have allowed me and our firm to focus on others.

I have personally made decisions during these difficult times less focused on money and more focused on supporting our team. Our firm has focused our extra time on helping others, pro bono work and providing monetary support to help others with their careers. Hopefully these small efforts will play a role in strengthening the future of our profession and better the world.