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Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business by Carrie Kerpen

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student, Paige Heitkamp

As a group, we lawyers do not like to fail! But as Michael Jordan once said, “The key to success is failure.” In our leadership development class, we use a quote from Michael Jordan to make that point. The six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. “We use that quote during the “Leadership of  Self” segment of our leadership development class as we instruct our students that their success, as well as their personal well-being, will depend on learning how not to fear failure but to view it as an ordinary and necessary part of growth. We encourage them to fail gracefully.

Imagine my delight when one of our students this summer, Paige Heitkamp, wrote a book review that includes a new perspective on how to fail. Among the helpful tips offered to women by Carrie Kerpen in her book Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business is the advice to fail fantastically! We hope you enjoy Paige’s discussion of the book and its other helpful tips.

– Leah

Carrie Kerpen’s book, Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business, was great. The book focuses on topics meant to help women better themselves professionally and personally. To write this book, Carrie interviewed fifty of the “boldest women in business” to learn their stories and how they became to be one of these women. The book is divided into three parts: Work It Professionally, Work It Passionately, and Work It Practically.

Work It Professionally focuses on tips for women to advance their careers and make the best out of their skills, improve on these skills, and learn new skills. These tips are focused on women in the workplace. They offer unique perspectives from women who have earned their place in the business world. These women all share how much different it can be for women to advance their careers than men. Many leadership and business “help” books, whether incidentally or not, focus on broad tips primarily designed for men. Women have to work harder to advance their careers and make themselves known, so, as a woman, being given tips from women can be incredibly helpful and much more beneficial. This section focuses on getting hired, how to grow your career, networking, and asking for raises. Each of these subtopics has stories from several of the women Carrie interviewed, giving different perspectives from each of these women as to how they succeeded in that subtopic. Having tips from multiple women is incredibly beneficial because everyone is different, and one woman’s methods may not work for another. Getting perspectives from many different women is incredibly beneficial so you can find the strategy you best connect with.

Work It Passionately focuses on tips and strategies for women regarding making the “right decisions” in life, whether it be about your career, personal life, or even your family life. It not only focuses on how to weigh the pros and cons of these decisions and come to the right outcome, but it also focuses on how to get to the position you need to be in even to have the ability to make these decisions. This section focuses on helping you decide when to trust your gut, when to rely on your rational thinking skills, and how to use a combination of both to succeed. Like the previous section, each subtopic has stories from multiple women offering their unique perspectives on the various issues. It is essential, again, to read all of these different perspectives, but each woman is different in her own unique way, and skills that work for one may not work for another. One important subtopic in this section was how to “fail fantastically.” This is an important message because failure is daunting, and many women are afraid to try something out of fear of failure. This book teaches you that failure is normal and should be expected. No one gets it right on the first try, and if you’re going to fail, fail fantastically.

The final section, Work It Practically, was the most important section. This section deals with the “hard stuff” that women are not only afraid to talk about but also the things that women tend to deal with more in the workplace than men. This section focuses on inspiration and strategies for women to navigate specific obstacles and challenges unique to women in the workplace. This section focuses on relatively taboo topics such as family planning, work/life balance, how to dress, how women are “expected” to behave in the workplace, and how to deal with sexism and discrimination not only from male coworkers and bosses but also from female coworkers and bosses. As with the previous two sections, each subtopic has inspiring and motivational stories from several women on Carrie’s “Boldest Women in Business” list. Each woman in this section told their story and gave numerous tips and tricks on overcoming these uniquely female challenges in the workplace and at home. The subtopic, “Make Lemonade,” teaches women how to make the best of dealing with these difficult issues. This subtopic teaches women not to be afraid to tell people close to them what is happening in their life and that it is okay to lean on others.

Overall, this book was incredibly inspiring. All women, no matter where they are in their careers and lives, can benefit from the numerous perspectives offered in this book. This book is not the typical leadership or business “help” book. This book says there is no one key to success but that finding the best strategy for you is the most important “key” to success.

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Extreme Ownership – Book Review

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student Mike Brunger

The following post is a book review written by Mike Brunger, a student in our Winter 2022-23 Leadership Class. I hope you enjoy this book review as much as I did. – Leah

Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, is more than a book on leadership. It is a tool that can prove handy in anyone’s toolbox. This book is both captivating and easy to read. The authors present the reader with situations where ownership could be improved. But after employing Extreme Ownership principles in these situations, the results were incredible. 

The authors, Jocko and Leif, served as Navy SEAL officers in SEAL Team Three. This Team, more commonly known as Task Unit Bruiser, is the most decorated special operations unit that has served in the Iraq War. Under Jocko and Leif’s leadership, Seal Team Three experienced some of the most taxing combat in the history of SEAL Teams.

After leaving active duty, Willink and Babin launched a company called Echelon Front and embarked on a mission to share their stories from the battlefield. Traveling the world, they teach business professionals leadership tactics, specifically the importance of ownership. Each chapter of the book focuses on a specific element of leadership.

They start each chapter by telling a story from their time with SEAL Team Three. The story usually takes place in a high-stakes combat situation. Then, Jocko and Leif apply lessons from that story to a problem in the civilian world. The typical scenario likely involves a CEO needing realignment within their organization. This book is very military-heavy; however, you do not have to have a military background to understand and embrace the concepts taught in this book.

My wife, Vanessa, is a hotel company’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she started working from home. As travel abruptly halted, the hotel industry was left in financial ruin. At home, at the same time, I could hear her having very tough conversations with staff members. On more than one occasion, she could be heard sobbing after terminating a team member due to the lack of revenue. The pandemic was full of uncertainty and fear. Fortunately, my wife was never on the receiving end of one of those calls.

Vanessa was having a conversation with one of her sales leaders one day. Her employee was disgruntled, venting quite loudly. Vanessa listened as her employee explained how she needed help understanding why the corporate office was constantly requesting reports. Moreover, she stressed how her hotel was already short-staffed, and at times she was stuck behind the front desk checking guests in. Amassing all the requested information was time-consuming. Vanessa, acting as the liaison between her hotels and the corporate office, tried her best to explain the reasons why. The call soon ended.

I was sitting in our living room holding a copy of Extreme Ownership. My wife entered the room, ready to explode! She knew I likely heard the entire discussion. But, before she said a word, I handed her the book and said, “Look at chapter ten.”

Chapter ten discusses the importance of leading up and down the chain of command. More importantly, the chapter explains why. The chapter begins by taking the reader to the Euphrates River bank, where SEAL Team Three’s leaders prepare for a combat operation. Leif and Jocko had just received an email from the Team’s higher headquarters staff, led by their Seal Team’s commanding officer (CO). Leif was livid! In the email, their CO requested clarifying information regarding the operation the Team planned to execute within the next few hours. Leif could not understand how “they” do not know what the Team does, how hard they work, and how busy they are. Additionally, Leif did not know why they had to stop what they were doing to answer “idiotic” questions.

Jocko did his best to calm Leif down. The CO required answers before approving the operation. He tried to help Leif see their combat operations through the CO’s eyes. It was the CO’s job to approve every mission, and it was Jocko’s job to put the CO in his comfort zone so the operation could get approved. Leif began to understand.

The CO and his staff operated from an office in the United States. Therefore, they could not fully appreciate the hard work the Teams were conducting. The more Jocko pushed situational awareness up the chain, the more comfortable they became. Jocko explained the “why” by telling Leif, “We have to lead them.” The more the Team communicated up the chain of command, the less they were “badgered” by the CO.

Chapter ten got my wife’s attention and is just one of many great chapters that can be applied to all aspects of business and life. I recommend this book to anyone. My wife had a copy of the book sent to all her sales leaders. I look forward to hearing stories about how her organization has used this book.     

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Civil Discourse Training through Public Deliberation Workshops

by BLAdmin

Civil Discourse Training through Public Deliberation Workshops

Last week, in Training Law Students to Respectfully Engage One Another, I shared a new addition to our extended orientation program for entering students. In the second week of law school, our students participate in a Public Deliberation Workshop to teach better methods for engaging in conversations in law school and beyond. In this post, I want to share some of the feedback from our students through surveys conducted after the workshops.

On the survey, students were asked, “What, if anything, might you do differently as a result of this forum?” I grouped the representative quotes into the following categories of “themes” I saw in the responses:

Listening skills:

  • “Listen to understand rather than listen to be understood.”
  • “Be sure to listen and not just wait to respond.”
  • “Seek to listen fully before speaking; ask more questions.”
  • “I will now listen to others with more intent.”

More sensitivity to others’ perspectives and different life experiences:

  • “I have a new perspective now for understanding others’ opinions.”
  • “I can now see perspectives I didn’t previously consider.”
  • “Be more aware of how big of a problem it is, even though it may not be personally a problem of my everyday life.”
  • “I will deliberate on sensitive topics differently, attempting to listen better.”

Less judgmental and more respectful:

  • “I hope to be more open to listening and responding positively instead of looking for areas of disagreement.”
  • “Really work on “learning” someone instead of judging them.”
  • “I think I will treat opinions with more respect in general.”

More Open-minded:

  • “I’ll try to be respectful and allow others to speak and listen with an open mind.”
  • “I came into the discussion ready to defend an option and my answer, but I came out understanding the other options better.”
  • “Now, I will be more open-minded to solutions that don’t immediately appeal to me.”

Application of skill beyond law school:

  • “I will bring skills learned in this forum to my personal life to communicate with my family better.”

The workshop facilitators guide the participants through a conversation about three possible approaches to the issue. When students were asked, “Are you thinking differently about this issue now that you have participated in the forum,” they responded with answers such as:

  • “Yes, I had little knowledge on the subject, and hearing different experiences changed my perspective on the topic.”
  • “Hearing about others’ perspectives shifted my perspective from starting strongly in Option 3 and shifting more towards Option 1.”
  • “Yes, I am thankful for the opportunity to hear the opinions of others without trying to squash someone’s opinion before we can fully understand the topic.”

We are encouraged by the responses, and we hope these Public Deliberation Workshops will result in students listening more earnestly and respectfully to others with different life experiences and viewpoints. The goal is to help participants find shared values and build a community that can lead to innovative problem-solving together. What a difference we can make if law students enter the profession with this approach to building relationships in their organizations and communities.

– LEAH

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My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student, Daniella McDonagh

The following post is a book review written by Daniella McDonagh, a student in our Winter 2022-23 Leadership Class. In Chapter 21 of Fundamentals of Lawyer Leadership, we encourage students to view life as a lawyer as a lifelong pursuit of purposeful learning and growth as they serve, influence, and impact their clients and communities.  Daniella writes about lessons and advice she finds in My Own Words, a biographical collection of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s speeches, articles, and lectures. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

– Leah

Advocate, way-paver, justice seeker, and fighter are all qualities that commonly come to mind when thinking of a successful leader like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But, what may not come to mind as commonly, is the quality of being an eternal student. My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg illuminates that besides these common qualities of a leader, the quality of being an eternal student made Bader Ginsburg the “Notorious RBG” and the inspiring leader that she was and continues to be remembered for today.

Bader Ginsburg was a student of leaders who came before her, illuminating little-known historical figures and spotlighting those who helped pave the way for her own opportunities and accomplishments. She appreciated the paths marked by others – others whose names are unknown and overlooked, such as Belva Lockwood, who was the first woman to gain admission to the United States Supreme Court Bar, and Arabella Mansfield, the first woman to gain admission to practice law in the United States; and Florence Allen, the first woman to serve on an Article III federal court. Bader Ginsburg recognized that to be a future leader, and she must study the leaders – both the famously revered and the nameless unknowns – of the past.

Additionally, she studied social movements, like the civil rights movement, to mimic the strategy of educating judicial audiences in measured movements in ways digestible by and appeasing to the decision-makers on the matter. Bader Ginsburg also expanded her studies to other legal systems – she studied what other leaders did well and what could be improved if similar methods were applied to American systems and leaders.

Like any successful leader, Bader Ginsburg was a student of the audience – she studied her audience to best understand how to communicate productively and effect change in dissenting minds. She demonstrated this best when seeking change in contentious areas, such as women’s rights and civil rights, during the peak of controversy. Bader Ginsburg recognized that speaking to all audiences as though addressing one’s home crowd could be counterproductive. She proved that productive communication and effective change only occurs when leaders study their audiences and cater to the specific thought processes, concerns, and priorities of the audience.

Bader Ginsburg was also a student of words – she understood the powerful presence of the right words at the right time and the power of silence. She especially demonstrated this wisdom and balance of speech and silence through her dissenting opinions. Throughout her career on the Supreme Court bench, there were terms where Bader Ginsburg did not author any dissents, but that was not for lack of anything to say. Instead, she recognized that when she did use her voice, her words would be given more weight and garner more attention than those justices whose voices traditionally dominate and overwhelm the discussion. Furthermore, when she did dissent, she emphasized the importance of disagreeing with civility. Bader Ginsburg demonstrated that leaders bring dissenters to the light; leaders do not fault dissenters for being wrong. To put this into practice, she would transform from the student to the teacher and teach the other justices everything she learned and understood on this topic through her experience as an open-minded, absorbent student.

What was noticeably absent from Bader Ginsburg’s My Own Words, was her own words about herself. Bader Ginsburg exemplified a true student leader in that she focused on the achievements of other people, other movements, and other legal systems, but neglected to acknowledge her own remarkable achievements as a leader. I recommend My Own Words for those seeking to improve their leadership skills because Bader Ginsburg does not tell you how to be a leader, nor does she tell you how she herself is a leader; instead, she actively embodied what a leader is with every word she wrote and every word she spoke. This book does not lay out a five-point plan that people are unlikely to follow, nor does it suggest theoretical advice that is impractical to implement. Rather, this book provides a glimpse into the thoughts and opinions of an exceptional leader and demonstrates the remarkable result of dedicating your life to something so simple and achievable – being a student.

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Chop Wood, Carry Water – Book Review

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student Samantha Chaiken

The following post is a book review written by Samantha Chaiken, a student in our summer 2021 Leadership Class. As I reflect on Samantha’s thoughts below, two points seem particularly relevant to our discussion this month on the importance of wellness:

  • The author states that the training of our law students becomes their baseline to which they will revert when under pressure. What if we do not address the need to prioritize wellness? Shouldn’t we model and teach them how to do so? We know our students will have challenging times ahead. Let’s help them develop healthy coping mechanisms to be better prepared to weather their storms in law school and beyond.

  • A favorite lesson from the book was about the danger of ‘comparison left unchecked.’ Comparison, which is built into the fabric of law school, is often necessary and constructive; yet an environment of constant comparison can be taken too far and lead to unhealthy feelings about one’s self-worth or abilities and can rob us of our joy. Leadership development programming can help our students learn to cope as we emphasize developing grit, resilience, and a growth mindset to encourage students to view feedback constructively and failure as a normal aspect of their progression.

I hope you enjoy this book review as much as I did. – Leah

Chop Wood, Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf, is exactly as advertised. The book truly takes you through, chapter by chapter, how to fall in love with the process of becoming great. This leadership book is a quick read with each chapter providing a powerful lesson.

The book follows the story of John, a boy who dreamed of becoming a samurai warrior, specifically, an archer. John traveled to Japan where he enrolled as an apprentice to a small community of samurais. It is there that John meets a friendly old sensei by the name of Akira. Much like the Karate Kid, rather than “wax on, wax off,” Akira taught John how to “chop wood, carry water.” In each chapter of the book, Akira teaches John an important lesson that brings John closer to his goal of becoming a samurai warrior.

Lessons Learned

 Although there are many, one of my favorite lessons from the book is that “comparison is the thief of all joy.” One day as John was struggling, he was jealous of how easy things seemingly came to his peers while he had to work so hard and still not do as well as his peers. Akira pulled John aside and told him that he must focus on his journey and his alone. Otherwise, he would run the risk of not only losing his joy, but also losing any chance of true success in the long run.

One of my favorite quotes was Akira telling John, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” This lesson truly resonated with me. As law students, we are constantly placed in positions of comparison.  We are constantly comparing grades, class performance, titles, positions on Law Review or in student organizations, and in many other aspects of our law school experience. With so much comparison, we lose our joy. We forget our prior successes that led us to law school in the first place. We diminish our accomplishments while in law school because there is seemingly always another classmate who did better than us. We fail to put our experiences in perspective.

This same phenomenon happens to lawyers in the real world as well. Only the subject matter of the comparison changes. That is why it is so important to take a minute to reflect on your own personal journey and the progress YOU have made. Otherwise, comparison is going to steal all your joy.

The book also teaches that “under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training.” As I read through the chapter, I had to take a moment to be thankful that I attend Baylor Law. Though the training may be rigorous, and perhaps feels impossible at times, I know that under pressure I will be able to perform at an extremely high level.

Recommendation

I highly recommend this book – to law students, lawyers, or to anyone for that matter. This book will teach you, test you, and bring you to tears. Each lesson truly packs a punch. I had the opportunity to read this book during my time in Practice Court. I think it helped me to keep my journey in perspective. There were so many days when I would start reading and could not help but cry because the lesson was so applicable to what I was going through at the time.

If you are seeking to improve your leadership abilities, you must first look within yourself. This book will assist you along your journey of becoming great. However, even the book itself provides a warning that it is not enough to simply read the book and learn the principles, you must apply them in your everyday life no matter how challenging it may be.

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Artful Listening – “Sometimes you’ve got to listen with your eyes,” A Student Perspective

by BLAdmin

By Baylor Law Student, James Fryer

A recent class focused on the importance of active listening. One of our students, James Fryer, wrote about a transformative experience he had when his boss used active listening skills with him. We enjoyed reading it and thought you might too. – LWT & SLR

What do you mean, Mike?

My final year at the University of Oregon was one of my best years. I had finished my graduation requirements the spring before, so I was rounding out my undergraduate experience with a light-and-easy class schedule and a job as a Resident Assistant to pay for housing.

Oh, did I mention I had a girlfriend? I did, at least until one Friday night when she broke up with me. To salt the wound, I was also “on duty,” so I had to put on my happy face and patrol the residence hall. Continuing my  bad luck, that night saw a half-dozen conduct violations, including a resident who decided to toss every toilet paper roll in the building in the dumpster as a zany prank. It was so late that it was early before I finished writing the required reports and fell asleep.

I awoke to a note my boss, Mike, slid under my door which said that I had not put enough effort into my reports from the night before and asked me to do a rewrite. I saw RED. He clearly didn’t have a clue how hard I had worked! After all, even though I had been dumped, I spent hours keeping the residents from breaking things when all I really wanted to do was feel sorry for myself! And he had the audacity to put a note under my door! He didn’t even have the nerve to talk to me about it!

Instead of meekly rewriting last night’s reports, I went to Mike’s office to have the conversation he was so obviously keen to avoid. His door was open, so I walked in brandishing the note.

“What do you want me to do with this?” I started.

Mike looked up, closed his laptop lid and didn’t respond. He didn’t respond long enough that I tried again.

“I wrote those reports last night and they are fine. You got the story; why do I have to rewrite something I already did?”

“What happened?” he responded.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, MIKE!” I replied, too loud.

“What happened, James?” he repeated, “something did….so SIT.” It wasn’t an offer; it was a command.

I sat. The pressure in my chest released slightly despite my efforts to stay mad.

“Give me the note,” he said.

When I handed it over to him, he held it over the recycling bin and let it drop.

“So,” he said, “What happened…?”

I broke and spent the next half-hour explaining to him everything else I had carried into his office that morning, along with the now-trashed note.

“Probably start there next time, eh?” Mike said once I was done. “But, I need you to rewrite those reports. Your writing was sloppy and rushed. I can’t use it. As for why I wrote the note?  You had a late night and I thought you should be sleeping. That’s why I wrote you a note and didn’t knock on your door.”

I left Mike’s office in a haze. But I knew something extraordinary had happened. When I asked Mike about our conversation the next week, he said:

“You told me everything before you said anything, James.” He continued, “your face was red, your eyes wide, and you didn’t knock before you raised your voice at me… there was no way you were in my office about a note or rewriting a report. Sometimes,” he finished “you’ve got to listen with your eyes.”

Since that day, I have tried listening with my eyes. What a person says is so much more than words they choose. By actively and attentively listening with more than his ears, Mike understood my Saturday morning trip to his office had little to do with his note.

Active listening is a critical skill to develop because communication is inherently imperfect. No person can make themselves completely known to another; something is always lost between thoughts and words. However, by giving a person your full attention and listening with all your senses, you can be like Mike and understand a bit more than what is said.

I emailed Mike the rewritten reports that afternoon.

Leadership

Student Perspectives on Leadership Development

by BLAdmin 
 Ali Moser (JD ‘19)

Below, Ali Moser (JD ‘19) and a Baylor Law Leadership Fellow, offers her thoughts on the Leadership class and her experience at Baylor Law.

Benefits of the Leadership Class         

The Leadership Development Program at Baylor Law School helped me gain an extra set of skills to take into my future career. I learned much from the leadership class, but I gained even more from the experiences I had when actually serving as a leader during my time at Baylor Law.

I was fortunate to have two very formative leadership experiences outside of the LEAD class. First, serving as Executive President of the Student Bar Association my 3L year was not an opportunity that I expected to have during law school. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the student body. SBA is the umbrella to every other student organization on campus.  As SBA President I thoroughly enjoyed working with so many ambitious fellow students. I learned a lot about communicating with different groups of people and how to meet the needs of students during a challenging and demanding three years of their lives.

(L-R) Ali Moser; Dean Leah Teague; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Nathan Hecht; Dean Brad Toben, Dean Stephen Rispoli

My second opportunity to put the skills into practice was when I served as the 2018 Conference Chair for LEAD Counsel’s Making A Difference Conference. As chair, I was challenged as the many moving pieces had to all come together, but it taught me a lot. The class helped me develop skills that I put into practice. I’m thankful for both of my experiences with SBA and LEAD Counsel and I know that lessons learned as part of the Leadership Development Program will serve me well in my career.

The Importance of Relationship Building

In the Leadership Class, there were many opportunities to learn about our own strengths and weaknesses, as well as our peers and other leaders. This allowed friendships to develop with the other students in the class, which does not always happen in law school classes. However, that was an integral part of the Leadership Class, which was surprising to me. I learned about my leadership style and the leadership style of others. It taught me where I was strong, and exposed places where I could improve. This created a unique classroom environment with the fellow classmates, and I hope to cross paths with many of them in my legal career.

Advice to all Law Students: Learn Leadership Styles

I offer this advice to all law students – I encouraged you to discover what your leadership style is whether that is through a class, reading a book, or watching a podcast. It is incredibly value to know before stepping into a legal career. As you learn more about leadership styles, you become more aware of the strong parts of your personality so you can capitalize on those aspects; but also learn where you can improve. As you become familiar with many of the leadership styles, you will be able to recognize different styles which will enable you to work well with others in your future career.

Ali Mosser, JD ’19

Ali Moser graduated from Baylor Law in May of 2019 having earned the distinction as a Leadership Fellow. During her time at Baylor she was involved in various student organizations including Student Bar Association, Inn of Court, LEAD Counsel, Federalist Society, Intramurals. She also competed in Moot Court competitions, volunteered her time as a McLennan County Court Appointed Special Advocate. Ali’s leadership and devotion to Baylor Law School encouraged many students to follow in her footsteps and become not only a law student who goes through the motions, but a leader who impacts lives. After graduation she joined the litigation section of Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle, P.C.