I just had my most successful LinkedIn post ever (by a country mile). I received 1400+ Likes, 147 comments and the post was read over 125,000 times. Incredible. As you can see from the post – it is just a simple story but it seems to resonate.
22 years ago, I was in a pretty bad place. This man saved my career.
In 2000, I had some bad luck, I was working in Los Angeles in a dream gig as COO of a listed internet company. With all my options, it was looking like never-work-again time. Then the Dotcom crash! As the share price went south, my interest in returning to being a lawyer (and in feeding our children) grew.
It had been a rough ride in corporate life, so I decided to “risk-proof” my career and return to being a lawyer in Sydney. Great idea – except I became a partner of Andersen Legal, the law firm part of the once great Arthur Andersen.
Nine months later, after some Andersen folks got caught shredding a few Enron documents, the SEC indicted Andersen and the organisation collapsed.
I was on the street again – pretty battered and with a young family. I met the guy in the photo, Don Boyd. Don was the Managing Partner of the law firm Deacons, he took me on as a partner. He then steered the firm to the first combination of an Australian firm with a global firm and I got to become part of Norton Rose Fulbright.
It has been 22 years and I have been lucky to have had a great career here. Don has retired and moved away but I caught up with him on the weekend to say thank you.
I think for most of us, there are 3 or 4 key people who have been instrumental in helping us in our careers. Be sure to thank them when you get the opportunity.
Thanks Don for your leadership and friendship – and the laughs.
[Also, just FYI, there is no such thing as “risk-proofing” your career. So you might as well have a go at what you really want to do.]