Maura Grossman of Wachtell Lipton reminded me the other day that the fastest ways to advance your career is to become indispensable.
I suspect if you are reading this blog you are already indispensable to your team and organization in one way or another.
Becoming indispensable in 2015 hinges on understanding what matters. 10 years ago what mattered most was understanding eDiscovery and it’s unique language – collection, processing, hosting, and review.
But as privacy, security, governance, smart data and predictive analytics become ever more impactful, relevant, important…
Your ability to speak this new language and become indispensable in these new and emerging specialty areas becomes of paramount importance.
Here are two important questions to consider:
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How and why are you indispensable now?
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What did you do to become indispensable?
You did it once and now let’s do it again. Rinse and Repeat.
How do you become indispensable? Figure out what matters most to the industry, to your firm, and your department and then become that subject matter expert.
Generally speaking this will be something new, so you won’t speak the language yet. Learn the language. Dedicate 15 minutes a day to reading a blog, reading a book, listening to podcast, download an audiobook, attend a conference, join a webcast or have coffee, lunch, or drinks with a vendor, consultant, peer, colleague, or white knight. You know the drill!
What is a white knight? Stay tuned!
As Malcolm Gladwell says “It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert “
But this ain’t hockey, tennis, or the violin. This is legal. And if you already know eDiscovery – I cut it down to only 1,000 hours. New roles, responsibilities and career paths are being invented every single day! Start now – go fast! The first to 1,000 hours wins!
What will you dedicate 1,000 hours to that matters?
Want to get started now? Join us for one of our upcoming breakfast career workshops!
LegalTech: Tuesday, February 3rd 2015
Washington DC: Thursday, February 19th 2015
Chicago: Thursday, February 26th 2015
Los Angeles: Tuesday, March 3rd 2015
San Francisco: Thursday March 4th, 2015