Recently, a lawyer in the midst of a professional transition asked me: “Wow, how did you make many pivots in your career EASILY”?
After a prolonged pause, I told her: “You don’t know how many NOES I got along the way.”
These noes come in many forms. On your road toward the success you’ll maybe be:
- Ignored by recruiters
- Overlooked by CEOs
- Discounted by managers
- Declined by publishers
- Underestimated by peers
- Rejected by investors
- Laughed at by critics
Or, most likely, some combination of all the above. We must normalize noes and rejection.
Noes happen. Often.
Noes are an integral part of your growth and, ultimately, success.
As you move through your career and accumulates noes, you will also start accumulating accompanying experiences.
For example, years later, over drinks, the same recruiters, CEOs, managers, publishers, peers, investors, and critics, will say “I ALWAYS believed in you!”
Just like noes, these are normal reactions.
They are opportunities to build an even stronger community, propel forward, and have an even greater impact.
And yes, these will be the BEST TABS you will ever pick up after you smile and say nothing.
In your mind, you may craft the most diplomatic “I told you so” response — “I wasn’t persuasive enough in the past. Too bad that you had to take a scenic route to come around.” After all, you are a lawyer!
It turns out that my followers are no strangers to noes. We had a very robust conversation.
For example, Lisa Goldkuhl, a dedicated mother and in-house supervising attorney, said, “The end result always looks easy. It’s like writing a bestselling book: the product looks effortless because no one sees all the grinding and sweat and scrapes and bruises along the way. And you are right that no one believes in you as much as you believe in yourself.” She added, “Be your own cheerleader and star quarterback and wide receiver and defensive lineman! You must learn to play every position.”
Angela Han, corporate counsel at HealthPRO Heritage and “Fit to Practice” Podcast host added, “I get no’d and snubbed on a daily basis. I get snubbed for breakfast. But a girl’s gotta enjoy her breakfast, so she gonna ignore all that.”
Getting noes is scary because it closes doors to roads that we have already been staring down. It can pull the rug out from under our feet and make any happy ending feel far away and even more uncertain. But endings are always uncertain — they’re at the end, after all.
Looking back on your career, now that you know the “ending,” how will you write the beginning and middle of your story?
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat and Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security. You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.