We spend the vast majority of our adult lives working. For many of us, work is the barometer of our self-worth. Truly meaningful work gives the sense that we are contributing to something greater than the self. Although research suggests that employees who experience work as meaningful may enhance an organization’s bottom line, at Morgan Lewis, we believe meaningful work is an important target in its own right and contributes to the lasting well-being of our lawyers and professional staff.
Here product liability and mass torts partner Wendy West Feinstein, who also serves as office managing partner of the firm’s Pittsburgh office, shares what makes work meaningful, including appreciating new or different challenges, the strength of gratitude, and why you should give yourself a break.
I’ve thought a lot about this. Three main things that make work meaningful for me: the intellectual challenge, constant learning, and the people.
Every matter is truly different, offering a combination of circumstances I may not have encountered before. For example, I may be working in a new or different industry or a new or different client. Not to mention new legal theories or challenging facts and laws; I enjoy trying to figure out how to best present the facts and the law in a new or different way. These factors provide for continuous learning and personal growth.
Plus, the people! I cannot say enough about how important the people are to making work meaningful. This includes clients, the in-house legal team and the businesspeople, the lawyers and professional staff at Morgan Lewis, and even includes opposing counsel, judges. I learn a lot from everyone involved in matters, good and bad. I can’t say enough about how having such a strong and supportive internal team at Morgan Lewis, including professionals, paralegals, associates, and partners, makes the hard work that we all do even more meaningful. Collaboration and integration are core values and goals at Morgan Lewis.
I’m from the Midwest and am used to saying thank you (as well as “I’m sorry”) often! There are a lot of times in my adult life that have shaped my views on expressions of gratitude. Three come to mind: First, my husband and I had a very tight, strict budget for food, gas, utilities. Even ordering pizza was out the question. So that helped with my gratitude, for the basic things. Second, I started working in my first year of law school and worked for a very difficult person who taught me a number of things, including how I DIDN’T want to interact with people. I’m also a first-generation lawyer and didn’t know what to expect early on in my career. And third, my mom passed away unexpectedly in 2011, on Mother’s Day of all days. These things shaped my views about gratitude, including not waiting to express gratitude.
Expressing, not just feeling, gratitude and appreciation, especially in the often-stressful scenarios we deal with in the legal industry, reflects back to you. It’s important to me when I’m asking other people to work really hard to tell them I appreciate it, because I really do. And gratitude does not have to be for only big things or a grand gesture. As long as it’s sincere. At Morgan Lewis, it can even be as simple as sending a gratitude card to a colleague through our electronic distribution system or writing one by hand.
Finding meaning in the work you do for clients is critical to providing exceptional service. Our work is better, more thorough, more creative, and more effective when we find meaning and are invested in our clients’ issues.
For example, when I’m trying a case I try to identify the reasons why the jury or the judge should feel okay or good about finding in our client’s favor. As I mentioned earlier, I believe that when we derive meaning from the work itself, the smart and creative people with whom you are working, and the unique legal challenges and problems our clients face, we provide better service. At Morgan Lewis, we’re encouraged—incentivized even—to form and sustain meaningful relationships with colleagues and clients. I think if you find meaning in the process and the team and work hard, the results will follow.
That’s a great quote. What we do is hard. I’m generally a positive, optimistic person, but that doesn’t mean that what we do isn’t hard. Some of the most meaningful experiences are not fun or positive. It’s the hardest, most challenging, and even the most frustrating work experiences that often provide valuable perspective and clarity to what is important or meaningful to you. In a difficult situation, for example with a contentious opposing counsel, I try to take a breath and put things in perspective. This helps me figure out a solution or a process to make the situation less stressful or frustrating. It’s these tough situations that help me find meaning and have reaffirmed the importance of expressing gratitude internally and to others.
I would advise her to try and find meaning in the process and measure your “success” based on mastery of the elements you can control—like your level of effort—not what you can’t control—like the results. I’d also emphasize that “bad” or “challenging” experiences are temporary and are opportunities for growth and will make you better. Lastly, I would advise my younger self, and all of us, not to dwell on mistakes or disappointing results. Instead learn from them and move on. Those mistakes or results do not define you. Finally, I would suggest that you give yourself the same kind of break or forgiveness you would give a friend, colleague, or family member in the same situation. We’re often more understanding of others than we are of ourselves.
I advise any junior professional to leverage the resources made available to them by their employers. At Morgan Lewis, that includes everything from discussions like this one, to mentoring programs, to pro bono work.
Deriving meaning from our work can help us better perform in all aspects of our life and truly thrive. As we discussed here, appreciating the variety of challenges and growth work offers, from new legal problems to new industries to new co-counsel; putting stressful or difficult things in perspective; and expressing gratitude can all help us find some of this meaningfulness, and even pay it forward by saying “thank you.”
This discussion was hosted by ML Well. The firm’s ML Well program is a unique, holistic approach to promoting thriving through intellectual, physical, emotional, and occupational well-being coupled with an underlying emphasis on engagement and community. Learn more about ML Well.