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Are you building a career or are you building a community?

The answer should be: Both! They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would argue that one cannot successfully exist without the other, at least not in the legal profession as it is today.

Law school and the practice of law can feel very singular and isolating. We’re taught early on to view our law school classmates as our competitors not our colleagues.  I’m sure we’ve all heard stories of professors ominously warning incoming students that the person to their right and the person to their left won’t make it through law school (thankfully, my law school wasn’t like that!).

When we begin practicing law, once again we find ourselves in situations where we’re forced to treat other lawyers in our practice area as competitors and adversaries. Let’s not even get into the competitive two-step you encounter when searching for a job with 300 other applicants vying for the same position.  You get the idea: our profession is set up in such a way that competition is natural, accepted, and expected.

It almost seems like our success as lawyers rests on the notion that if we are to succeed, then others must not. But I am here to challenge that notion and offer an alternate, perhaps more radical concept: if we are to succeed, all of our colleagues must succeed as well.  In other words, along with focusing on building successful careers for ourselves, we must focus just as intently on building a supportive community of like-minded individuals around us.  This theory of collaboration over competition* is one that Millennials tend to subscribe to. It is one that favors sharing ideas and team building as drivers of innovation, productivity, growth, and leadership.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. – Booker T. Washington

If you’re a young lawyer, you’re probably thinking, “But Nicole, I’m just starting my career and all I want to do is learn the ropes and not mess up. I can’t be focusing on building a community too!” As mentioned above, I truly believe that by focusing on helping others, you will undoubtedly attract success into your own life. Thus, if you plan on building a career that fully satisfies you, if you hope to be a leader in the legal profession, and most importantly, if you plan on making a difference in this world, then you must cultivate a community (aka tribe) and help your tribe members succeed.

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. –Zig Ziglar

With all of that said, here is where you begin building your tribe:

Who are your “people”?

While you’re climbing the ladder in your career, you are going to cross paths with many phenomenal ladies. You will inevitably just “click” with some over others. Some will make you automatically feel like you’ve known them for years. They’ll understand where you’re coming from, they’ll share a similar vision for their lives as you do for yours, and they’ll connect with your story. These women are your “people.”

These ladies who “get you” are precisely the individuals you’ll want in your tribe. They will be whom you turn to for advice, to commiserate, for inquiries, to vent, to inspire, and be inspired. They will be your super special group of women who will give you the strength and motivation to act on your ideas. When you find these like-minded women, nurture your relationship with them because that kind of magic is hard to come by.

Who are you connecting?

For lady lawyers, one of the most important aspects of belonging is the feeling that we are connected with each other. In your efforts to establish your tribe, you’ll need to be aware of the fact that building a community requires more than just you connecting with others; it demands that you connect others with each other. To keep a community alive, you must connect people who could stand to benefit from meeting each other. For example, introduce an estate planning attorney to a financial advisor, or a lawyer who needs help advertising her practice with a marketing expert.

By making introductions within your tribe, not only will you be spreading goodwill and collecting good karma points, but you will become known as a connector - and that is a powerful reputation to have.

Who are you leading?

Put simply, who are you empowering? Who are you influencing? Being a leader and community builder requires that you acknowledge you’re in a position to influence others and effectuate change.  Find other people who want to go somewhere (figuratively) - preferably somewhere you’re going – and lead them there.

Are you motivating others to take action? Are you evoking curiosity? Are you pushing your tribal members to accomplish their goals? Most importantly, are you inspiring other tribe members to build their own tribes?

Take some time this week to think about all three of these prompts and as soon as you’re done thinking, pick up the phone and call 3 tribe members.

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I would love to invite you to join my community of amazing lady lawyers on Facebook called My HERoic Lawyers Tribe. Join us! We’re a great group of women lawyers who share stories, offer advice, tips, strategies, and support around personal and business development, leadership, and life!

*Clarification: I am not stating that competition is bad. Competition can be healthy and necessary. I’m merely suggesting that as we focus on our budding careers, we must also connect and uplift our fellow lady lawyers.