An attorney who works in our office is fond of saying that
he uses his psychology degree more than his law degree. The implication being
that he spends more time trying to speak reason and sense into people.
More recently I have been dealing with difficult cases which
sometime naturally bring difficult clients. The temptation is to avoid the difficult,
glaring issues and focus only on the strengths. It’s certainly easier.
But does it pay off?
Probably not. Because eventually those weaknesses will
confront you head on.
It’s like a friend or acquaintance on social media. You see
the perfectly edited or cropped photos of someone for months or years, then
finally meet them in public and they look nothing alike. Your first instinct is
to think that they’re a fraud. The gig is up.
That is exactly how it plays out in my job and every other
profession. You can show your best cards and hold your bad ones, but eventually
they are exposed. There is an art of displaying the weak cards and using them
to emphasize your strong ones. Learning that art, regardless of where you work,
will be your greatest asset.
